In order to create a successful group, social workers will have to create a group proposal to identify who they will be serving and how they will be completing this goal. It is important to be aware of the community they would like to serve. Doing research and having background information of the population they would like to work with, will help move forward the process. According to Toseland and Rivas (2012), group work can defined as a “goal-directed activity with small treatment and task groups aimed at meeting socioemotional needs and accomplishing tasks” (pg. 11). It is essential for any group work being created to be planned, accomplishing tasks, and meeting goals. Overall, facilitators are placed in group to assist members to achieve individual and shared objectives.
Self-esteem involves the thoughts and feelings we have about ourselves. Teens come across various emotional challenges throughout their adolescent years. In these moments they are understanding their values, figuring out who they are, and what they want to be. The purpose of my group is focus on adolescent females who are placed in group homes. This group proposal is designed to increase self esteem in adolescent females. Adolescents are learning to cope with changes while concerned with self-image, self-esteem, social expectations and academic achievement (Powell, 2004). They will be given the opportunity to explore their identity and the different aspects of life.
This will be a psychoeducational focused group in order to explore the different facets of the average adolescent female. Alex Gitterman and Carolyn Knight (2016) state psychoeducational groups, “have the potential to be empowering and to improve coping by providing members with new information or correcting misinformation” (pg. 103). In order to maintain a progressive group an agenda of the program will be provided each session, and there will be different topics of discussion each meeting. Psychologist Erik Erikson,believes that every human child goes through a series of developmental stages from birth to old age. His fifth stage of this theory incorporates into the group adequately. Stage five talks about identity versus role confusion, for the ages 10-24. Sunil Batara (2013) explains stage five as:
The adolescent is in the psychosocial stage between childhood and young adulthood where she will learn to make new meaning of the morality acquired during childhood and will begin to adopt new ethics that she will develop and embrace as a prospective adult.Opportunities for experiencing a sense of Purpose and Industry now bring the child to a stage where she must learn to choose from amongst her friends and their interests, and her own evolving likes and dislikes in clothing and fashion, entertainment (music, films), travel destinations, topics of conversation and debate, changing ethics and values, and she must learn to do all this while simultaneously dealing with the tension caused by hormonal changes in her body. The desire to locate oneself in a social context becomes paramount for the young child. Therefore, a sense of belonging becomes equally necessary. Since an individual’s likes and dislikes are constantly changing, social influences that do not match the emerging sense of the self are either dismissed or perceived as threats (pg. 265-266).
If adolescents are not able to delve into their new roles then they will not be able to follow their future path in a positive and healthy approach.
The group that will be recruited is a local group home for troubled adolescent females. This group will not exclude any girls from being a member because all of them have a story to share and to embrace. This will be a first come first serve sign up, and depending on the outcome of the final sessions there will be another group or multiple groups to further support these girls. There will be eight to ten spots available to join this group and will not exceed ten members. This will be a closed group because it is less disruptive for the group process and cohesion of the group. Group sessions will be held in the activity space in the facility for the girls. Additional resources needed for this group are support from the administration of the organization, another facilitator, and supervision from the employees in the facility. Another facilitator will be useful because if one facilitator has poor intervening skill then the other one can reiterate the purpose. I would like to take advantage of the staff who are assigned to look after the girls. In case there was any altercation due to a disagreement or conflicting idea, it is important that everyone in the group is safe. Staff can intervene at anytime to control the situation and this also a more effective way to remain safe because the girls are familiar with the employees.
Utilizing a room provided in the facility will be the most convenient for everyone participating. The girls will not have to travel anywhere, and it is a comfortable setting that they are used to and a walk away. Group will be held for an hour and half every Tuesday night. There will be 12 sessions over the course 12 weeks. It is mandatory that the girls attend group every week in order to receive and embrace the full educational plan. A wide variety of activities will be incorporated to meet the needs of the girls. Interventions will be given to completed individually, with a partner, small groups, and as a whole group. The group will be led by myself along with another facility fit to educate adolescents on self esteem and identity discovery. A facilitators responsibility is to keep the group on agenda and moving forward, involving everyone in the meeting, and making sure decisions are being made collectively. Teenage girls tend to be shy when speaking in groups. Facilitators are there to ensure that the quiet ones are being heard as well.
Group work alone is an essential intervention in the social work practice. According to Drumm (2006), group work is a powerful therapeutic endeavor which can result in an atmosphere of mutual aid. In this atmosphere, members learn to identify and voice their own needs, realize similarities and differences, form connections with others, and practice new skills in an environment of inclusion and respect. Interventions are put into place in group work for practitioners to provide direct support and service to at need individuals. Most intervention strategies are researched based to examine the effectiveness.
Connolly, Quin, and Redding, writes an article about how dance classes are an efficient method to increase females well-being.They considered why dancing was effective and discovered, “Research highlighted the importance of ‘social encouragement’ when seeking to increase young people’s participation in physical activity, suggesting that interventions which aim to enhance physical activity levels among young people might be more successful when young people’s peers are also encouraged to participate (2011, pg. 54). Adolescents attitudes tend to change when they are active and participating in a physical activity. The goal of this study was successful pertaining to its promotion of exploring health and well being in adolescents. The females exhibited positive attitudes towards dance and increased self-esteem. Although this is not a psychoeducational intervention, this intervention can be useful for icebreakers or silence within a group.
Stephanie Steese, Maya Dollette, amongst other authors did a study on understanding a girls circle for perception of body image, self-efficacy, locus of control, and self-esteem. Throughout this intervention they did a ten week program that addressed issues of self-image, body-image, relationships, and assertiveness. They participated in verbal and creative activities. Steese and Dollette state:
“Activities included: creating group guidelines, and dyad interviews. On week eight, the theme was "Body Image and Body Messages." Objectives were: to explore messages girls encounter in everyday life through magazines, movies, television; to critique the messages and their impact on girls' self-images; to empower girls to express their own messages or statements and to raise awareness in terms of where these messages come from, i.e., family, friends, peers, culture; to brainstorm healthy responses to these messages. Activities included: Identifying Magazine Images, Exploration and Reflection..” (pg. 62-63).
It was hypothesized that there would be a significant outcome at the end of the ten week program. Test results improved in social support, level of self-efficacy. However, there was no improvement in self-esteem. Due to lack of improvement in self esteem, this intervention strategy would have to be modified for better results.
To provide further evidence, Hong, Lin, Wang, Chin, and Yu (2012) tested the efficiency of a practical group counselling intervention on 43 low achieving students’ self-worth and self- efficacy. The results state that students favored group counseling in a school setting and the environment promote positive student to student learning. It was also founded that the student who participated in the study improved their levels of self-worth when compared to their peers who did not complete the sessions. Additional activities that can be employed throughout group sessions are art therapy, relationship growth activities, fear in a hat, check in questions, and more. These can be used in the beginning as ice breakers and mid sessions to examine everyone's progress.