Paper Example on Self-Help Group

Introduction

A self-help group is also known as a support group; there are a group of people who come together with the purpose of providing mutual support to each other.in a support group the members the members always share common problem this will still make them work towards attaining a given goal or objective(McCrady and Irvine,1989). A self-help group can be formed by people who have a common disease or addiction problem, the group will always enable them to share different experiences about personal health conditions and with this, the new members are likely to be encouraged and given hopes.

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In the traditional society members of the family and friends were very active in providing social support to the affected victims in the society, but with the social changes in the modern society, people have decided to join with each other to share mutual interest and concerns. Self-help group may operate informally or follow the program set in the group constitution; the group occasionally meets in members home or the local churches and social centres.

AA group to which I am a member is supported in Eustis, FL. It has 23 members in total. This is a particular group for drug court participant. The group was formed with the mutual goal of members helping each other to deal with and if possible to heal or to recover from the problem of drug addictions. AA group have specific modes of social support emerge, through the self-disclosure members can share their stories, stresses and recoveries feeling are. By sharing stories members always get into a position to realize that they are not alone in that condition problem. This always lessens the isolations that many victims of the same situation undergo. Being an active member of the group I had an opportunity to attend four sessions of groups meeting. The sessions were running for two hours each, all 23 members of the group participated in the first session. 20 members attended the second session as other members left with apologies.

The third and fourth sessions were divided according to the health condition and the recovery stage of members. In the third session, a doctor was invited who took the group through guiding and counseling. The medical condition of every member of the group was tested; this enables the doctor to understand the actual stage of addiction recovery.

In the group sessions I was advantaged to make notes on how the self-help group operates under different subtopics thus; the content and the process of how the meeting is taking place, then the structures of the group and how members are participating on the topics for discussion, and the command and behaviour of the group leaders. The last point I had an opportunity to note was how the members are applying the discussed issues.

Content and Process

Different topics were discussed by members of the first group which was discussed was the sharing ways for members to be more independent every day.This topic was suggested by a member of the group and was seconded by the group secretary as the first topic to be discussed by the group. Members were very active when talking about this topic. Everyone in the group was encouraged to talk about how they have participated and willing to join to uplift other members of the group.

The discussion was led by a chairperson who framed the points in question forms. Questions like; how often have you assisted other members of the group? Another problem which was asked is How much can we actually contribute as members to support the financial disadvantage members of the group. Members of the group devoted to the topic and every member were willing to commit to uplift other members.

This topic was very relevant as a number of the members of the self-help group are not financially stable due to drug addiction which always takes a better part of their productive time. The means of discussion which was organized in a way that every member was to contribute a point was very effective. This ensured that all members added their points without being biased. Every single thought of members was considered and by the end of the discussion members agreed to participate fully in assisting each other financially. This discussion yield a better result, for example, one member decided to contribute 1000$ to another member to start a business, and this brought joy to the members of the group.

The second point which was discussed in details was what members should do during their free time. The purpose of this discussion was to increase awareness of the effects of drug and make members busy and engaged during their free time to avoid thinking negatively about using drugs. When discussing this point member were divided in group of four, and each group was to come up with four points of activities which can be carried during free time. Each group selected a secretary who was to note down points which were jointly supported by all members (Gartner and Riessman, 1977).

The events which were forwarded by most groups included; visiting children homes together as a social group, attending seminars and crusades which participate in activities which are in line with the values and mission of the group, participating on talent building activities where most members agreed to form a group football team to train members who could be having a hobby of playing football.

The remaining part of the group overwhelmingly agreed to join gym club to do morning and evening exercises which could also help to keep them fit which also help most members in staying fit. By properly engaging free time members of the group agreed that most of their time would be productive exercises and there will be no time to be used in taking drugs or joining a lousy friend.

