Good Group Counselling Journal #3: Group Therapy Essay Example

Group Counselling Journal #2: Group Therapy

Metaphor for this Session
For describing this session, I will choose two metaphors: I will call one of them a “personal metaphor”, and the second one a “session metaphor”. The metaphors would best describe my personal dynamics during the session such as arriving somehow late to a distinction after a long process journey. I never thought that I would be able to travel that far with my emotions. Even though this was the last session before ending the therapy, it had moved me to an area that I never thought that I can be. The reason why I chose “arriving late” relates to my desire that I can be able to taste a feeling of relieved from heavy emotions. The relief, however, also gave an insight into how group therapy can work, and how the healing process in group therapy looks like. In the metaphor of the session, this session has created an image in my mind that everyone in the group is putting his or her old heavy stuff in the middle of our therapeutic circle. In my opinion, this session went very well where everyone in the group was able to move deep into areas that increased the quality not only for this session itself, but also for the group process overall.

Behavioural Description

First Part of the Session
At the beginning, we decided to review what we did in the last session, and gave the leader (A) feedback. Then, we went around the circle checking on how we are feeling, and almost everyone feeling ok, but tired. In particular, I mentioned that I am feeling good as I was busy last week working in a new research project, and this week I am still tired, but I am glad that everything is going well (PVIM). (B) mentioned that we have three hours in this session as it is the last session before ending the therapy sessions, and he asked if there is any particular thing that we should talk about today. We looked to each other in silence (PCM), then (C) mentioned that she was not sure how that will be (VCM) because she didn’t want to take the whole time in the session. (A) looked at us and asked if we all agreed to focus on (C)’s issue. We all agreed (VIM). (C) then started talking about how she felt last two days when the image of her grandmother came to her mind. She talked about her experiences when got a call for her father telling her that her grandmother was sick and in critical condition. (C)’s voice was sad and her eyes were full of tears (NVIM, NPIM). (D) then said that she was wondering what brought this experience to (C)’s mind this week? (C) mentioned that she was listening to some old songs on her computer, and some of them were related to that time. I asked her what happened when she received the call from her father. I felt this question was very intense for her as she sat in silence before she cried, and said that she is afraid (NVIM, NPIM). At that time, she was living in the dorms, and she had to leave the dorms and drive home for three hours. She was uncomfortably laughing when she explained how she hated that moment when her dorms friends tried to calm her down (PCM, NNIM). She went to the hospital and saw her grandmother in very serious condition. All her family got the bad news that her medical condition is not well. (B) put her hand on (C)’s shoulder (PNIM) as (C) was crying and her voice was low (NPIM). (C) explained that she had different feelings: fear, as it was the first time for her seeing a dead body, sadness, as she lost her grandmother, and guilt, as she did not have the time to say goodbye to her. She put her hands on her face and we looked to each other in silence with tears in our eyes (PCM, NNIM ). (A) then thanked (C) for sharing that, and he knows exactly how tough that was as he resonated with the feeling of fears. (A) also is expecting to get bad news as his grandfather is sick. (A) wasn’t sure how he can handle that, and his facial expression showed the feeling of uncertainty. I said that sometimes it is easier to handle bad news if you are expecting it. He agreed, but he said this topic itself is tough to handle (NVIM). Then we went back to (C), and (B) asked her how she felt after hearing (A)’s concern. She mentioned that she wanted to hear from us on how we could deal with feelings related to grieving. (D) mentioned that she can read to us a small part from grief resources from her computer after the break, and we all liked this idea. (A) also talked about the importance of talking about emotions during grieving, and he suggested using empty chair technique.

