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DISCUSSION ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONSRead: Ten Strategies to Intentionally Use Group Work to Transform Hate, Facilitate Courageous Conversations, and Enhance Community Building and choose one of the ten strategies to answer the following questions:Which strategy did you choose and why?What did you learn from this strategy?Based on what you have learned, what is one intervention you will use to apply this strategy to a group setting? (Be specific) The student will post one thread of at least 200-250 words Each reply must incorporate citations from at least 2 scholarly sources in current APA format. Any sources cited must have been published within the last five years. Acceptable sources include peer-reviewed journals and the textbook. The student should consider the discussion topic from a Christian/Biblical worldview and integrate his or her thoughts from this perspective along with any applicable Biblical references.
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Ten Strategies to Intentionally Use Group Work
to Transform Hate, Facilitate Courageous
Conversations, and Enhance Community Building
Lorraine J. Guth , Brittany L. Pollard, Amy Nitza, Ana Puig, Christian D. Chan
Anneliese A. Singh & … show all
Idaho State University
Pages 3-24 | Received 13 Nov 2018, Accepted 14 Nov 2018, Published online: 31 Jan 2019
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http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7307-5757
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https://doi.org/10.1080/01933922.2018.1561778
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ABSTRACT
The Association for Specialists in Group Work’s (ASGW) Special Initiatives Committee created a
document offering 10 strategies for intentionally using group work to transform hate, facilitate
courageous conversations, and enhance community building. Group workers can utilize these
methods and resources to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion among group members in all
types of groups and in various settings. These strategies provide a road map for group workers to
use in navigating the complex process of unifying diverse individuals in a way that celebrates their
commonalities and differences, while fostering difficult conversations in various group settings.
KEYWORDS: Community building
courageous conversations
group work strategies
multicultural counseling
social justice
In this article
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Given the current sociopolitical climate in the United States, it is more critical than ever for
helping professionals to advocate, foster, and support the promotion of diversity, equity,
inclusion, and acceptance. Group workers, in particular, have a unique opportunity to facilitate
these efforts with group members, colleagues, and communities to implement culturally
responsive practices, increase cultural sensitivity and humility, and enact points of activism,
community organizing, and social action. The evolution of an agenda of social justice, specifically
within group work, has involved a long-standing history to ultimately interrupt social conditions
producing barriers, disenfranchisement, and marginalization. As Singh and Salazar (2010)
described, some of the earliest group modalities were driven by social justice change such as
immigrant healthcare and support groups (e.g., Hull House) and consciousness-raising groups
(e.g., feminist and civil rights groups). Group work integrates an environment for praxis slanted
towards both reflection and action for the goal of humanizing communities.
Group work converges upon multiple helping professions, most prominently within the realm of
counseling. Opportunities for facilitating various types of groups within helping professions and
other disciplines are boundless, necessitating a need for training that spans the breadth of
multicultural sensitivity and competence, social justice, advocacy, and the facilitative skill set
required for effectively fostering challenging conversations and culturally responsive practices.
Although group work operates as a transdisciplinary practice, the established methods emanate
from a strong foundation in the counseling profession. The practice of group work institutes a
systematic set of principles heavily influenced by guiding documents encompassing standards
and competencies. These guiding documents are steeped in best practices, contemporary critical
thinking, professional values, and state-of-the-art research. Standards generate a baseline set of
guidelines for practitioners to follow, and competencies fulfill the goal of best practices and
aspirational ethics to ensure practitioners and group workers aim for standards of excellence.
Recently, a wide body of conceptual and empirical literature has continued to broaden the
implications of guiding documents to formulate points of departure for practitioners, educators,
and researchers. This movement also meets the fierce urgency to revolutionize and bridge values
and principles of multiculturalism and social justice with the intention of amplifying the voices of
historically marginalized communities.
