Description
Respond to two colleagues indicating how leadership could be accomplished by the process your colleague identified.
Emily Ayers
MondaySep 18 at 5:11pm
Describe two processes for facilitating groups. For each, define the assessment and action that is intended to take place.
Leadership of a group determines the development of the group and the members by contributing to their goal achievement while meeting the codes of social work and tending to the socio-economic needs of the group’s members (Toseland, 2017). It is important to note the group leader is not always a worker, sometimes a leader within the group emerges. A good group worker encourages this. There are many skills a group facilitator can use depending on their plan to influence the group processes. Proper use of the facilitator skills contributes to improvement of understanding among group members, open communication, and encourage trust development. Two of those processes are making group processes explicit and clarifying content.
Making group processes explicit shows how to maintain awareness among members and how they react to different group experiences (Toseland, 2017). During this process, the group worker will bring up behaviors like member roles, specific interaction patterns, and group norms. Getting feedback from the group members, a determination is made if the group desires to continue things as they have been going. Our text offers the example of the group telling their story and receiving feedback at the beginning of each meeting, the group then decides if they want to continue that after the worker points out the pattern. It becomes easier to point out these processes with time and experience. It can help a worker learn to point out these processes by utilizing time at the beginning or end of the group to point out group processes, or even a statement or two during the group (Toseland, 2017).
A second area of group process is clarifying content. Where making group processes explicit points to overall group patterns and making them know, clarifying content enlightens the content of members’ interactions (Toseland, 2017). In an effort for members to communicate more effectively, the worker may help the member express themself more clearly or make sure the group understood what a member was saying. Further, a group worker would redirect the group to topics at hand if the group became unfocused or sidetracked by something that was not beneficial to the group. Sometimes, a group may intentionally avoid certain topics because they are considered taboo or are simply uncomfortable. The worker would point these subjects out as part of clarifying content.
Explain how each process might create positive outcomes when facilitating a group.
In an article I found in the Walden Library, Transformative Learning: The Role of Research in Traditional Clinical Disciplines, the researchers sought to prove that if they pointed out the student’s dependence on classroom approaches and being under focused on discipline specific tasks, the students would produce better results. What the researchers found is that when they pointed out these areas to students, their self-awareness improved and a deeper trust in their own informed intuition resulted (Tims, 2014). Self-awareness and trust in self are quite powerful positive outcomes from using the process of making group processes explicit.
Clarifying content was a large contribution to the parental book series that sought to explain same sex peer relationships among children. The authors used a sociometric analysis and noted that relationships formed differently among boys and girls. During the research for the book, they gathered girls and boys into groups and talked with them about their likes and dislikes of certain friends, favorite friends, etc. During this group research, the authors would bring up that the middle childhood aged children were not bringing up topics like sexuality or why boys tended to forge one large friend group where girls had more of a tendency to have multiple small groups of friends (Benenson & Parnass, 1988). The children began to share the reasons why they were uncomfortable addressing sexuality among same sex peer relationships. They also began talking about the differences in friend groups. This is another powerful positive outcome by the group worker letting the members know it is ok to talk about difficult things.
References
Benenson, J., Apostoleris, N., & Parnass, J. (1998). The organization of children’s same-sex peer relationships. In W. M. Bukowski & A. H. Cillessen (Eds.), Sociometry then and now: Building on six decades of measuring children’s experiences with the peer group. (pp. 5–23). Jossey-Bass.
Tims, M. (2014). Transformative Learning: The Role of Research in Traditional Clinical Disciplines. Integrative Medicine: A Clinician’s Journal, 13(4), 24–28.
Toseland, R. W., & Rivas, R. F. (2017). An introduction to group work practice (8th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
Danielle Anderson
MondaySep 18 at 6:32pm
Main Post
Describe two processes for facilitating groups. For each, define the assessment and action that is intended to take place.
Involving group members is all members should be involved and interested in what is being discussed in the group (Toseland, 2017, pg. 114). An assessment can be identifying and describing thoughts, feelings, and behaviors (Toseland, 2017, pg. 114). An action would be supporting the individual and group members (Toseland, 2017, pg. 114). Another process would be Attending skills, attending skills is nonverbal behaviors, such as eye contact and body position, and verbal behaviors that convey empathy, respect, warmth, trust, genuineness, and honesty (Toseland, 2017, pg. 114). An assessment would be analyzing information (Toseland, 2017, pg. 114). An action would be Giving advice, suggestions, or instructions (Toseland, 2017, pg. 114). An article I found is called A social identity approach to facilitating therapy groups, this article briefly describes how group facilitators are group leaders and they need to provide a valuable framework for efforts to understand and increase their effectiveness ( Robertson, 2023).
Explain how each process might create positive outcomes when facilitating a group.
Positive outcomes for involving group members would be providing members with opportunities for leadership roles during program activities by praising members for their leadership efforts and inviting and encouraging members’ participation and initiative during group interaction (Toseland, 2017, pg 114). A positive outcome for attending skills would be scanning the group; scanning the group helps reduce the tendency of workers to focus on one or two group members (Toseland, 2017, pg 114). By attending the group, the client is supposed to be attending and being there all the time with little absences; they will be able to keep learning, sharing more of their stories, and getting help more.
