SWK 5800- unit6assignment- K. Murray

RELEVANT GROUP COMPONENTS  90-minute group sessions  8 weeks long (August 22nd, 2023- October 10th, 2023)  Every Tuesday, 5:00pm to 6:30pm  Groups will be in-person  Group is for abused and neglected youth, ages 8- 12  Group will be led by an MSW ADDRESS 123 Youth Street Group, AR 71234 CONTACT US The Group | (206) 555 ‐ 0100 | info@thegroup.com www.thegroup.com YOUTH GROUP SERIES ABUSE & NEGLECT Small Group therapy for youth who are learning to cope with trauma due to experiencing abuse and neglect. Assessment of the Population STRENGTHS With appropriate interventions, children who have experienced abuse and neglect are extremely resilient. “Use of coping skills was connected to a child’s cognitive processing. For maltreated children, the ability to manage their thoughts and symptoms was highly protective and allowed them to flourish because their focus was not entirely dedicated to ruminations on their maltreatment or having their systems overwhelmed by trauma responses and they could deal with triggers and further adversities that they faced…the presence of supportive relationships promoted resilience for maltreated children…” (Dillard, et. al, 2021, p. 5). RATES/NEEDS Each year at least 1 in 7 children experience child abuse in the United States, a likely underestimate of the actual occurrence… a continued stable trend in child abuse reporting from 2016 through 2019, however, the rate of child abuse- associated fatalities increased during that time… Approximately 1840 children died from injuries related to abuse or neglect in 2019 alone, representing more than a 10 % increase since 2015,” (Hartwell, et. al, 2022, p. 1-2). CAPACITY Abused and neglected children have the capacity to function normally and live successful, meaningful lives when provided with the appropriate tools to do so. There is hope for all children no matter the amount of trauma they have experienced. Through group therapy, youth can gain the appropriate coping skills and knowledge to do just that. THEORY & INTERVENTION • THEORY: COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY “The practice of CBT combines behavior- change methods with thought-restructuring methods to produce behavior and feeling change in clients. Cognitive therapy has specific learning experiences designed to help clients monitor their negative, automatic thoughts; recognize the connections between cognition, emotion, and behavior; examine the evidence that supports and disputes automatic thoughts; substitute more reality thinking for biased cognitions; and learn to identify and alter distorted beliefs,” (Henderson & Thompson, 2016, p. 413). • INTERVENTION: MODELING “Modeling can be a treatment strategy for building complex skills such as sustaining a conversation, nurturing social skills, and building relationships or other situations in which a person would like to improve… If the model’s behavior is only a step or two above the child’s current level of competence, the behavior may be learned quickly… If the behavior is several steps beyond, the child may need more practice, reinforcement, and feedback before mastery…” (Henderson & Thompson, 2016, p. 257). “S ocial work is in many ways an art of setting the right boundaries… It is true that boundaries separate [social workers] from others, but we should not forget that those same boundaries also connect us to others.” - (Kapelj, 2022, p. 453) - B ub