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Purpose
The Journal for Specialists in Group Work
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List of Issues
Volume 44, Issue 1
In alignment with the development and expansion of the guiding principles, the Association for
Specialists in Group Work (ASGW) offers “Ten Strategies to Intentionally Use Group Work to
Transform Hate, Facilitate Courageous Conversations, and Enhance Community Building.” These
ten strategies provide a platform dedicated to equity, multiculturalism, and social justice. Group
workers can utilize these methods and resources as they strive to promote diversity, equity, and
inclusion among group members. The ten strategies can be integrated into all facets of group
work practice and customized to a specific group, member, and setting. The techniques can be
applied to a single homogeneous/heterogeneous group or to a broader systemic level involving
multiple groups/systems. Additionally, the ten strategies provide a road map for group workers to
navigate the complex process of unifying diverse individuals in a way that celebrates their
commonalities as well as their differences while fostering sometimes difficult conversations in
group settings. To increase its accessibility, this document provides a conglomeration of
fundamental influences, explanations of guiding principles, and examples to incorporate into the
practice of group work.
Guiding Principles
The ten strategies for using group work to transform hate, facilitate courageous conversations,
and enhance community building emerge primarily from the guiding principles set forth in the
following documents: American Counseling Association 2014 ACA Code of Ethics (ACA, 2014); ACA
Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies (Ratts, Singh, Nassar-McMillan, Butler, &
McCullough, 2015); and ASGW Multicultural and Social Justice Competence Principles for Group
Workers (Singh, Merchant, Skudrzyk, & Ingene, 2012). Further, the ten strategies may be most
effectively utilized in clinical and academic arenas in conjunction with additional guiding
documents such as the ACA Advocacy Competencies (Lewis, Arnold, House, & Toporek, 2003); ACA
Competencies for Counseling the Multiracial Population (Kenney et al., 2015); ASGW Best Practice
Guidelines 2007 Revisions (Thomas & Pender, 2008); and ASGW Professional Standards for the
Training of Group Workers (Wilson, Rapin, & Haley-Bañez, 2000).
ACA Code of Ethics
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Workby the
List2014
of Issues
Volume
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1
The
foundation
of the ten
strategies
was shaped
ACA Code
of Ethics
(ACA,
2014).
Ten Strategies to Intentionally Use Grou ….
The ACA Code of Ethics provides a set of core professional values and principles for the practice of
counseling and counselor education. These values are useful in helping to solve ethical dilemmas
and assisting in the process of training and supervision. The ACA Code of Ethics addresses nine
main areas: (a) the counseling relationship; (b) confidentiality and privacy; (c) professional
responsibility; (d) relationships with other professionals; (e) evaluation, assessment, and
interpretation; (f) supervision, training, and teaching; (g) research and publication; (h) distance
counseling, technology, and social media; and (i) resolving ethical issues. Together with the ACA
Code of Ethics, the ACA and its divisions have developed additional counseling competency
guidelines that inform the practice of group work.
Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies
Other guiding principles influencing the design of the ten strategies include the ACA Multicultural
and Social Justice Counseling Competencies (MSJCC; Ratts et al., 2015) framework. The
developmental domains within this framework illustrate the various layers leading to
multicultural and social justice competence: (a) counselor self-awareness, (b) client worldview, (c)
counseling relationship, and (d) counseling and advocacy interventions. Within the first three are
the aspirational competencies of attitudes and beliefs, knowledge, skills, and action serving as the
impetus for practitioners to develop and maintain cultural sensitivity across practices and work
settings. The ten strategies in this document aim to simultaneously foster the self-awareness of
group workers through their introspection, their consideration of the multiple worldviews present
in any group setting, and their ability to consider the impact of the intersections across their own
social positioning, location, and identities. More distinctly, the MSJCC centers a deeper reflection
on privilege and oppression, where both statuses can simultaneously coexist across individuals
and groups. Additionally, the ten strategies relate heavily to the fourth and newest domain in the
MSJCC framework on counseling and advocacy interventions. Under this domain, group workers
will identify, develop, and implement interventions designed to help diverse members reflect
internally on their own personal identities, connect interpersonally by identifying commonalities
and celebrating differences, and apply their new understanding of diversity in their own
communities.
