Group Work / Counseling

Introduction

Personal growth and development as a group participant

McDermott (2002) suggests that groups are defined by consisting of at least two persons, that share space and share a purpose. The interactions taking place amongst members may be important in the development of common goals, norms and roles, and some sense of belonging. Within the context of a group, participants find the possibility of making comparisons between themselves and others, which can become an influential source of control and reward for members. Therefore the group work undertaken may play a part in defining the individual's sense of reality. McDermott further concludes that, while groups are extremely powerful phenomena, they also hold the possibility and potential of learning how to share that power. The individual and other group participants interact and create a social experience both in the ‘here and now’ as well as in their own minds with their interpretations of what is happening. The group in the group work module consisted of 4 members, including me and the educator. When I first I had some doubt if it would be possible to see group dynamics developing in such a small group, in reality the group was very dynamic, especially at the last weekend when we had two days followed by each other. The educator worked with us as a class but also modelled at the same time our group work. The group task was the learning outcome as stated in the Module outline and the goal is to cover the content areas. The process focused on how the group developed; when the process is going well then the group is dynamic, which our group was even though we where dealing with a member that for the first half of the module was not as involved in the process than the other three members due to tiredness. As a group participant I learned a lot about myself and how I react being in a group. When meeting new people I am at first shy and introvert until I know the other group members better and have