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Enhancing Adolescent Development Through Group Counseling

Explore the importance and effectiveness of different types of groups for adolescents, group leader roles, setting up groups, and strengths and limitations of adolescent group counseling.

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Enhancing Adolescent Development Through Group Counseling

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  1. Chapter 12 Groups for Adolescents Prepared by: Nathaniel N. Ivers, Wake Forest University

  2. Roadmap • Groups with Adolescents • Types of Groups with Adolescents • Settings of Groups for Adolescents • Role of Leaders in Adolescent Groups • Strengths and Limitations of Adolescent Groups

  3. Groups for Adolescents • Adolescence • Age span between 13- and 19-years-old • Can be extended to individuals as old as 25-years-old • A time of rapid change • Groups for adolescents be life saving and life changing • Groups can help adolescents make a successful transition from childhood to adulthood

  4. Types of Groups for Adolescents • Developmental Psychoeducational Groups • Nondevelopmental Counseling/Psychotherapy Groups

  5. Developmental Psychoeducational Groups • Focus on common concerns of young people, such as • Identity • Sexuality • Self-management • Self-advocacy • Depression • Parents • Career goals • Educational and institutional problems (Dagley & English, 2014; DeLucia-Waack, 2006)

  6. Counseling/Psychotherapy Groups • Nondevelopmental Counseling/Psychotherapy Groups • Tend to concentrate more on concerns adolescents have with adults and society • Drug and alcohol use • School Problems • Deviant behavior • May be voluntary or mandated

  7. Counseling/Psychotherapy Groups • Constructive ways of handling adolescents’ negative feelings and resistance: • Meet with adolescents individually before the group starts • Work with the resistance that uncooperative adolescents bring rather than fighting it • Respond to adolescents’ sarcasm or silence with honest, firm, and caring statements (Corey et al., 2014)

  8. Setting Up Groups for Adolescents • Factors to consider: • Nonverbal versus verbal communication • Group structure and materials • Recruiting members and screening • Group session length and number in group • Gender and age issues

  9. Role of the Group Leader • Multidimensional • Determined by the type of group • Group leaders • Model appropriate behaviors • Stress importance of confidentiality • Express empathy yet are firm • Facilitate and control • Act and trust the process

  10. Role of the Group Leader • Six types of responses of effective leaders: • Feeling-focused responses • Clarifying and summarizing responses • Open-questions • Facilitative feedback • Simple acknowledgement • Linking (Myrick, 2011)

  11. Role of the Group Leader • Low facilitative, less effective responses: • Advice/evaluation • Analyzing/interpreting • Reassuring/supportive (Myrick, 2011)

  12. Problems in Adolescents’ Groups • Outright Disruptiveness • Hesitancy to Engage with Others • Polarization • Monopolizing • Inappropriate Risk Taking • Overactivity or Giddiness

  13. Strengths of Adolescents’ Groups • Natural environment of learning for adolescents • Can facilitate the development of life skills through modeling, role-playing, group discussions, and brief lectures (Dennis-Small, 1986; Zinck & Littrell, 2000) • Can create a sense of belonging and generalizable learning • Provide for multiple feedback • Provide opportunities for adolescents to help out each other

  14. Limitations of Adolescents’ Groups • May lack appeal to motivate participants • May add pressure to conform to behaviors in which adolescents do not believe • May not give group members enough attention • If screening is not done with care, the groups may have poor group communication and interaction • Legal and ethical concerns regarding parental and adolescent consent

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