Multicultural and Social Justice Competence Principles for Group Workers
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IssueASGW
1
Another
guiding
document
that for
shaped
theindevelopment
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ten strategies
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Ten Strategies to Intentionally Use Grou ….
Multicultural and Social Justice Competence Principles for Group Workers (Singh et al., 2012). These
principles provide foundational definitions for many of the constructs described in the ten
strategies, including diversity, social justice, multiculturalism, social privilege, oppression, and
taking action. Aligned closely with those published by the ACA, the principles embedded within
the ASGW competencies provide a road map designed to help group workers to (a) increase
awareness of self and their group members; (b) effectively plan, perform, and process culturally
relevant approaches and skills; and (c) successfully promote and engage in social justice advocacy
through their work. The ten strategies similarly offer an avenue for group workers to consider in
effectively preparing for, facilitating, and reflecting on collective experiences in which diverse
groups of individual members participate.
Other Relevant Guiding Principles
Numerous entities and communities in the counseling profession have formed a variety of
guiding documents synthesizing relevant practices for group work in conjunction with diversity,
inclusion, equity, and social justice. Recently, the Association for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and
Transgender Issues in Counseling (ALGBTIC) has instituted two new groups of standards pivotal to
understanding the variability and diversity inherent in sexual, affectional, and gender identities.
The ALGBTIC Standards of Care in Assessment of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Gender
Expansive, and Queer/Questioning (LGBTGEQ+) Persons (Goodrich et al., 2017) and the ALGBTIC
Standards of Care for Research with Participants Who Identify as LGBTQ+ (Griffith et al., 2017) both
signify the complexity of social identities bridged across a diversity of communities including, but
not limited to, race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexuality, affectional identity, social class, ability
status, spirituality, and regional identity.
Additional documents developed and disseminated within the past ten years continue to
incorporate the movements of multiculturalism and social justice as foundational layers to
counseling and group work practice. These documents include ALGBTIC Competencies for
Counseling with Transgender Clients (Burnes et al., 2009); ALGBTIC Competencies for Counseling
LGBQIQA (Harper et al., 2012); American Psychological Association (APA) Multicultural Guidelines: An
Ecological Approach to Context, Identity, and Intersectionality (APA, 2017); Association for
Multicultural Counseling and Development (AMCD) Multicultural Counseling Competencies (AMCD,
2015); Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling (ASERVIC) Competencies
for Addressing Spiritual and Religious Issues in Counseling (ASERVIC, 2009); and National Career
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ListMulticultural
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Issue 1
Development
Association
(NCDA)
Competencies
for
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and
Ten Strategies to Intentionally Use Grou ….
Development (NCDA, 2009).
The history of the guiding documents continues to trace principles of practice dedicated to
affirming and humanizing communities in an authentic and culturally responsive manner. Many
of the guiding documents relevant to group work also emphasize the current nature of personal,
political, and systemic influences integrated into the group process, while interactions between
group members reflect a significant microcosm of social and political interactions. As a result,
principles grounded in each of the guiding documents point towards an increasing attention to
advocacy, changing policies and barriers, and considering power, privilege, and oppression in
relationships. Synthesizing the values embedded within a group of guiding documents, including
standards and competencies, brings significant attention to multiculturalism and social justice as
ingrained movements in the practice of group work.
Group work is especially relevant within the systemic nature of community involved in a group
and interactions resembling challenging dialogues, social location, and relationships organized
into privilege and oppression. Similarly, framing multiculturalism and social justice into the praxis
of group work does not exclusively consider the act of reflection and intercultural discourse, but
rather, highlights the possibilities for action, bridging communities, and systemic change. Given
the complex challenge of difficult conversations, group work transcends differences; leans into
difficult dialogues; transforms individual, community, and political systems; and initiates
community organizing, engagement, collaboration, and social action.
