Planning a group
Just but a brief overview of the case at hand, Hellen Petrakis is known to be married to John. The two have three adult children whom they apparently take care of. This is regardless of the fact that two out of the three have a source of income. Besides, Hellen also takes care of John’s mother, Magda, who is her mother in law. However, there have been issues with the caregiving responsibility whereby Hellen was, at some point, silently blamed for not taking responsibility. For instance, it is noted that Alec could not do a simple task as taking care of his laundry. This, according to him, was the responsibility of his mother, who was at the same time, mandated to take care of all other members of the family. To this end, it is evident that the social issue is in regard to caregiving along with sandwich generation. Also, it is indicated that Alec had been struggling with sobriety, and had reached a point where had been taken for a 2-year rehabilitation. This incorporates the component of serving a family member, Hellen, of an individual with an addiction. Therefore, the plan for whole this scenario can be outlined as follows.
The type of treatment group that can be applicable in Hellen Petrakis case is the cognitive-behavioural/problem-solving group. This kind of treatment group will be important to both Hellen and Alec. For the case of Hellen, the problem-solving group will help in giving insights on the areas that she needs to improve on as far as her caregiving responsibility of the family is concerned as well as the sandwich generation aspect, and this is given the fact that she is expected to extend care to the elderly mother in law and her young children. On the other hand, when it comes to Alec, the cognitive-behavioural group will help in overcoming his addiction as this could be mental, and this is based on the fact that he was still using drugs even after he was subjected to a rehabilitation program.
On the other hand, when it comes to the purpose of this group, which is the cognitive-behavioural and problem-solving group, the aim of this is to basically correct behavior. Besides, this kind of focused group is also aimed at coming up with solutions to problems at hand. For the case of membership, this group comprises of people with similar conditions so that they may share their experiences. The aim of having people with the same problems in a single pool is so as to make them comfortable to share what they are going through (DeLucia-Waack, 2004). In addition, this will increase the chances of brainstorming on the best possible alternatives.
When it comes to the method of recruiting, this will follow the criteria of clustering people according to their problems. In this case, those with similar issues, as mentioned earlier, are classified together. In extreme cases, the recruitment should be sensitive to gender, and this is especially when the pre-existing condition is only based on either the female or male. Besides that, when it comes to the composition of the group, this should have both the young and the old. This is because the ideas of the old may help the young and vice versa. Therefore, the composition should be representative of people of different generations.
Conversely, for the size of the group, this should not be too large. It is recommended that the group should not exceed more than 15 persons. This is so as to ensure that there is effectiveness in the delivery of therapy. When a group is so large, it may be difficult to address the problems that face everybody (DeLucia-Waack, 2004). Apart from that, a larger group may hinder the chances of some victims to open up their problems as they may take this as advertising their issues and not sharing as could be the case for a smaller group.
Last but not least, there is the aspect of open or closed conversation. In this case, given the sensitivity of the matters addressed and the need to uphold the ethical principle of confidentiality, the discussions should be done in closed forums or doors. This is so as to avoid chances of the information getting in the hands of people who should not get it in the first place. Lastly, there is an element of monitoring. In this case, there will be the periodic evaluation of the victims with the aim of determining if there are any improvements. The monitoring can be done biweekly or once a month. In this case, Hellen is expected to come for evaluation with the aim of noting any progress or new developments. The following of this treatment plan as outlined in this discussion will serve a great deal in solving the problem that is raised in the Petraki’s family.
Reference
DeLucia-Waack, J. L. (2004). Handbook of group counseling and psychotherapy.
Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage Publications.