The New Social Worker Vol. 20, No. 1, Winter 2013 | Page 12

Groups

I

A Good Group Runs Itself—and Other Myths
by Renee R. Zandee-Adams, MSW, LCSW

am not a “group” person. Don’t get
me wrong. I understand the therapeutic value of the group, as well as
the stages of group development for both
the group and the leader. I have excelled
in my academic study of group work and
successfully participated in countless role
plays in the presence of both peers and
mentors throughout my entire academic
career. However, I must confess, there
are many, many things I wish I had
known before beginning my first support
group for caregivers of individuals residing in a skilled nursing facility.

In the same way that knowing how
a car operates does not make one a good
driver, earning a master’s degree in

social work and studying the group process in depth does not necessarily make
one a good facilitator. I believe that the
skills needed to effectively facilitate a
group are often highly underrated. I also
believe that it is often assumed that if you
are intelligent and have people skills, you
can run a group. I have been present in
groups as both observer and participant
and generally have left with a less than
satisfied feeling and secretly wondered if
others felt the same way. This leads me
to believe that I was not alone in my lack
of preparedness and lack of respect for
the true work and skill needed to be a
good facilitator.

As professionals, we desire the
best for our clients. We want to provide
them with the tools to navigate their
way through whatever situation they
may be struggling with and achieve their
“healthiest selves.” Because of this, I am
going to share the pitfalls that I ran into
as a new facilitator and hope to prevent
you from experiencing the same.

I am going to share the biggest misconceptions that I held about the group
dynamic and how these misconceptions
affected my group, its development, and
its therapeutic value. First and foremost
was my belief that a “good” group essen-

tially “runs itself” followed by the belief
that my dual role as both Social Service
Director and support group facilitator
would somehow be beneficial to both
the group and the facility for which I was
employed and, lastly, my belief that all
participants, at their core, have a similar
goal of supporting and respecting one
another.

I have heard, for years, from many
respected individuals, that “the group
essentially runs itself.” The problem with
this belief is that, for many, it minimizes
the true importance of preparation. I
clung to this misconception as I decided
to develop my first caregiver support
group where I worked as a Social Service
Director in a skilled nursing facility. Having worked as a Skilled Nursing Facility
Director for four years, I identified a
great need for in-house support for the
family members of patients living there.
Generally, this population of caregivers
spent much of their day in the nursing
home and either didn’t have the energy
or the time to attend an off-site support
group. My solution was to offer a group
on Saturdays, on-site, in a safe, convenient, and familiar setting.

I followed the recipe for any successful group. I posted flyers, mailed out
personal invitations, collected various resource materials and handouts, reserved a
private area, and bought doughnuts. The
RSVPs were rolling in, and I had a surprisingly hefty group of approximately 15
caregivers. As the attendees were seated
and settled, I explained what I perceived
to be the purpose of the group, reviewed
some general guidelines and expectations, and asked that everyone introduce
themselves. So far so good. I then opened
the floor and asked if anyone had anything specific that he/she wanted to share.
Silence—not the silence that gently pushes
one to deeper insight, but the awkward
silence when no one really knows what to
say or how to begin or end.

Possibly, in an effort to end the
awkward silence, or maybe because the
attendees had an agenda quite different from my own, the support group
transformed itself into a forum for voicing complaints. There were complaints
about care, policies, administration,
and departments. In my inexperience,
I felt outnumbered, and my attempts at
redirection—the ones that served me so

10

Winter 2013

The New Social Worker

well in my one-on-one practice—seemed
to fail me in this setting.

Another misconception that I had
about facilitating a group was that my being a Director at the same facility where I
was facilitating the group was inherently
positive. I had worked for four years as
a Social Service Director in this facility.
I served residents, their families, and the
community while simultaneously representing the facility. Initially, I thought
this would be a win-win situation. Even
the facility administrator was hopeful
that the group would be so successful
that it might generate referrals from the
community.

The problem was that the surroundings, and I, were too comfortable. It was
just too easy to ask me a “quick” question. It seemed too difficult to expect
the group members to view me as a
facilitator when I may have just helped
them apply for financial resources,
select a mortuary, or locate lost dentures
just a day before! Quite frankly, I, too,
struggled with the required shifting of
gears. I also felt somewhat guarded in
what I said, or what I encouraged others
to talk about. Some of their complaints/
concerns were valid, but I believed that
by somehow agreeing with them, I was
indirectly turning my back on the facility
where I worked.

The last misconception I held was
that, at the core, each member shared the
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