Though the structure of this ten strategies document differs from the guiding documents, each of
the ten strategies builds upon the guiding principles. The ten strategies are specifically designed
to foster in group workers an increased cultural awareness of self and others; an enhanced ability
to attend to the cultural nuances inherent in any group experience at the planning, performing,
and processing stages; and a foundation from which to intentionally use group work to transform
hate, facilitate courageous conversations, and enhance community building.
Resource Links
ACA Guiding Documents
2014 ACA Code of Ethics (ACA, 2014)
https://www.counseling.org/resources/aca-code-of-ethics.pdf
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Work
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44, Issue 1
ACA Multicultural
Social
Counseling
(Ratts etVolume
al., 2015)
Ten Strategies to Intentionally Use Grou ….
https://www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/competencies/multicultural-and-socialjustice-counseling-competencies.pdf?sfvrsn=8573422c_20
ACA Advocacy Competencies (Lewis et al., 2003)
https://www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/competencies/aca-advocacycompetencies.pdf?sfvrsn=d177522c_4
ACA Competencies for Counseling the Multiracial Population (Kenney et al., 2015)
https://www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/competencies/competencies-for-counselingthe-multiracial-population-2-2-15-final.pdf?sfvrsn=c7ba412c_14
ASGW Guiding Documents
ASGW Multicultural and Social Justice Competence Principles for Group Workers (Singh et al.,
2012)
https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/513c96_617884bff48f45b2827c7afc4e4e5b12.pdf
ASGW Best Practice Guidelines 2007 Revisions (Thomas & Pender, 2008)
https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/513c96_93df348d51134a08b789df5374b6dfb7.pdf
ASGW Professional Standards for the Training of Group Workers (Wilson et al., 2000)
https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/513c96_af51b0b1fa894b19a9f62bd8826e71c3.pdf
Other Relevant Guiding Documents
ALGBTIC Standards of Care in Assessment of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Gender
Expansive, and Queer/Questioning (LGBTGEQ+) Persons (Goodrich et al., 2017)
http://www.algbtic.org/standards-of-care.html
ALGBTIC Standards of Care for Research with Participants Who Identify as LGBTQ+ (Griffith et
al., 2017)
http://www.algbtic.org/standards-of-care.html
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Volume
44, Issue
1
ALGBTICAllCompetencies
for Counseling
with
Transgender
Clients
(Burnes
et al.,
2009)
Ten Strategies to Intentionally Use Grou ….
https://www.counseling.org/Resources/Competencies/ALGBTIC_Competencies.pdf
ALGBTIC Competencies for Counseling LGBQIQA (Harper et al., 2012)
https://www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/competencies/algbtic-competencies-forcounseling-lgbqiqa.pdf?sfvrsn=1c9c89e_14
APA Multicultural Guidelines: An Ecological Approach to Context, Identity, and
Intersectionality (APA, 2017)
http://www.apa.org/about/policy/multicultural-guidelines.PDF
AMCD Multicultural Counseling Competencies (AMCD, 2015)
https://www.counseling.org/resources/competencies/multcultural_competencies.pdf
ASERVIC Competencies for Addressing Spiritual and Religious Issues in Counseling (ASERVIC,
2009)
https://www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/competencies/competencies-foraddressing-spiritual-and-religious-issues-in-counseling.pdf?sfvrsn=aad7c2c_8
NCDA Minimum Competencies for Multicultural Career Counseling and Development (NCDA,
2009)
https://www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/competencies/multi-cultural-careercounseling-competencies-august-2009.pdf?sfvrsn=727f422c_4
Ten Strategies
This section offers ten strategies to intentionally use group work to transform hate, facilitate
courageous conversations, and enhance community building. The rationale, application, and
resource links for each strategy are shared.