Reference
Toseland, R. W., & Rivas, R. F. (2017). An introduction to group work practice (8th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
Chapter 4, “Leadership” (pp. 98–136)
Chapter 5, “Leadership and Diversity” (pp. 137–159)
https://eds.p.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=8&sid=043db7ac-333b-437c-a9ad-a458316ca15f%40redis&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPXNoaWImc2l0ZT1lZHMtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=2024-08542-001&db=pdh
Respond to two colleagues:
Compare differences in cost of living between your colleague’s calculations and yours.
Kacey Ryan
MondaySep 18 at 9:04pm
Discussion 1
Describe the EPI’s estimation of what it costs your family to live in your area.
According to the EPI’s estimation on cost of living for a 1 parent 2 child household in Jackson County, Ohio, the annual total income must not exceed $60,214. This includes monthly housing at $735, monthly food at $517, monthly childcare at $1026, monthly transport at $1,002, monthly healthcare at $874, monthly necessities at $454, monthly taxes at $410, for a monthly total of $5,018 and an annual total of $60,214.
Describe what you or your family would have to give up to live within the EPI’s budget.
My family income is approximately $51,400 annually, which is $8814 under the budget. According to this calculation, I wouldn’t have to give up anything. However, I do not qualify for any sort of assistance. However, I do believe there are cuts that could be made to lower our overall cost of living. I believe eating out would be an appropriate place to start. The allotted budget for groceries is fairly close to what I currently spend. To lessen this cost it would require developing a menu, meal prepping, and really thinking out our groceries that are bought to eliminate waste. I believe this change could save us at least $200 a month. Another area to adjust is our electric use. This could be corrected by keeping items unplugged that aren’t in regular use, turning lights off (especially the LED lights in my teenage son’s room), and turning the television off when not in use. Finally, a third area that could be addressed to improve our ability to meet the budget would be minimizing our “want” buys. We do not live luxuriously by any means, but we could afford to cut some of our extra spending on unnecessary items.
Explain how easy or hard it would be to give those things up.
It would be rather difficult to initially give these items up due to being in the routine of habit. The food cut and budgeting would require a lot of discipline and thought before being able to hit the ideal budget. I believe this would be the most difficult change to implement. Saving on the electric use would more than likely be the easiest change. Simple awareness of this factor could make a big difference. The needless spending would be difficult at first to identify and then cut out, but I do believe once we could learn to delay gratification a couple of times, we would find it rewarding.
Determine if the definition of what constitutes poverty is realistic.
I do believe the poverty line identified on the calculator is realistic. However, as stated earlier this is not an accurate representation in regards to receiving government assistance. As a single mother who receives no government assistance due to my income, it has often been a struggle to balance money for groceries and other necessities. I have found ways to spread household items to last longer such as adding some water to fabric softener, adding oats to meals with ground beef to supplement “more” meat,” and buying clothing and other items on sale. Society has made name brands a must and this has affected my budget with my teenage son. While he does not get everything name brand, I do my best to supply him with his likes. The middle class, I believe, suffer the most when it comes to living pay check to pay check. We make too much for assistance, but not enough to live comfortably. Furthermore, as a single mother, if my children have appointments or get sick I have to miss work which cuts into the already tight budget.
References
Economic Policy Institute. (2016b). Family budget calculator.Links to an external site. Retrieved from http://www.epi.org/resources/budget/Links to an external site.
Gould, E., Cooke, T., & Kimball, W. (2015). What families need to get by: EPI’s 2015 family budget calculator.Links to an external site.Economic Policy Institute. Retrieved from http://www.epi.org/publication/what-families-need-…
Sophia Washington
TuesdaySep 19 at 8:07am
Describe the EPI’s estimation of what it costs your family to live in your area.
EPI family budget calculator measures the income a family needs in order to attain a modest yet adequate standard of living. For Wayne county it is as follows:
HOUSING$827
FOOD$356
CHILD CARE$698
TRANSPORTATION$931
HEALTH CARE$771
OTHER NECESSITIES$428
TAXES$561
MONTHLY TOTAL$4,572
ANNUAL TOTAL$54,866
Describe what you or your family would have to give up to live within the EPI’s budget.
In order for my family to live within the EPI’s budget I would have to give up other necessities,child care, and cut back on food expenses.
Explain how easy or hard it would be to give those things up.
It would be easy to give up on child care expenses because I don’t have any small children. Cutting back on food expenses would be difficult but it would be doable. We would need to plan our meals and shop according to the meals listed.
Determine if the definition of what constitutes poverty is realistic.
In my opinion the poverty line is too high. There are so many families I know personally, including myself that have been excluded from programs because according to the poverty line they make too much money. When you are a single parent of one or multiple kids there is no such thing as you make too much money.
References:
DiNitto, D. M., & Johnson, D. H. (2016). Social welfare: Politics and public policy (8th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
Respond to two colleagues:
Explain which estimate of poverty better aligns with your colleague’s stated ability to escape poverty: the EPI’s budget or DHHS poverty threshold.
