Teaching Group Counseling Skills: Problems and Solutions

Abstract

The authors discuss ethical and professional issues regarding group counseling and argue that it is challenging to meet or exceed the standards established by the American Counseling Association's Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Education Programs for teaching principles and theories, leadership skills, and group counseling methods for effective group practice. This task is especially difficult for counselor education programs that do not have doctoral students who can provide instruction and group leadership. The authors present a model involving 2 courses that allow for mastery of skills and solve practical dilemmas of providing an experiential group experience and leadership opportunities.

Effect Of A Group Leader Training Program On The Group Counseling Skills Of Psychological Counselor Candidates

“…In other words, the group leader candidates may not realistically express the skills that they think they have achieved if they experience exam score anxiety. Indeed, in the literature, it has been suggested that the supervisor and the lecturer who teaches the course should be different people (Furr & Barret, 2000). On the other hand, it is not known whether this increase in skills was based on the applied training, since the students took the individual counseling practice course during the same semester.…”

“…In addition, they can observe how the group leader uses group counseling skills. It is necessary to be involved in group life in order to develop effective group leadership skills (Furr & Barret, 2000;Fall & Levitov, 2002;Yalom, 2002).…”

Teaching Group Processes Through Multiple Group Leadership Opportunities in a Masters Level Counselor Education Program

“…The potential for the formation of harmful relationships during the multiple exposures to the group process, especially as students' roles change, can conflict with CACREP standards. The conflict arises when the instructor is simultaneously in an evaluative position while having knowledge of students' personal information (Shumaker et al, 2011;Furr & Barrett, 2000;Sklare et al, 1996). Ethical concerns for students' safety and prevention of negative outcomes caused by a multiple relationship created between a faculty supervisor and a student are significant because an imbalance of power can be created that can cause students some discomfort and distraction to success, or at the most undesirable extreme, create ethical breeches for faculty supervisors.…”

“…The study contributes to the research base in group leadership training because it investigates the experiences of group leaders in training after participating in a training model that meets or exceeds the guidelines suggested by both CACREP and ASGW. As suggested by several authors (Furr and Barrett, 2000;Stockton and Toth, 1996;Berger, 1996;Dies, 1980), the model described in this article was designed to address both the knowledge base and skill acquisition necessary for training group leaders. Although a few articles describe the outcome of training that meets the 10 hours of group participation required by CACREP (Cummings, 2001, Hensley, 2002O'Halloran & McCartney, 2004), no other study was found describing the experiences of students after receiving training that meets the training guidelines suggested by ASGW and includes over 10 hours of group leadership.…”

The Effect of Type of Screening on the Satisfaction of Students in Experiential Counseling Training Groups

“…Typically, students are divided into small groups and meet once a week during the semester under the supervision of an instructor or doctoral student (Anderson & Price, 2001;Forester-Miller & Duncan, 1990). The purpose of the group experience is for counseling students to experience, firsthand, what it is like to be in a group as a member and as a leader, to experience the group dynamics, and to learn effective group techniques by practicing them in the group (M. S. Corey & Corey, 2006;Furr & Barret, 2000). Although the importance of screening is supported by theory, it is unclear if participation in the screening process is typical in training groups.…”