(1) Acknowledge That Culture and Power Are Always Present
Rationale
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Ten Strategies to Intentionally Use Grou ….
acknowledging that dynamics of both culture and power are inherent in any group setting. Within
this responsibility lie the functions of not only identifying these dynamics, but also accepting
them, exploring them, and engaging group members in interactions that feel simultaneously
challenging and safe. This inclusive recognition of culture and power must attend to the dynamics
existing both among and between individual group facilitators and individual group members as
well as within the group as a collective whole.
Application
Acknowledging the presence of culture and power is a process that begins during the early
planning stages of a group experience. Group workers must first identify and consider the ways in
which their own cultures and positions of power will impact the group experience, with regard to
content, process, safety, and interpersonal dynamics. Group workers should be mindful that
upon first contact they enter into a relationship with group members that is nestled within the
constructs of co-mingling cultural identities and power structures. As this is characteristic of
encounters between group members, as well, facilitators must take care to ensure that the
acknowledgement of and attention to these dynamics are established and nurtured as a
consistent group norm. It is critical that facilitators engage in concerted, ongoing efforts to foster
a group environment sensitive to culture and power in which members feel challenged to take
appropriate risks and are protected in doing so. Below is a collection of resources designed to
support group workers in their efforts to explore their own cultural identities and positions of
power, as well as to facilitate culturally attentive and respectful interactions among members
throughout the duration of the group process.
Resource Links
Bemak, F., & Chung, R. C-Y. (2015). Critical issues in international group counseling. The
Journal for Specialists in Group Work, 40(1), 6–21.
https://doi.org/10.1080/01933922.2014.992507
Burnes, T. R., & Ross, K. L. (2010). Applying social justice to oppression and marginalization in
group process: Interventions and strategies for group counselors. The Journal for Specialists in
Group Work, 35(2), 169–176.
https://doi.org/10.1080/01933921003706014
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Chen, E.All
C.,Journals
Kakkad, D.,
Balzano,
J. (2008).
Multicultural
competence
and evidence-based
Ten Strategies to Intentionally Use Grou ….
practice in group therapy. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 64(11), 1261–1278.
https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.20533
Cornish, M. A., Wade, N. G., Tucker, J. R., & Post, B. C. (2014). When religion enters the
counseling group: Multiculturalism, group processes, and social justice. The Counseling
Psychologist, 42(5), 578–600.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000014527001
Jones, S. R. (2016). Authenticity in leadership: Intersectionality of identities. New Directions for
Student Leadership, 2016(152), 23–34.
https://doi.org/10.1002/yd.20206
Kivlighan, D. M., III., & Chapman, N. A. (2018). Extending the multicultural orientation (MCO)
framework to group psychotherapy: A clinical illustration. Psychotherapy, 55(1), 39–44.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pst0000142
Ortega, C., & Barkil-Oteo, A. (2013). Introduction to culturally competent group therapy: A
community mental health curriculum for medical students. Retrieved from
https://www.pcpcc.org/sites/default/files/training-programs/Group%20Txt%20Curriculum.pdf
Singh, A. A., & Salazar, C. F. (2010). Process and action in social justice group work:
Introduction to the Special Issue. The Journal for Specialists in Group Work, 35(2), 93–96.
https://doi.org/10.1080/01933921003706030
Smith, L. C., & Shin, R. Q. (2008). Social privilege, social justice, and group counseling: An
inquiry. The Journal for Specialists in Group Work, 33(4), 351–366.
https://doi.org/10.1080/01933920802424415
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2014). Improving cultural
competence. A treatment improvement protocol (TIP) series: TIP 59. Retrieved from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK248428/pdf/Bookshelf_NBK248428.pdf
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1
Sue, D. W.,
& Sue, D. The
(2015).
Multicultural
and
Ten Strategies to Intentionally Use Grou ….
therapists of marginalized groups. In Counseling the culturally diverse: Theory and practice (7th
ed., pp. 71–104). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
ISBN: 978-1-119-08430-3
(2) Develop Multicultural and Social Justice Competencies
Rationale
Group workers have the opportunity to engage in lifelong development of multicultural and social
justice counseling competencies. Group workers seek to increase their awareness, knowledge,
and skills of the cultural backgrounds of the people with whom they work, and they have
reflected on how their own cultural background shapes their worldviews. This strong multicultural
foundation is connected to a social justice framework, where group workers understand the
connection of multicultural competence to social justice change.
