Wellness Calendar: Friday 27 June

The beauty of group support work
Irvin Yalom devoted a lot of his career in psychology to studying and practising group work. He came up with 11 things that can happen when people come together under the same roof. See what you think of the following, and see if you want to get stuck in…
Gaining hope: Hope is an important component of change. Having hope will keep people coming back for more, just as a lack of hope will drive people away. A good group will show participants just what they can achieve if they’re prepared to take a few risks here and there – by opening up a little bit at a time.
Recognising that you’re not alone: If a person is struggling with a particular problem on their own, it’s easy to think that they’re the only person doing so. Coming to a group where other people are going through similar issues and frustrations can be of great comfort. It can also help participants to find out what others are doing to improve their situation.
Receiving insights and information: In group work people can gain insights from a number of sources: through information presented by the facilitator, through listening to other participants sharing their experiences, and through one’s own self-awareness.
Giving back: To be of use by supporting others in a group – through listening, sharing, reassuring, assisting, etc. – can be one of the most amazing things someone can do. It can be particularly helpful to people with low self-worth.
Focusing on the way you relate to significant others: Being in a group away from friends and family allows people the opportunity to see how participants relate to each other. This information can then be used to improve relations outside of the group, back in the real world.
Aiding your social skills: Similar to above, group work affords people a chance to work on their own social skills by exploring and experimenting with how a person can present themselves in a safe, live setting.
Modelling the good bits of other people: There are likely to be some people in the group who individuals respect or warm to more than others. If there are elements of these people’s characters that a participant believes would be useful to model for themselves, there’s nothing to stop them from absorbing these qualities.
Using other people to work out who you are and what’s important to you: We can only truly know ourselves in relation to other people. The fact that other people in a group have their own life experiences, values, beliefs and standards will be of great help to us in understanding what we’re made up of, and what we might wish to change about ourselves.
Working well as a unit: If someone feels a bond with their fellow participants, if they develop a sense of belonging, if they start to care for others and feel that others, in turn, care for them, then they’re part of something special.
Letting go of stuff: If a participant does not feel judged, the group will be able to support them in letting go of stuff that’s no longer helpful in their life, such as people, values, ruminations, etc.
Being able to talk big: How often does one get to talk about things that are meaningful and purposeful? How often does one get to talk about hopes and fears, loss, grief, death? In group work you can, because in groups you don’t waste time on trivial subjects – you go straight into the (fairly) deep end.