The Second Part of the Session

We took a chair and put it beside (C) and (B). Then, we took a quick break and when came back, we decided to go around the circle checking on what we done thus far. As (C) and (A) had already talked, we went directly to (F) as she sat right beside (A). She started saying that hearing (C) talk about her grandmother made her feel very sad since she couldn’t have that lovely feeling towards her grandmother because her grandmother remarried and moved to another province when (F) was a child. Her grandmother, however, is still in touch with (F)’s family, and she is still sending gifts and Christmas cards. (F) explained why she resonated with (C) when she felt guilty after her grandmother passed away. She mentioned that because she has no warm touchy feelings toward her grandmother, and she is getting old. She is afraid that if something happens to her, (F) will balm herself and feels guilty. (F) was crying heavily, so she sometimes couldn’t speak (NPIM, NVIM). (A) then asked her if her grandmother was sitting in the empty chair next to her, what would she say to her. (F) put her both hands on her mouth, and started crying (NNIM, NPIM). Then, she started talking about how she really loves her grandmother and she wished that she had a chance when she was little to know her well. She also said that she really appreciated all of the gifts and the Christmas cards that she sent every year (PVIM). We were all tearing up hearing all of that heavy conversation (NPIM). After that, we sat in silence for a bit. (B) was facing me and she saw tears in my eyes, and she asked me what was going on. I mentioned to them that I also really resonated with what we had talked about. Hearing (C) and (F) talk about death actually brought the image of my sister-in-law who died in car accident three months ago. Then I explained how tough that was as she and my fiancé are twins, and they used to live together. My eyes were full of tears when I explained how difficult to handle that heavy stuff alone here for me (NPIM, NVIM). I told them that I was holding a lot of pressures on my shoulders, because my fiancé left her family house and didn’t want to talk with anybody as a denial of what happened. This put a lot of pressure on me as well as her parents kept calling and asking me to talk to her. I was very intense in telling that story (NVIM). I explained that sometimes when I Skype with my fiancé I still remember her sister, and I get that feeling of sadness, but the problem is that I can’t talk about it with my fiancé. (A) then asked me if I wanted to use the empty chair, I tried, but I couldn’t (NPIM).

The Third Part of the Session

We took a break again, then (D) inquired if there is anyone who wanted to share a specific thing, if not, she can read a small part of her grief resources. She read to us about some beliefs that grievers always have, and she gave us a list of ways that particularly can help to cope with grieving (PVIM). After that, we decided to give some feedback. (C) started by saying that she really appreciated the time that we gave her to talk about her personal issues, and that really helped. I also mentioned that even though the topic itself (grieving) wasn’t easy topic and it brought very intense memories, it gave us the opportunity to talk about some heavy stuff. (E) mentioned that she also felt the topic wasn’t an easy topic to discuss, and she felt really afraid that something like that could happen in her life. She, however, thanked (D) for sharing the coping strategies in dealing with grief and found them very helpful resources.

Self Reflection

Trigger One
At the beginning of the session, when (C) talked about her story of receiving bad news of someone passing away, it made me think more about the topic of death and how this topic is a highly personal issue (COG). I can tell why hearing (C) made me feel highly emotional and intense during the session (AFF). It is because her story opened up very deep memories of death and grieving which I didn’t want to share with the group. An instance of memories was in 2003 when a huge terrorist attack happened in Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia. In this attack, more than 200 people were killed and my aunt’s husband was also killed in this attack. When (C) was talking about her grandmother, how she received the news, and her feelings of fear and sadness at the time, I immediately remembered my aunt and the time when we got the bad news (COG). After hearing the story, I could feel the past instance in my stomach, and my hands were sweating (SOM). This may explain how this topic is very intense and very deep.

Trigger Two

In the middle of the session, when (F) talked about her feeling of guilt as she couldn’t give her grandmother the same level of love, and encouraged by (A) to use the empty chair, hearing the conversation and seeing how heavy it was has made us feel overwhelmed and uncertain (AFF). I was wondering if how I would do the same, and I was asking myself if I would be able to. When (B) saw tears in my eyes and asked me what was going on, at that time, I didn’t know why I was resisting my tears from falling (AFF). It was interesting, however, to realize how many feelings that I was holding when I started talking about my story. Writing about this experience is giving me an insight into why some people choose not to talk about their feelings. It doesn’t mean they don’t feel. Sometimes people couldn’t find the right words to explain their feelings, or they don’t have the right place to share these feelings. I think I was the one who was looking for the right place to share feelings as I learned that men should be less self-disclosing and less expressive (COG).

Meta-communication

Climate
The climate at the beginning of the session was very cold and seemed as if I wasn’t ready for the session. I felt my mind was out of the room. After checking in, however, when (C) brought the heavy topic, I gradually connected with the group and started feeling the space of the room. The second half of the session was the most intense, especially when I started talking about my story as I felt somehow the room was out of oxygen.

Cross-Session Dynamic

I found this session was much different than the previous sessions where we went deep and discussed a very heavy topic. I think we came to the session prepared and encouraged because it was the last session before ending the therapy session, and this is why I think this session went deep. Usually, (F) is quiet in the group, but she was, however, in this session more opened. She was able to talk freely about her story and she was really emotionally intense.

Helpful/Non –helpful

I think the entire group did a great job in considering and presenting the issue at the beginning of the session. I liked the role of (A) and (B), and their way of encouragement to share thoughts. Even though (B) wasn’t emotionally intense, she was able to catch feelings, and that was clear when she asked me what was going on as I was really emotionally intense when (C) was telling her story. Overall, I think we did an excellent cooperative job.