NOW Group Facilitation Scares the Beejeebers Outta Me!

So, today in my Group Work class, there was six of us who did a role play. We had made a proposal for a psychoeducational group for teenaged girls to talk about self-esteem. All we had to do was the initial stage, which was fairly easy (or so we thought) because a lot of what you have to talk about is already frameworked for you.

So I made up eight profiles on fairly realistic teenaged girls- there were all different types of girls, but most women would be able to connect with several of them. Then another girl and I facilitated while classmates were the members.

Well, okeedina!!!!

I did not think my classmates would be so difficult! The horrible thing was that all of them stayed within their roles perfectly- but the conflict! There was conflict over showing emotion! There was conflict over how some had lots of friends and some didn't! There was even name calling!

And they moved so fast! You could not deal with one conflict, and try to relate it back to group process and the topic at hand, before there was another, and another, and another! It was like, which fire do I put out first? Or do I ignore the fires, and slog on with my agenda?

Then, to really botch it up, I chose dealing with the fires, and my cofacilitator chose slogging on with the agenda! It was a mess!! At the end of the group, none of the participants felt good about the group- and it was just a role play!!!!

Well, let me tell you, when it comes time for their role plays, I am going to be one of THE MOST challenging participants EVER!!!

So, what was supposed to be an excersise in feeling good about groups ended up scaring me to death.

By the way, I am sorry that only May-B really understood what I was talking about. :)