Life Skills-Based Group Analysis

There is a problem within our mental health system, which needs to be addressed. I feel most of our mental health facilities are understaffed, and underpaid. These facilities often have conflicting duties; get people in, and the other to get people out. The reasoning behind this is there are thousands of people waiting to get treatment, and the societal stigma of mental illness forces state mental health agencies to work similar an emergency room. Which means, we often get patients cognitively stable [but not life stable] and then sending them back out into an environment they lack the necessary skills to survive in. Thus, the revolving door begins to happen. We often see the same patient 3 or 4 times during our career [if we stayed long enough]
The groups’ main objective is to support patients in the recovery process, by allowing the patient to apply/learn self-efficacy. The group also allows the patients to be an active participant in their own recovery (Gråwe, Hagen, Espeland, & Mueser, 2007). Life skills focused therapy should not only be used to treat mental health patients, but it would also be beneficial for people who have been incarcerated as well. According to Gråwe, Hagen, Espeland, and Mueser (2007), life skills group therapy has also shown promise in treating individuals with co-occurring disorders and reduce their substance abuse. However, for the purpose of this paper, I will only focus on patients within the mental health
The therapy in itself is designed to evaluate, prepare and insure individual group members are capable of daily non-assisted living tasks. Group members will be evaluated on the ability to successfully manage and navigate tasks which includes “job seeking, home management, money management, personal hygiene, how to find the appropriate educational and vocational opportunities, and how to use community resources to obtain needed assistance in important areas such as housing, healthcare, and interpersonal development” (Allen & Williams, 2012, p. 329), by demonstration of understanding, through a written or verbal examination, and there will be times where the individual will be given the opportunity to apply what they have learned in a practical setting (e.g. grocery store, bus stop, etc.),a passing score if 80% is considered passing, and if a member is not able to complete the task for the day, they will have to repeat the task at a later date, and they will continue to move forward with the rest of the group (Allen & Williams, 2012). Moreover, it is important that the group facilitator is aware of the needs of each patients, and that they are addressed prior to participation (e.g. medical, triggers, learning abilities). Addressing the