PLANNING THE GROUP

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PLANNING THE GROUP

• Planning marks the beginning of the workers
  involvement in the group endeavor.

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PLANNING THE GROUP

• Planning includes
• Forming the group
• On-going adjustments
• Forming the Group
• Individual
• Group as a Whole
• Environment

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PLANNING THE GROUP

• Planning Model for Group Work
• 1. Establishing the Groups Purpose
• 2. Assessing Potential Sponsorship
• 3. Recruiting Members
• 4. Composing the Group
• 5. Orienting Members
• 6. Contracting
• 7. Preparing the Environment
• 8. Reviewing the literature
• 9. Selecting monitoring and evaluation tools
• 10. Preparing a written group proposal
• 11. Planning virtual groups

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PLANNING THE GROUP

• 1. Establishing the Groups Purpose
• - Statement of Purpose answers What are
  we doing here together? And helps prevent lack
  of direction.

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PLANNING THE GROUP

• Statement of Purpose includes
• - Information on problems or issues to address
• - Range of individual and group goals to
  accomplish
• - How individuals and group might work together

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PLANNING THE GROUP

• Statement of purpose can be
• Group-Worker-Generated
• Agency-Staff-Generated
• Member-Generated
• Community-Generated

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PLANNING THE GROUP

• 2. Assessing Potential Sponsorship and
  Membership
• Purpose, focus, goals, and sanctions of the
  group are conditioned by the setting and the
  clientele.

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PLANNING THE GROUP

• Sponsorship pay attention to the potential fit
• Membership who should be recruited

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PLANNING THE GROUP

• 3. Recruiting Members
• Considering sources from which potential members
  can be identified and referred to the group
• - contacting potential members directly or key
  people in the network of potential members
• - mailing and posting announcements
• - preparing television and radio announcements
• - web-sites
• - issuing press releases

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PLANNING THE GROUP

• 4. Composing the Group
• - Worker chooses members according to their
  needs and the requirements of the
  group-as-a-whole.

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PLANNING THE GROUP

• Homogeneity members have a similar purpose
  for being there and have some personal
  characteristics in common.
• Heterogeneity diversity of members culture,
  coping skills, life experiences, and levels of
  expertise.
• Diversity development, age, gender, and
  socio-cultural factors
• Size varies depending on the objectives of
  group and attributes of members.
• Open vs. Closed

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PLANNING THE GROUP

• 5. Orienting Members
• - Worker screens members for appropriateness
  and orients to group.
• - Explaining purpose of group
• - Familiarizing members with group
  procedures
• - Screening members for appropriateness

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PLANNING THE GROUP

• 6. Contracting
• Contract a written or verbal agreement between
  two or more members of a group.
• Contracting for member goals roles, goals and
  how individual goals fit with the group goals.

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PLANNING THE GROUP

• Contracting for group procedures duration and
  frequency of meetings, attendance requirements,
  confidentiality of discussions, time and place of
  meetings, attendance fees, monitoring or
  evaluation procedures, or other rules governing
  behavior in a group how discussions will take
  place, etc.

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PLANNING THE GROUP

• 7. Preparing the environment
• Physical setting room size, space, seating
  arrangements, furnishings, atmosphere, and
  special arrangements

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PLANNING THE GROUP

• Securing financial support
• - How will expenses associated with the group
  be met?
• Making special arrangements
• - Consider any special needs
• - Make arrangements that will
• accommodate all members
• ability to attend

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PLANNING THE GROUP

• 8. Review the Literature
• Evidenced-based Practice
• Articles and book chapters that present case
  examples or qualitative studies of similar groups
• Empirically based articles or book chapters that
  present findings
• World Catalogue (or other data-bases) to search
  for books written on similar group experiences
• Field-tested and evidenced-based manuals and
  curriculum for conducting a similar group

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PLANNING THE GROUP

• 9. Selecting Monitoring and Evaluation Tools
• Decide what you want to monitor and what tool(s)
  you will use to do it.
• Decide how goal accomplishment will be determined

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PLANNING THE GROUP

• 10. Preparing a written group proposal

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PLANNING THE GROUP

• 11. Planning Virtual Groups