Celenia Roque
TuesdaySep 19 at 11:02am
Deepening poverty is inextricably linked with rising levels of homelessness and food insecurity/hunger for many Americans, and children are particularly affected by these conditions. Extreme poverty is the strongest predictor of household homelessness. These families are often forced to choose between housing and other survival necessities. At least 11 percent of American children living in poverty are homeless. These are the two limitations/problems as follows:
Hunger. Families often struggle to hide their food insecurity, and some parents may feel ashamed or embarrassed for not being able to adequately feed their children. Children may also feel stigmatized, isolated, ashamed or embarrassed by lack of food. A sample of neighborhoods that classified low-income children ages 6 to 12 as hungry, at risk of hunger, or not hungry found that hungry children were significantly more likely to receive special education services, to have repeated a grade in school and to have received mental health counseling than at-risk-for-hunger or not-hungry children. Among low-income children, children classified as “starving” showed more anxiety, irritability, aggression and oppositional behavior than their peers. In addition, multiple stressors associated with poverty significantly increase the risk of developing mental and functional problems.
Homelessness. Access to permanent and adequate shelter is a basic human need; however, a prolonged economic downturn (including a foreclosure crisis, soaring unemployment, worsening poverty rates and a shortage of affordable housing) may will increase the rate of homelessness. The United States Conference of Mayors (2009) reported that more than 1.6 million children (1 in 45 children) were homeless in the United States in 2010, and approximately 650,000 were under the age of 6. Families with children make up the majority of the homeless population. Families with children make up one-third of the homeless population, usually consisting of a single mother in her twenties and two young children. States in the South and Southwest where poverty is more prevalent have more homeless children than states in the North and Northeast. Homelessness affects children’s health and well-being, and their brain development, causes stress, and prevents them from preparing for school.
Explain how these problems affect a person’s ability to escape poverty.
Homelessness and hunger go hand in hand. Homeless children are twice as likely to experience hunger as their non-homeless peers. Need has adverse effects on children’s physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development.
Americans’ developing bodies are not well adapted to the effects of living without clean water, food, or healthcare. As a result, many children living in poverty are malnourished and diseased. If left untreated (which is expected due to limited access to health care), they will not survive. Millions of people live with hunger and malnutrition because they simply can’t afford enough food, nutritious food, or what it takes to grow enough quality food themselves agricultural supplies needed. Hunger can be seen as a dimension of extreme poverty.
Homelessness and hunger go hand in hand. Homeless children are twice as likely to experience hunger as their non-homeless peers. Hunger has negative effects on children’s physical, social, emotional and cognitive development.
Homelessness disproportionately affects children and youth, including hunger, poor physical and mental health, and missed educational opportunities. Homeless children experience a lack of stability, with 97% of children moving at least once a year, which can lead to school disruption and negatively impact academic performance.
References:
https://www.apa.org/pi/families/poverty
https://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/…
Atemkeng Siri Chumbow YesterdaySep 21 at 4:11am
Describe two limitations and/or problems with the poverty threshold.The poverty threshold is a number determined by the government to measure poverty in the United States. This number is used to decide who should be eligible for certain benefits. The poverty threshold is calculated from a household’s gross annual income and the number of people living in the household. Although this measure is meant to help those in need, there are several limitations and problems that make it difficult for people to escape poverty.The first limitation is its accuracy. The poverty threshold is based on an outdated poverty line, adjusted for inflation on a yearly basis, and does not accurately reflect current economic realities. (DiNitto & Johnson, 2016) note that this number is based on the cost of a basic food diet, but does not take into account the cost of other necessary items, such as housing or transportation. As a result, many households living in poverty might not meet the criteria determined by the poverty threshold, which can leave them without the necessary benefits to escape poverty.Another problem of the poverty threshold is its static nature. This number does not change to reflect the cost of living in different areas and, as a result, the same poverty threshold is used regardless of where a person lives. This leaves many low-income households struggling to make ends meet in areas that are more expensive, such as those in urban areas. Furthermore, the poverty threshold does not adjust itself over time to keep up with inflation, making it more difficult for those already living in poverty to buy basic items, such as food, clothing, and housing.Explain how these problems affect a person’s ability to escape poverty.These two limitations cause significant problems for people trying to escape poverty. Without an accurate poverty threshold that takes into account the cost of various items and allows for adjustments to different living areas, people in poverty are left in a situation where their limited resources are not enough to meet their basic needs. Furthermore, the static nature of the poverty threshold makes it almost impossible to keep up with rising prices. As a result, those already living in poverty cannot buy basic necessities, trapping them in a cycle of poverty.In conclusion, the poverty threshold is an important measure to determine eligibility for government benefits. However, its limitations and static nature can create obstacles for people trying to escape poverty. Therefore, it is important for government officials and social workers to work together to find innovative solutions to address the problems associated with this measure, such as increasing the minimum wage and finding ways for low-income individuals to access university-level education. This will help to create programmes and policies that are more accessible to those living in poverty, providing a pathway out to a more secure and stable future.ReferenceDiNitto, D. M., & Johnson, D. H. (2016). Social welfare: Politics and public policy (8th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
