Self-Help/Support Group
Attend an open meeting of a self-help group (can be virtual). Describe what occurred in the meeting and your experience, thoughts, feelings and impressions.
Name the group and purpose of the meeting you attended. If this was not an official “open” meeting, briefly identify the arrangements you made with the group for attending.
Briefly describe how you chose this particular group and how difficult/easy it was to find. What might this mean if you were a client in need of this group?
Briefly describe the people there (number, apparent age range, social class, education, race/ethnicity, gender, etc.). Provide your factual observations and intuitive ones. How might you have felt actually attending this group?
Describe the group dynamics. What occurred before and after, but especially during the meeting itself: describe the topics and experiences discussed; the ways in which people related to each other; the feelings or ideas expressed; and the bonding of the members. Clearly describe the dynamics of the meeting and relate it to class learning.
Summarize what you learned about yourself and the particular problem or issue while attending this meeting (It might be useful to consider how you felt sitting in the meeting. . .)
Based on your meeting, reflect on the power of group work to help people. To what extent did the group dynamic and context help the people involved? What worked and didn’t work?