NAMI Family Support Group Facilitator Training Group Dynamics

NAMI Family Support Group


Facilitator TrainingGroup Dynamics


Why Do We Need A Model?

• to help navigate around the predictable negative group dynamics which can torpedo a successful group process

• a support group can operate much like a personality with a will of its own, and that collective group willfulness can pull even the most experienced facilitator off course


Group DynamicsWhat is a group?Two or more people interacting with each other

2= Dyad

3= Trio

10-15 = Work Group

20-500 = Audience

200-1000 = Crowd


Group Dynamics

• NAMI Family Support Groups are peer working groups of 10-15 people

• Support groups should be maintained at this size


What are Group Dynamics?

• Groups act and react as individuals do

• Groups have many of the same dynamic (interactive) problems as individuals

• If you understand how individuals react in certain circumstances, you can explain problems that arise in groups.


Dynamic issues that concern groups• Leadership

• Boundaries

• Rules

• Goals

• Subject Matter


Problems caused by negative group dynamics in support groups


Problems in group dynamics• Related to leadership

• Related to group boundaries

• Related to observing group rules

• Related to group goals

• Related to our specific group subject – mental illness


Problems related toLeadership


Problems related to Group Boundaries


Problems related to Observing Group Rules


Problems related to Group Goals


Problems related to theGroup Subject – Mental

Illness


What is the remedy for these problems?• A Capable Leader

• Clear Boundaries

• Stating and Enforcing Rules of Relationship

• Clarifying Goals and Purposes

• Identifying the “Common Cause” in a Positive and Optimistic Manner


Problem Dynamics

• Challenges to leadership

• Negative group dynamics start to rule


Why do people go to a Support Group?To leave feeling better than when they came

To feel that they contributed as well as they were supported

To feel in a very real way that they have something in common with others.


What do they want at a Support Group?• A safe place

• To not be judged

• Boundaries that are enforced

• Capable Facilitators


Encouraging a group to do its own work


You are present to help the group meet its

needs, not to have the group help you meet yours


A well-functioning Support Group• Has a skilled Facilitator

• Does its own work

• Involves as many group members as possible

• Encourages self-enforced observation of behavior guidelines


A well-functioning support group• Allows group members to feel they have contributed

• Provides strategies

• Connects participants to resources and services

• Makes members feel they have benefited from attending

NAMI Family Support GroupNAMI Family Support GroupStrategies, Structures and

Group Processes

The model that ensures

an effective

support group meeting


What Facilitators need to know• To recognize problems in group dynamics – there are cues that the Facilitator needs to transition the group

• Know what structure or group process to use to remedy the problem

• Have the skills to shift the group from where they are to where they need to go


Cues and Remedies• Each Structure and Group Process exists to remedy a particular set of negative dynamics that commonly occur in support groups.

• Strategies help to shift the group smoothly and naturally


Identifying negative dynamics (cues) and possible remedies (structure or process)


Dynamics and Remedies

When you hear this Cue:

• Someone taking too long during Opening Stories

Move to this Structure: Agenda• 1-2 minute time limit for Opening Stories


When you hear this Cue:• A “downer” meeting needs to be closed on a positive note

Move to this Structure: Agenda

• Closing



• People can’t stay in the present

Move to this Structure: Group Guidelines

• Keep it in the here and now


When you hear this Cue:• Someone or the group is negative or hopeless

Move to this Structure: Principles of Support

A principle can represent something we can all strive for


When you hear this Cue: Someone expresses intense feelings (emotional stage reactions of feeling overwhelmed, anger, grief)

Move to this Structure:Emotional Stages Chart

• Acknowledge that strong emotions fall within the predictable stages of emotional response


When you hear this Cue:• Someone relates a traumatic event (violence, involuntary commitment, arrest, disappearance, suicide, or traumatic loss)

Move to this Process: Hot Potatoes A step by step way to address traumatic events and close the discussion of the trauma on a positive note



A basic issue or question can be clarified by the group

Move to this Process: Group Wisdom

Provide basic information or helpful and constructive ideas to a group member, share coping suggestions



A discouraged person needs new options to solve a long-standing problem which they keep bringing back to the group and nothing suggested seems to work

Move to this Process: Problem Solving

Moves person away from what doesn’t work by offering new/different options to approach their problem


NAMI Family Support Group Facilitators • “Take charge” when shifting the group and then step back to let the group do its own work

• Shouldn’t sound or act like therapists

• Provide a safe, nurturing place


What is the PRIMARY DANGER for facilitators of a structured

support group model?


Not using the model

Structures and Processes


Remember, as a capable Facilitator:

You are present

to help the group meet its needs,

not have the group help you meet yours.

Documents

NAMI Family Support Group Facilitator Training Group Dynamics