The last topic which was discussed by members was actually how to became successfully social, this literally, how members could easily relate to another part of the society, freely without fear of being judged. This topic was very significant because most members of the group always complained that they are getting a hard time participating fully in the social activities as are perceived to be under drug influence on a daily basis. The discussion of this point was conducted by the chairperson who suggested that members with point clarifications to lift their hands for proper communication in the group and maintain the order of the house.

During the discussion of this point a member admitted that it is difficult to mingle if you are not free with the people around you, he confessed that he had one day stopped from contributing a point in a family meeting as the members perceived that he was always drunk and under drug-influenced. All of the points discussed were noted down by the secretary as the members agreed to use them as a reference point to set the regulations for the group.

Group Dynamics and Participants

The group had a positive atmosphere, and this was created by a number of factors which include leadership style and approach, this is shown the way leaders freely interact with the members and the actual message which they send out by their characters and behaviors, their language and attitudes are among the crucial factors that influenced group atmosphere.

The leadership of the group has always been encouraged to use positive language and positive behavior which helps the team to share ideas, interact freely and to build positive rapport (Katz, 1993). The feel of the team environment is another attractive value of the group; members are very friendly to each other, sociable and conducive to positive interaction with one another.

The opportunities for the group members to work together also helped to create a positive and reliable atmosphere where all members feel free to participate in every group activity. The team energy and power gave hopes to members who feeling neglected due to drug addiction. The bond of brotherhood is powerful that is difficult to separate members of the support group from each other.

The group also formed a set of rules and regulations which helped to remove toxic team members; these are people who undermine the team activities and its leadership. The rules insist on eliminating such members even if the negative member is the best player of the group; this help to install discipline and ensure that the group is under control, putting it on a favorable atmosphere for people recovering from the drug(Nylund,2000).

The group is in the norming developmental stage. This is witnessed as members are actively participating in group activities. The members have an interpersonal relationship which is also characterized by a strong bond of cohesion. Members are willing to exchange their ideas and opinions by facts presented by other members. I also noted that the group engaged in active acknowledgment of all members contributions, participating in community building and in solving group issues.

Another critical point which I pointed out in this stage is that leadership is shared and members solve any problem without involving outsiders. The data is also continually flowing between members without any secret hidden to other members of the group, and the creativity is very high in this stage which is characterized by the openness in sharing of information.

The level of participation of members was worth noting, all members were directly and actively involved in group activities. This is seen from the point of generating ideas where members gave out their opinions and thoughts on the new changes that the group should ion making adopt. Apart from coming with new ideas, members are also involved in decision-making processes.

By including all members in group activities; they have been very active and supportive of the further development of the group and ensure working together to achieve the mission and goals of the support group. Even though the old members of the group always try to be very active in participation but the group official, though they command and authority ensured that new members of the group are still not left out in any single activity of the self-help group.

I feel that members benefited a lot from the group activities. Some of the group members who were actively affected by drug addiction acted as an excellent example to new members as they have completely stopped using drugs after joining this support group. Some members also benefited from charity donations from other members of the group; this helped to uplift their economic status in the society. By members getting involved in commercial activities less of their time are being spent on drugs.

Leadership Behaviors

The preferred leadership style for the group is democratic; where members are always given time to participate in the decision making. However some special situations of the group decisions require autocratic, that's high performing and talented team of leaders (Barak et al.2008). The leadership of the support group about believes and decision making, the group is headed by the chairperson who acts as the final and overall decision maker.

The chairperson was jointly elected by all members as his leadership skill and management personality out rule every single member of the group. His ability to make a rational judgment and certain honesty have acted as a strong pillar of the group. Accountability, reliability, and integrity were some of the significant leadership skills that were used to evaluate leaders in different positions to guide the group.

The skills of commitment and passion were instrumental and appropriate in that leader with such skills played a significant role in encouraging other group members to be persistent with the group activities, members of the group embrace these skills from the leaders, and this made them passionate about every single event of the group. It helped to gain the respect of the group members. This hel...