Small Group Process Reflection Paper

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Last, true community emerges as the group chooses to embrace not only the light but life's darkness. True community is both joyful and realistic. The transformation of the group from a collection of individuals into true community requires little deaths in many of the individuals. But it is also a time of group death, group dying. Through this emptiness, this sacrifice, comes true community. "In this final stage a soft quietness descends. It is a kind of peace. The room is bathed in peace." Members begin to speak of their deepest and most vulnerable parts--and others will simply listen. There will be tears--of sorrow, of joy. An extraordinary amount of healing begins to occur. It was awesome to reach this stage. I truly feel like our group connected on a much deeper level than the task at hand. We shared and respected each other’s gifts and strengths. We laughed and was able to use humor to get through tough personal times.

Self-Reflection

I will use a psychodynamic perspective to reflect on my small group experience. According to Hutchinson there are three assumptions that underlie psychodynamic theory. I tried to stay in tune and aware of how emotions rather conscious or unconscious, interpersonal communication and task accomplishment presented itself in group members. Whenever possible, I would check in and ask both thinking and feeling questions of group members throughout the process.

As far as group dynamics I set out to be an informal leader as I most often end up taking on a formal leadership role. I was excited that Bridget stepped into the shoes of being our formal leader. I know that I have strong ideas and a tenacious personality so I have learned to be careful in allowing space for others to take leadership positions especially given there were two obviously younger ladies in the group. I see my self-awareness as a strength but if I did not have the ability to monitor my behavior, tone and energy it would definitely have a negative impact on my group relationships. Another strength I brought to the group was my creativity in developing the characters in the role-play. I was also the technology person for the group which is an area I have been trying to build my confidence. A definite growth area for me is timeliness. I am an extremely time-ful person in that I bring my full self to all that I do; however, as a creative person I tend to be more pressure prompted in submitting assignments because I am holding out to come up with the best possible scenario, research, action or idea.

It was indeed a please to work the Developmental theory group and I would work with these ladies at the drop of the hat. I hope they feel the same about me.

References

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Hutchison, E. D. (2015). Dimensions of human behavior: Person and environment (5th ed). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publication.

Peck, Scott, M. (1990). The different drum: Community making and peace. Simpson and Schuster. New York, NY.