Reasoning
The group name is “Different types of substance misuse in young people.” Individuals range in age from 18 to 25, and their gender and social backgrounds are diverse but unimportant. This group is designed to give positive peer support, which is especially important at the target age (Wendt & Gone, 2018b).
The goals of the group are lowering feelings of isolation, which are frequently one of the triggers for resuming use of addictive substances (SAMHSA, 2015). The need for the group is ensuring peer support when attempting to overcome addiction (SAMHSA, 2015). As a result of these advantages, the cognitive-behavioral group is chosen as the intervention tool.
Group therapy has the potential to effectively mitigate cultural disparities between individuals. For example, an open multicultural work group can support minorities and demonstrate that their difficulties are not unique and that other people face them as well (Kivlighan et al., 2019). It would result in increased motivation and engagement.
Open group therapy is one of the most effective approaches to assist young individuals suffering from various addictions. When people share their problems with their peers, they can expect support, understanding, and assistance (Wenzel et al., 2012). As a result, the desired intervention is an open cognitive-behavioral group focusing on changing behavioral patterns.
Screening Candidates & Promoting the Group
Before the group starts, a psychologist should conduct a high-quality screening with each possible group member (Novotney, 2019). This would ensure an accurate needs assessment and comprehension of the current situation within a group (Novotney, 2019). The questionnaire to assess readiness can be administered during the preparation process. It would determine whether all participants are ready and able to participate. I will promote this group by advertising on social networks and leaving business cards in rehabilitation clinics for drug addiction patients.
Loose Plan
The first week’s topic will be drug addiction management. The second week’s subject will be motivational support and the decision to stop using drugs. The third week’s theme will be refusal skills with a constant offer of a substance. The fourth week’s topic will be decisions that appear unrelated at first glance but threaten to interrupt remission (SAMHSA, 2015). The final themes will be a multi-purpose behavior management plan, problem-solving skills, social adaptation, and HIV risk reduction.
Leadership Requirements
Qualifications
The qualifications required for a leader are higher psychological education or higher medical education with the qualification of a psychologist, medical psychologist, or clinical psychologist. A leader’s qualifications may also include higher pedagogical education with the qualification of a psychologist, a teacher-psychologist, or a practical psychologist in the education system (Kivlighan et al., 2019). The leader may be a person with a doctor’s degree, a candidate in psychological sciences, or someone who has been retrained at the higher education level in the specialty of practical psychology, medical psychology, or psychology.
Experience
The leader must have experience providing psychological assistance. They must have worked in counseling, both in groups and individually, and in psychodiagnostics. The leader should also be able to develop and conduct training on professional motivation and conflictology (Jacobs et al., 2016). The professional tasks of a leader at a previous place of work may also consist of adapting new members of the group, preventing conflicts in the team, and establishing friendly relations among its participants.
Skills
The leader will need the following important skills: first, the ability to listen to the group members, let them talk, and say words of support. Another critical skill will be emotional intelligence, or the ability to quickly find a common language with any person (Stillman et al., 2016). In addition, the leader needs to have communication skills – this will allow the leader to communicate, even if the leader is tired or in a bad mood. The leader must also have the ability to keep confidential information. They must find individual solutions to each problem, so it is important to regularly learn modern techniques and gain new knowledge.
Training
The training completed by the leader should include training in cognitive behavioral therapy. The leaders who took part in the training should analyze the methods of provocative motivation on themselves, learn how to provoke the client’s resistance, and guide them in the right direction. They may have training in some areas of psychology that are always relevant and in demand in their portfolio.
First, this is a training in clinical psychology (Wendt & Gone, 2018b). Psychotherapy training is relevant in the presence of specialized education. After their completion, the specialists will be able to engage in correctional practice and prove themselves in the scientific field. Another useful training can be under the teacher-young person program, since the leader will work in the pedagogical segment with difficult teenagers and engage in social adaptation for people with addiction.
Knowledge
The leader needs knowledge about people’s age and typological characteristics, an idea of the dynamics of personality development in ontogenesis, the ratio of education, training, and development, and the interaction of learning and learning. The leader must know the psychological processes and phenomena in attitude, development, behavior, and the ability to communicate. The leader should be guided in the psychology of addiction and rely on knowledge of the socio-psychological characteristics of the collective and small groups (Wenzel et al., 2012). The leader must have an idea of the psychological laws of self-knowledge, self-education, and self-evaluation.
Job Responsibilities
The leader’s duties include not only helping the group members cope with pathological attraction but also changing their attitude toward their habits, normalizing their lifestyle, and restoring destroyed social ties with relatives and friends. They will have to influence the patients’ minds and help them realize the problem and the need to solve it. The circle of the leader holding this post will include psychodiagnostics, assistance in treatment, individual and group counseling, and work with relatives of patients (Wendt & Gone, 2018). To diagnose a problem, the leader should use various tests to assess attention, memory, intelligence, emotional-volitional sphere, personality orientation, and attitudes towards alcohol and drugs. According to the results obtained, the leader should use various tools of cognitive behavioral therapy.
