Strengths and Weakness as a Therapy Group Leader

Strengths and Weakness as a Therapy Group Leader

One of the fundamental choices facing each group therapy leader is whether leadership will be done as an individual or partnership. Each approach offers advantages and disadvantages. An advantage of individual leadership might be that you often make many of the decisions regarding the facilitation of the therapy group and its membership. For example, you decide on the size, member selection, length, theme, treatment goals, fees/insurance, and leadership style. In addition, as the therapy proceeds, you likely will continue to be the primary decision-maker in the group.

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A disadvantage of individual group leadership might be collusion by the therapy group against you if the members disagree with your approach. Some group members may have issues with authority or can be resistant to treatment. In such cases, the group members can act out toward you. As an individual group leader, you might not have others to rely on to help you through such situations.

Co-leadership offers its own advantages and disadvantages. Group therapy sessions can be longer than individual sessions, sometimes lasting 90 minutes or even two hours, as opposed to 45-50 minutes for the average individual session. In a larger therapy group, such as eight to 12 people, there can be a lot to attend to. Thus, group co-leaders can divide up the work. For example, the focus might be on two or three group members. One group leader can help facilitate the process with those two to three group members while the co-leader observes what is happening in the rest of the group. Therapy group co-leaders can be a lot like parental figures. The co-leaders can work together to demonstrate a healthy relationship, and this can be an effective source of modeling for clients who might not have much experience with healthy relationships. Further, co-leaders can demonstrate other relationship skills, such as how to resolve conflict. Finally, if one co-leader is absent, the therapy group can still meet.

A disadvantage of group co-leadership is that it is based on a relationship. As such, it may suffer from basic relationship problems. What if you don’t like your co-leader? What if you or your co-leader have some dysfunctional behaviors? In such cases, these problems can come out in therapy and become the focus of the therapy group rather than issues of the members.

For this Discussion, review the week’s Learning Resources and complete the media titled “Leadership Styles Quiz.” With your quiz results in mind, consider the strengths and weaknesses you might have as a group therapy leader. Think about the challenges you might experience when working with a co-leader and how you might overcome these challenges.

With these thoughts in mind:

a brief summary of your strengths and weaknesses as a group therapy leader. Then, explain how two aspects of your personality might present challenges when working with a co-leader. Finally, explain how you might address these challenges. Be specific and use the Learning Resources and current literature to support your response.

Strengths and Weakness as a Therapy Group Leader

Strengths and Weakness as a Therapy Group Leader