Community Mental Health Group Essay

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Community mental health group: Alcohol Anonymous Group

Every recovering addict is welcome to the Sunday Open Meeting organized by Narcotics Anonymous which is located at St. Andrews close to the Sea Lutheran church, 936 Baltic Avenue. The theme of the meeting is ‘We do recover’ and is aimed at helping anyone who desires to be free from drug abuse. This meeting is supportive / therapeutic in nature. These Open Narcotics Anonymous meetings can be attended by anybody who desires to be a part of our Fellowship and everyone is welcome (Narcotics Anonymous, n.d.).

Narcotics Anonymous refers to a non-profit society or Fellowship comprising of people of both sexes who are battling drug addiction. The major function of the Fellowship is creating an avenue where recovering addicts can meet with each other from time to time which would help them stay clean. This Fellowship fosters complete liberation from addiction. Total recovery from all forms of addiction can be achieved via the 12 Traditions and 12 Steps of Narcotics Anonymous. The Fellowship is a worldwide, community-based society of recuperating drug addicts and it holds over 67,000 meetings every week across over 139 countries globally (Narcotics Anonymous, n.d.).

Anybody can attend the Fellowship, irrespective of race, religion, age, sexual identity, lack of faith or creed. Any forms of photographic and/or recording devices are banned from meetings thus “we are under no surveillance at any time”. Equally, it is advised that note-taking shouldn’t be done as members often see this as unusual. Lastly, at a given time in all meetings, everyone has to introduce themselves. Only First name is required and then we ask whether you are an Addict, Visitor, Student or just Interested in the institution. The Fellowship doesn’t provide exclusive meetings for any specific persons. People who have confidentiality concerns could attend a close-door meeting instead, where only addicts or those still unsure of their status are allowed (Narcotics Anonymous, n.d.).

Leaders could equally arise within these meetings. Certain persons often take charge of others within the peer groups and these persons would commonly set the mood and carry out organizational duties for the other group members. Extroverts often command more attention than introverts, however, people who don’t speak a lot but often carry out thoughtful analysis and self-examination could equally rise to become capable and respected leaders. Most groups desire and enjoy healthy interactions. The leaders of occupational therapy apply a number of techniques which aid interaction within the group. When the session commences, the group leader starts interaction by enjoining members to state their opinions of one another or to suggest ideas which will be responded to by everyone. As soon as the meeting starts, members expect the leader to direct them though it is important to ensure that everyone and not just the leader are able to communicate freely. When directly asked a question, the leader could direct the question to another member with questions like 'What would you do in Mary's situation?’ or ‘What do you think?’ (Creek & Lougher, 2011).

From observations of those who respond most times, the leader then creates methods where the less vocal members are better involved and everyone is allowed equal chances of participation. Silence could cause a rise in anxiety among certain members however interruptions every silent moment should be encourages. In some cases, silence gives members the opportunity to ruminate over the topic under discussion and create their unique opinions. When a discussion question is asked, it is important that a large percentage of members have the chance to provide an answer before progressing. Do not assume that a few members voice the opinions of the entire group. It is only when all members have had their say that a valid consensus on an issue can be achieved (Creek & Lougher, 2011).

By classifying the members based on task roles, an initiate will surely be present who will propose new ideas to the group. She/he will offer a new idea as regards problems, goals, procedures and solutions. Equally, there will be an information lover who demands a better explanation of proposed suggestions so as to determine their truthfulness as well as facts and authoritative information related to the issues under discussion. Also, there is the opinion seeker and he/she demands majorly for a better explanation of values related to the group’s objectives or values related to previous suggestions (Bate, 2010). 

The information supplier who provides generalizations and facts that are conclusive or that talks about his/her personal experience related to the group issue. The opinion supplier who provides his/her opinion related to a given suggestion. The main aim of this person is that their beliefs should be the major values and concerns of the group rather than related information and facts.

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There is an elaborator who explains suggestions based on developed meanings or examples, gives a basic logic for previously proposed suggestions and also attempts to check how a suggestion or idea would work out whenever adopted primarily based on related information and facts. There is the coordinator who clarifies and shows the connection between suggestions and ideas, attempts to mix suggestions and ideas together or to organize the actions of different sub-group members. There is the energizer who motivates the group to take a decision or action and tries to stimulate the group to carry out “higher quality” or “greater” activity. Finally, a procedural technician is present and his/her role is to speed up group actions by doing them his/herself e.g. arranging chairs or passing materials (Bate, 2010). 

If maintenance roles are applied in the assigning of functions to members, then there will be the encourager who commends, supports and follows the suggestion of others. She/he expresses solidarity and warmth in his/her attitude towards the other members, gives praise and commendation and severally shows empathy and concurrence with the ideas, suggestions and points of view of others. There is the harmonizer, who manages the disputes between members, helps to end disagreements, reduces the tension during times of conflict by cracking good jokes, has a gentle and calming attitude etc. (Bate, 2010). 

There is the compromiser who works from the midst of a conflict which involves his/her opinion or idea. She/He might decide to agree by letting go of his/her opinion, by admitting error, by making a partial compromise with the other group members or by disciplining him/herself so as to keep the group together. There is the gatekeeper who assists the efforts to ensure smooth communication by enjoining others to participate with statements like; "we haven’t gotten the ideas of Mr. X yet," etc., or by exerting control over the communication flow, "why don’t we limit the length of our contributions so that everyone will have a chance to contribute?" etc. The standard setter sets group standards. These set standards are focused on the group operations’ quality or they help enforce limits regarding the allowed individual conduct from group members (Bate, 2010). 

There is the group observer that takes record of certain parts of the group operation and then later supplies this data with its suggested meanings to be used for procedural evaluation by the group. The summarizer is the one who points out the group’s position in relation to its targets via a summary of previous occurrences, identifies deviation of the group from agreed goals and direction or queries the subject of the group discussion. There is a reality tester that measures the success of the group with certain standard(s) of group operations within the group task context. Therefore, the person might examine and challenge the “facts”, the “practicality”, the “procedure” or the “logic” of a suggestion or an aspect of the group discussion (Bate, 2010). 

Irving Yalom (1995) carried out an advanced study of group psychotherapy focusing on the creation of an effective theoretical logic to be used for group psychotherapy, advanced research and the description of therapeutic features i.e. components which directly influence and measure patient improvement.

Therapeutic factors refer to the features of group-based therapy which are identified during group operations. They refer to the major components that improve the condition of a member. These factors are the culmination of efforts by members, the group leader and/or the person him/herself (Yalom, 1995). 

The first of these factors is the infusion of hope. Several clients join up with a therapy setting with a defeated mentality and are often sorrowful for their inability to manage their substance use. They always feel they have run out of options and have no hope of a better future. When persons having these mentalities join up with people who have faced similar issues, they are presented with the awesome opportunity of observing change in the life of others and concurrently having their personal little triumphs celebrated and commended by the other members. From this, their hope starts to increase. The effect of hope and the attention given to this factor is of high importance among the several therapeutic….....

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