How to Effectively Facilitate a Support Group

Effectively facilitating a support group is vital for the growth and health of the particular group. These days you can find support groups on just about any topic but ones that are most common are support groups for those who have lost a loved one, cancer, multiple sclerosis, and just about any other life threatening or progressive illness. To ensure the success of these groups, identifying a facilitator that understands group process will be the key to any groups success.

Instructions

• 1

  Find A Great Facilitator
  As mentioned in the introduction the key to successfully faciltating a support group is to find a great facilitator. This person can be almost anyone. It can be someone who has experienced the problem themselves or a trained social worker or therapist. No matter who the person is they need to understand the key elements of group process so that the group will be successful.

• 2

  3 steps to Forming and Maintaining a Group
  If a facilitator is to be successful, they need to understand the 3 key steps to starting a new group. They are forming, storming, norming, and performing.

• 3

  Forming
  Once a new group forms it nees to build an identity. People who attend a new group are anxious and look to the leader to create safety and purpose. A great facilitator will help guide the group to determine what they want to achieve as group members. Setting groundrules at this stage is important so that each member feels a stake in how the group will be run and what to expect.

• 4

  Storming
  At this stage of the group members will feel a bit more confident to speak out about their views and what they want the group to be about. There may be a grab for power or domination of the group by specific members. The group may have started out one way and now some people are disatisfied and are more likely to let others know. This will often bring up conflict and opposing views. For example, one person may want to have every session include a speaker, whereas, another member may want most of the sessions to include a time for check-in from each group member. This is normal and to be expected. Working through this stage to come to a compromise will be essential. Whatever is decided the facilitator needs to expect that some members will leave if their particular needs aren't being met and that is OK. The facilitator role is to listen to the group, clarify the needs of the majority and then help the group solidify their purpose once again.

• 5

  Norming
  At this stage, many conflicts have been worked through and members have learned about the strengths of individuals. Cohesion has developed and relationships are more solidified. Trust has been build and members are more likely to give in to the ideas of others even if they don't see eye to eye. The facilitator can take a less active role at this stage, but still needs to keep members on task and be careful not to let certain members dominate or take the floor longer at the exclusion of other members.

• 6

  Final Stage
  There are two other stages performing and adjourning which wont' be discussed in this article except to say that a group that is at the stage of performing is a more highly evolved version of the group that is at the norming stage. Adjourning is when the group has met it's goals or membership has shrunk and decisions to end the group or meet less frequently has been reached. Particularly in the last stage the facilitator must listen carefully to the needs of each group member and ensure that if the group is ending that members who still need to be part of a group can have that opportunity by joining another group or by continuing one on one contact with a group member that they trust.