Individual & Co-Leadership
As part of group psychotherapy, a leader should set goals such as identifying and solving psychological problems in each patient, which is part of individual leadership. Changing behavioral patterns to improve and expand communication capabilities, social adaptation, and the effectiveness of communication with other people is also part of both group and individual leadership (Slone et al., 2015). In addition, these two aspects of leadership include eliminating negative symptoms, forming a positive life position, and improving the overall psychological background.
Post Group Issues
The therapeutic effect of group therapy may not be noticeable to those who do not need support, love, and approval. Some band members might not feel lonely alone with their experiences and do not need to be freed from the depressing need to always look like a successful, happy, and strong person. Participation in a therapeutic group could not give them a valuable and deeply emotional experience of unity, unconditional acceptance, and community with other people (von Greiff & Skogens, 2019). Therefore, as a result of the missed opportunity to feel not alone, to be accepted by others in their imperfect uniqueness, vulnerability, and weakness, these people can return to their addictions. Post-group issues may consist of the absence of improvement of the psycho-emotional state and failure to maintain it.
Follow-Up Recommendations & Plans
Group therapy participants will need to reconsider their relationships with others. A person’s circle of friends may narrow down — they will understand who is next to them because they certainly love and accept, and who is for personal gain. Communication with some people may stop altogether because it will come to an understanding that the common interests linking them earlier were false (Novotney, 2019). A person who has visited a psychotherapist should also make plans to maintain the effects of psychotherapy, which consists of observing a routine that does not allow returning to the previous way of life.
Evaluation Methods
Monitoring the treatment process during group therapy is another critical part that should be prioritized. As a result, different possible methods of judging success are offered. These include assessing patient changes, self-assessment of the group leader, and evaluation by other members (Jacobs et al., 2016). These realistic techniques for analyzing feedback and outcomes might be used to determine whether the measures are effective enough or whether a change is needed to achieve better results (Jacobs et al., 2016). They entail collecting data from all members regularly using specified forms (Jacobs et al., 2016). The positive improvements in their habits and lifestyles will demonstrate the group’s efficacy.
Brief Session Outline
Early Stage
Since overcoming drug addiction is a challenging problem for the majority of substance users, it is recommended that this topic be introduced at the earliest phases of cognitive behavioral therapy. The level of attraction to the substance and related difficulties is determined at this stage. Furthermore, the drug’s attraction is portrayed as a natural, time-fading, conditioned reflex response (Yalom & Leszcz, 2005). The events and trigger processes that cause an increase in attraction are then identified. Following that, the members of the group became acquainted with the ways of regulating desire and refusing the medication offered.
Mid Stage
At this stage, it is critical to conduct a timely review of the patient’s main goals and objectives and demonstrate the unreality of such as reducing substance consumption to a controlled level, refusing substances against the background of alcoholism or taking other psychotropic substances, and continuing treatment until the passions subside. The latter scenario refers to the spouse’s ultimatum or the bailiff’s surveillance (Slone et al., 2015). It is vital to conduct an audit and clarify the goals of the treatment course, demonstrate the necessity of completely discontinuing drugs, and teach the detection and control of thoughts about substances.
Transition Stage
At this point, it is critical to carefully analyze the elements that contribute to the patient’s unclear attitude toward complete abstinence from drugs, a lack of desire for change, and the value of social bonds. It is also vital to identify the methods and means by which the patient can receive the drug and to devise a system of steps to reduce its availability. The patient must then be taught the principles for ending connections with substance abusers (Novotney, 2019). At this point, a group treatment participant should be taught how to reject the proposed substance, paying attention to the differences between a passive, aggressive, and intrusive offer.
Final Stage
This stage’s goals were to identify the risk factors for HIV infection in the group’s students and create incentives to change the right behaviors. Furthermore, the primary work directions and solutions to overcome impediments to reducing the risk of AIDS must be established (von Greiff & Skogens, 2019). It is vital to familiarize group therapy participants with the existing instructions on this topic.
Potential Challenges
Potential challenges at an early stage can include the fact that members of the group may not gain knowledge of the nature of drug addiction. Individual aspects of the clinical picture of attraction may not be fully understood. Trigger events may go undetected, and group members may lack the necessary training to avoid risky scenarios (Wendt & Gone, 2018b).
Furthermore, group members may not be adept at regulating attraction. A participant’s misunderstanding of therapy’s goals can be a potential mid-stage obstacle. They may have mixed views regarding the total rejection of material (SAMHSA, 2015). Participants may struggle to recognize and manage ideas about substance.
Potential difficulties during the transition stage include a group member’s resistance to disclosing drug access channels. They may try and fail to use the skills of denying the proposed medicine (Wenzel et al., 2012). In response to a passive, forceful, and obsessive invitation to use a drug, group therapy participants may submit to manipulation.
Potential challenges at the final stage can include proof of a group therapy participant’s risk. Problems with developing a mindset for changing behaviors can be identified (Stillman et al., 2016). There may also be difficulties solving problems related to overcoming barriers.
