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Creating  Effective Group Environments 

Ericka Soriano

Being a lead teacher in a group mentoring program can be a rewarding experience, but it also comes with challenges. Sometimes the students are collaborative, engaged and willing to work in groups , and other times the students are reluctant and resistant to group activities. I am currently a  Master’s of Social Work student at Loma Linda University. In my current quarter, I have found some insightful information that may be useful to those who are trying to create effective group environments.   

 

Maximizing choices when possible is essential; this can help students feel like they still have agency and control. Giving youth a choice about where to sit, what topic to discuss, what color journal to choose or what modality to use to answer a question can be simple ways to hand them back some of the power.  

 

Creating a non-judgmental, accepting, and safe group environment can help youth express their views freely. That means that group leaders need to be aware of the diverse experiences, thoughts and values of the students in their groups and honor this through listening with inclusion and respect. Leaders also need to be prepared to share their own experiences and challenges to model vulnerability.  

 

It is also essential for a lead teacher to avoid moralizing and blaming when students are not meeting expectations or following standards of behavior. As trauma-informed educators, we instead need to discuss problem behaviors directly and and help students identify situations and experiences that may cause certain maladaptive behaviors to surface. If I notice an individual having a difficult time during a session, I try  to explore their feelings about the group in a private conversation. This can be difficult in the busyness of the school day, especially when  I am not on campus daily. I have found it helpful  to use my support staff or school personnel (counselor, administrator or mental health clinician)  to step in when a student needs my one-on-one attention or when I think it may be helpful to connect with a student after our scheduled group meeting. I use this individual time with the student to try to uncover motivating factors that may  help the student participate in the future.  

 

I  find it helpful to remember that promoting universality and imitative behavior can be impactful, as individuals often imitate or feed off the leader's energy. I use this principal to remind me to call out peers who are displaying the effective group dynamics we are trying to instill. I hope that next year we can give our youth more opportunities to lead activities and engage in peer mentoring to empower youth-voice and participation. We are also considering how club leadership positions may positively influence student participation and engagement as well as encourage more students to join and attend regularly.  

 

I have found that having clear expectations and group agreements, and stating them when necessary throughout our group sessions, has impacted the creation of group norms and standards of behavior. We  have found that our community commitment, a signed document that asked students to commit to upholding our values during each session, has been a powerful way to represent a shared community values. Our RISE acronym has been very helpful in giving students a quick and easy way to remember what we expect during each group activity. In  addition, we have created multiple games that continue to reinforce and remind students of what our RISE values look like in practice. .  

 

Lastly, giving myself grace has also been essential for creating supportive spaces for youth. I remind myself often that change can occur slowly and in the individual’s unique developmental and emotional time. This encourages me to continue to invest even when students seem to resist or ignore my efforts. I try to show students that I also make mistakes and face challenges, so that  they will see me as more relatable and hopefully be more comfortable engaging in group vulnerability when I present them with the opportunity..   

 

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