Group Therapy: Challenges and Strategies for Effective Leadership

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ACTIVITY 2
Group therapy often seems daunting to the new participants. One such instance was
encountered when I attempted to share pertinent information to a group of people on child
abuse. There were six members in the group and upon sharing the information regarding the
risk factors and symptoms of child abuse, I felt that there was lack of concentration among
the listeners.
While two members displayed a willingness to identify the different types of child
maltreatment and their immediate physical, psychological and emotional effects on the
victims, four participants did not play an emphasis on carefully listening to what I had to
convey. This might be accredited to the fact that they did not perceive me as an approachable
person, hence had less willingness to participate in the group session. It is a well-established
fact that group therapy is more mutative and powerful, in comparison to individual therapy
for most individuals (Yalom, 1995). However, I felt that the ideas that I intended to share
with the participants were not being heard in an appropriate manner. This prevented me from
increasing knowledge and awareness among them on this social problem (Best, 2017).
I see myself as a group leader who has a commitment, drive and vision for
accomplishing a predetermined goal. I take efforts in adorning the role of a leader who is
capable of motivating and inspiring confidence among the associates in a group. In future I
want to portray skills and abilities that allow me to become adaptable and flexible to all kinds
of environment, while facing different challenges, failures and setbacks in a calm and
composed manner. I always try to extract work from all the participants enrolled in a group,
after being assigned a certain task, based on my capacity. In the aforementioned incident, I
tried to involve all participants while delivering sessions on child abuse by asking for their
continuous feedback and holding brainstorming sessions that had the capability of generating
several philosophies within the group. I would attempt to monitor my environment by
confirming my goals and the key actions that I prioritize. Conducting an analysis of the