Leadership Skills and Functions
In the case of leadership skills and functions, building a safe place is the key objective, which can be achieved by protecting group members from any form of hostility. The accentuation and emphasis will be put on both interaction processes with members as well as among participants. In order words, there will not be any form of communication-based restriction due to the group being an open and welcoming space for the exchange of thoughts and ideas. In addition, there will be strict rules against maleficence and judgment, which need to be eliminated to ensure effective communicative procedures. The group will harness trust and empathy through active listening, encouragement, restatement, confronting, and reflecting on feelings. As a therapist, it is essential to conduct a summary, give honest feedback, and provide high-quality psychoeducation with a description of logical consequences. It is also critical to be initiating, evaluate, and facilitate by applying to block, linking, and modeling techniques.
Gender Violence
Gender violence is a broad term, which describes a wide range of specific issues. These might include rape, sex trafficking and prostitution, sexual assault, sexual harassment, and intimate partner violence or domestic violence (Merry, 2016). In other words, all these crimes or violent acts are committed based on gender. Although traditionally, it is perceived as males oppressing females, it can occur between same-gender couples as well as against men.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
The given group proposal focuses on the extensive utilization of cognitive-behavioral therapy for gender violence victims to ensure their proper recovery from the traumatic experience. The provided approach was chosen due to the evidence suggesting that women achieved a substantial reduction in the levels of distress after the completion of the therapy program. In addition, its structured nature can be highly useful for group settings to eliminate the factor of disorder and chaos.
Rationale
Cognitive-behavioral therapy should include not only what is associated with discoveries in conditioning and theories of learning, but also all the information obtained in experimental psychology. CBT involves restructuring the environment and social interactions and, to a lesser extent, modifying somatic processes through biological interventions (Corey et al., 2010). Cognitive-behavioral therapy should reduce human suffering and limitations in the ability to act.
Group Type
Focusing heavily on current factors contributing to the persistence of the problem does not mean ignoring the client’s history. However, the amount of attention that is paid to events from the client’s life experience in the past directly depends on their contribution to the distress that the client is experiencing in the present.
Membership Criteria & Recruitment
It is important to note that not all willing participants will be accepted to the specified group. Due to the highly limited group size, which is focused on efficiency and thoroughness, stricter criteria for selection will be applied. It is important to understand that a person with a more severe case will be prioritized over individuals with milder ones.
Specific Objectives
The specific objectives will revolve around the goals, and the most vital purpose is to create a welcoming and supportive environment. In addition, the aim will be put on developing effective coping mechanisms for distress and encouraging personal growth and positive action. It is also necessary to advocate and promote Me Too movement initiatives through education as well as teaching the symbolic anthem “A Rapist in Your Path” to encourage strength.
Topics & Activities
There will be a total of seven sessions, with the first one being focused on the introduction and meet-up. The following sessions will address personal story reveals, psychoeducation, Me Too postulates, the anthem, positive action encouragement, and development of personal philosophy.
Outcome Evaluation
The procedures, as well as the criteria for evaluating the results of psychological counseling, may be different. The assessment can be carried out, for example, during the counseling itself, after the beginning, after the end of the counseling (Nadkarni et al., 2015). Multiple evaluations of the results of psychological counseling allow the client to make sure that it is going well. The effects of psychological counseling can be assessed sometime after the completion of counseling if it is assumed that its positive results will not appear immediately and so that they can be fully appreciated. The last version of the procedure for evaluating the outcomes of psychological counseling is most often used when the properties and forms of the client’s behavior changed in the course of psychological counseling are sufficiently inert, stable, and transform slowly, hardly noticeably. These can be, for example, abilities, character traits, habits of the client.
Homework
The homework will primarily be based on reading and getting familiar with official documentation and information on gender violence prevention. For example, one of the mandatory readings will be World Health Organization’s and UN Women’s approaches for the given problem. In the case of the former, promoting gender equality is the most critical element of violence prevention. In addition, the school initiatives need to be well-established to properly address the gender attitudes and norms from a young age. Community interventions are vital to engaging men and empowering females (WHO, n.d.). UN Women is also an outstanding source for gaining insight into gender violence prevention measures (UN Women, 2020). One should note the fact that women’s rights are human rights, which is why it is also protected by the relevant laws.