Group work in the schools

Group Counseling in the Schools is the first text of its kind to recognize the increasing specialization needs of school counselors and to focus exclusively on what a school counselor needs to know to provide effective prevention and intervention group work with students.

School counselors now make up close to one-half of the counselors graduating from master's level training programs, and this text recognizes that group work in schools is very different from group work in the clinic. While few school counselors receive any formal instruction on how to run task groups, psychoeducational groups or even how to conduct group counseling within the specialized school context, Group Counseling in the Schools focuses solelyon the specialized group work that school counselors perform.

Written from a systemic perspective and in a multicultural context, the core of this text involves the systemic approach to group work: preparing school counseling students to facilitate the systemic group process in the school context, from planning the group, through the four stages of group work: forming and orienting, transition, working, and termination. Mastering the facilitation of these defined stages of group work allows school counselors to effectively work with students in all types of school-based group contexts. Throughout the book, students are exposed to the foundations of group work by exploring the historical forces that shaped group work in schools today, the therapeutic factors that underlie effective group approaches, and the advantages and disadvantages of group work in the schools. Students will build a foundation of multicultural, ethical and legal group work attitudes, and knowledge and skills before learning to distinguish the roles of group members and group leaders.

Brief Table of Contents:

SECTION I: Foundations of Group Work

Chapter 1: The Value of Group Work: Functional Group Models and Historical Perspectives by Julia A Southern, Bradley T. Erford, Ann Vernon, and Darcie Davis-Gage

Chapter 2: Ethical and Legal Foundations of Group Work in the Schools by Lynn E. Linde, Bradley T. Erford, Danica G. Hays, and F. Robert Wilson

Chapter 3: Multicultural Issues in Group Work by Cheryl Holcomb-McCoy and Cheryl Moore-Thomas

Chapter 4: Distinguishing Group Member Roles by George Leddick

Chapter 5: Leading Groups in the Schools by Amy Milsom

SECTION II: Systemic Group Work: Planning and Process

Chapter 6: Planning for Group Work in the Schools by F. Robert Wilson

Chapter 7: Forming and Orienting Groups by Nathaniel Ivers and Debbie W. Newsome

Chapter 8: The Transition Stage in Group Work by D. Paige Bentley Greason

Chapter 9: The Working Stage by Kevin A. Fall, H. George McMahon, and Danica G. Hays

Chapter 10: Termination in the School Setting by Danica G. Hays, Tammi F. Milliken, and Catherine Y. Chang

SECTION III: Group Work in Action: Models and Special Issues

Chapter 11: Leading Task Groups in Schools by Janice L. DeLucia-Waack and Amy Nitza

Chapter 12: Psychoeducational Groups in Schools by Julia Bryan, Sam Steen, and Norma Day-Vines

Chapter 13: Theoretically Based Group Models Used in Counseling and Psychotherapy Groups by Ann Vernon and Darcie Davis-Gage

Chapter 14: Special Issues in Group Work in Schools by Susan H. Eaves and Carl J. Sheperis

Chapter 15: Using Activities and Expressive Arts in Group Work by Bradley T. Erford, Debbie W. Newsome, and Mary Keene

Chapter 16: Accountability in Group Work and School Counseling by Bradley T. Erford