Ways of Overcoming Challenges
Early Stage
It is vital to demonstrate that attraction is not a pathological process in and of itself, but rather the product of a frequent coupling of certain behaviors and situations with subsequent drug usage. It is necessary to examine the patient’s psychological and emotional state, the frequency and duration of seizures, and attempts to resist attraction independently. It is recommended that the group members create a complete list of trigger scenarios (Kivlighan et al., 2019). The overall technique of identifying, avoiding, and controlling is most successfully applied to drug addiction control. Depending on the group member’s nature, you can offer strategies such as distraction or discussion of treatment.
Mid Stage
It is vital to examine the readiness for change, determine the current stance of the group members on the complete rejection of the drug, and audit the previously proclaimed aims and objectives. It is critical to underline the importance of reaching remission as a primary aim (Yalom & Leszcz, 2005).
It is vital to examine conflicting feelings in connection with the drug’s complete rejection. At the same time, it is critical to assist the group members in autonomously overcoming these conflicts and deciding on the necessity of entirely forsaking substances. Adopting a reduced decision-making matrix is needed to accomplish this.
Contrary attitudes to total abstinence are frequently related to the fact that, up until now, substance has been an important, if not the main factor, in a band member’s life and viewpoint. Positive and negative, and often obsessive, thoughts about it always occupied their brains (Jacobs et al., 2016). It is vital to assist the group members in learning to identify their most common issues using functional analysis.
Transition Stage
It is required to carefully and jointly analyze the ways of acquiring substance, the degree of involvement of the patient in the system of its distribution, the nature of the source, and the presence at home and at work of persons with whom anesthesia took place. It is necessary to analyze the list of suppliers and develop a specific strategy for building relationships with each of them to reduce and eliminate contacts (Wendt & Gone, 2018a).
It should be emphasized that the basic rules of behavior in such situations are a quick response without delay, reflection, or doubt. Cultivating ocular contact is vital, which occurs when a group member stares the interlocutor in the eyes and says a firm no, leaving no room for further discussion. It is especially tough in practice to refuse an obsessive drug offer. This should be given special attention while conducting training, such as teaching a group therapy participant to discriminate between different sentence patterns, use a nonverbal communication system, and follow norms of conduct in case of complications or refusal.
Final Stage
Challenges are best solved through dialogue or testing using a particular questionnaire to identify behaviors associated with an increased risk of HIV infection. Following the conclusion of testing, the results should be communicated to group therapy participants, as it is vital to make them aware of the amount of danger, which helps to enhance the incentive to modify behavior. The following motivational strategies produce the best outcomes for identifying risk variables.
Support for a group therapy participant’s point of view, reorientation, deterrent, explanation of the consequences of actions and inaction, and a proclamation of freedom of choice are among them (von Greiff & Skogens, 2019). When the patient is ready to modify their behavior, the leader should assist them in developing clear and precise tasks. It is also critical to help them understand the obstacles that must be faced. Among them is a psychological barrier to wearing condoms or discussing the subject in a sexual relationship.
References
Jacobs, E., Schimmel, C., Masson, R., & Harvill, R. (2016). Group counselling: Strategies and skills (8th ed.). Cengage Learning.
Kivlighan III, M., Owen, J., Drinane, J., Tao, K., & Liu, W. (2019). The detrimental effect of fragile groups: Examining the role of cultural comfort for group therapy members of color. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 66(6), 763-770. Web.
Novotney, A. (2019). Keys to great group therapy. American Psychological Association. Web.
Slone, N., Mathews-Duvall, S., Reese, R., & Kodet, J. (2015). Evaluating the efficacy of client feedback in group psychotherapy. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 19(2), 122-136. Web.
Stillman, M. A., Glick, I. D., McDuff, D., Reardon, C. L., Hitchcock, M. E., Fitch, V. M., & Hainline, B. (2018). Psychotherapy for mental health symptoms and disorders in elite athletes: A narrative review. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 53(12), 20–25. Web.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2015). Substance abuse treatment: Group therapy. A treatment improvement protocol TIP 41. SAMHSA.
von Greiff, N., & Skogens, L. (2019). Understanding the concept of the therapeutic alliance in group treatment for alcohol and drug problems. European Journal of Social Work, 22(1), 69–81. Web.
Wendt, D., & Gone, J. (2018a). Complexities with group therapy facilitation in substance use disorder specialty treatment settings. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 88, 9-17. Web.
Wendt, D. C., & Gone, J. P. (2018b). Group psychotherapy in specialty clinics for substance use disorder treatment: The challenge of ethnoracially diverse clients. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 68(4), 608–628. Web.
Wenzel, A., Liese, B. S., Beck, A. T., & Friedman-Wheeler, D. G. (2012). Group cognitive therapy for addictions. Guilford.
Yalom, I. D., & Leszcz, M. (2005). The theory and practice of group psychotherapy (5th ed.). Basic Books.