Application
Group workers understand the history of the multicultural and social justice competency
movement from the principles set forth in the guiding documents (see Guiding Principles
Resource Links). Group workers embed attention to not only the cultural worldviews of group
members and themselves, but also to how their combined privilege and oppression experiences
drive group cohesion, group member roles and sharing, group planning and design, and group
processing. Group workers explicitly explore cultural worldviews and multiple social identities
that group members have related to privilege and oppression. Group workers are familiar with
and use the existing multicultural and social justice competency guiding documents as well as the
resources listed below to identify how they can engage in micro-, meso-, and macro-level social
justice change.
Resource Links
Counselors for Social Justice. (n.d.). Resources. Retrieved from
https://counseling-csj.org/resources/
Ratts, M. J., Singh, A. A., Butler, S. K., Nassar-McMillan, S. & McCullough, J. R. (2016, January
27). Multicultural and social justice counseling competencies: Practical applications in
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counseling.
Counseling
Retrieved
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List of Issues
Volume 44, Issue 1
https://ct.counseling.org/2016/01/multicultural-and-social-justice-counseling-competenciespractical-applications-in-counseling/
(3) Create Brave, Affirming, and Humanizing Spaces
Rationale
Group workers create environments where courageous conversations about issues of injustice,
inequity, and social change are encouraged to occur and thrive. Sometimes called brave,
affirming, and humanizing spaces, or intergroup and difficult dialogues, group workers facilitate
needed discussions for social justice change that challenge the status quo of complicity, inaction,
and silence about injustice.
Application
Group workers are familiar with the various terms that refer to the specific facilitation of
courageous conversations about social justice and inequities. When selecting a dialogue model to
use, group workers consider whether the courageous conversation will be a one-time brave space
or a series of ongoing conversations. They understand the importance of setting group
agreements specific to the type of brave space they are seeking to establish with a group and the
importance of setting goals for the purpose, process, and outcome of the courageous
conversation. Group workers clearly communicate the necessary boundaries of the humanizing
space through integrating the group agreements throughout the dialogue and returning to them
at the end of the dialogue. In any affirming space, group workers consider how to connect
courageous conversations about injustice and inequity to social justice change and action. Group
workers can seek ongoing training by reviewing the conflict resolution and difficult dialogue
models listed below.
Resource Links
Ali, D. (2017). NASPA policy and practice series—Safe spaces and brave spaces: Historical context
and recommendations for student affairs professionals. Retrieved from the National Association
of Student Personnel Administrators website:
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Volume 44, Issue 1
https://www.naspa.org/images/uploads/main/Policy_and_Practice_No_2_Safe_Brave_Spaces_
Ten Strategies to Intentionally Use Grou ….
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128.
https://doi.org/10.1002/aehe.3204
(4) Process Group Experience With Purpose
Rationale
Groups represent a social microcosm of the larger world around them. That is, differences that
exist within a society, including those related to race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation,
religion, and political affiliation, among many others, will be represented among members of a
group. Members’ social identities and their related preconceptions, stereotypes, intergroup
conflicts, and other points of disagreement then play out within the group context. When not
effectively attended to, they can recreate dynamics of privilege and oppression that exist in the
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01933922.2018.1561778
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Full article: Ten Strategies to Intentionally Use Group Work to Transform Hate, Facilitate Courageous Conversations, and Enhance …
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Ten Strategies to Intentionally Use Grou ….
also represent an important opportunity to promote unity. When group workers notice important
issues of privilege and oppression or intergroup conflict arise, they can intentionally process
these experiences in the safety of the group setting in order to help members explore and learn
from them. One of the major goals of all groups is for members to generalize their learning to the
broader
