Running Head: PAPER 2 GROUP ANALYSIS PAPER

Judith Brusseau
SW 4010
Wayne State University

Running Head: PAPER 2 GROUP ANALYSIS PAPER

Group Analysis Paper

Introduction
The intent of this paper is to provide an assessment of a group that I had joined when I was
going through a divorce. It was a divorce recovery group and its goal was to get members to
become acclimated with life after divorce. This was accomplished by promoting solidarity
through sharing personal experiences and knowledge. The main objective was for the group
members to work together and learn different ways to cope and build inner strength. The
purpose of this was so that they could reach a common goal of moving forward with their lives.
The dynamics of our group entailed working together as a team and stop looking at ourselves as
divorcees and instead look at ourselves as strong and confident individuals.
According to our text, An Introduction To Group Work Practice, there are several questions
that need to be answered when planning a group. The first phase, or the forming phase, is based
on what type of group is it that needs to be formed. In our case, our group formation involved a
group of divorcees who were having difficulty integrating ourselves back into being a single
person. Another question that needed to be addressed was what size was our group going to be?
In our case, our group was limited to five people, although the group was open to new group
members. Since our group was rather small, there was a sense of warmth and intimacy. For the
group leader as well as the group members as smaller sized group also helped to have a better
quality of interaction between all. Once these steps are accomplished, the next step would be to
form a group. (Team Dynamics, 2014) One way this can be done by is to post flyers or
advertise. In our case our church sponsored this group and that worked well because the group
was posted in the church bulletin That was a great way to advertise and keep costs down at the
same time. Once the ad was posted an interested party could call the organizer of the group and

Running Head: PAPER 2 GROUP ANALYSIS PAPER

this person screened the individual to be sure that they were a fit for the group. In our case the
response was low but the all of the groups members ended up being a good match for the group.
Overview of Group Members
A1- was the groups leader. Her role was to discuss the sessions and what the groups will talk
about at each session. She was very charismatic and outgoing. She looks at life from a positive
perspective and has quality leadership skills. Although she was an outgoing person, she took her
leadership skills too seriously. She had been divorced for 5 years and in her opinion that is also
the magic number that at divorced person should reach in years before one should start dating or
being in a relationship. (How convenient) She did not have children and if she did, she would
not have time for them anyway. I have nicknamed her Boss.
A2- was a group member. She had been divorced for a very long time and acted like she just
got divorced yesterday. She would say things like, My husband does this, or, my husband does
that. She does not refer to him as an ex. If you did not ask her if she were divorced, you would
think that she was still married. She was quite overweight and she breathed very heavy when she
spoke. She appeared to be very insecure and she would hang on to every word you would say as
if it was the most important thing that she has ever heard. I have nicknamed her Married.
A3- was a group member who thought that the world revolved around her. Nothing would
come out of her mouth unless there was a me or an I in her sentence. She had two children
that she home schooled and liked to do home crafts. She did not have much of anything else in
her life but to talk about herself and how wonderful her life was. She had been divorced for two
years and was not interested in dating because it was something that she felt that she was not
ready to do until she felt that it was time for her to seek out a man for herself. I will call her
Betty.

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A-4 is a group member who does not like to tell the truth. If you had something, then she had
it better. If you tell her that you had relations with a man then she would say that she had
relations with two. She liked to meet men and had no problem talking about her details, and I
mean details. She had shifty brown eyes and could not sit still. If there was a moment of
silence, she was there to make sure that there was not. She loved to chatter on and on and she
was ready and willing to tell another tall tale as long as she had an audience. Her two children
were young adults and had already moved out of the house. (Go figure!) I will call her Liza.
A-5 is me. I attended the meetings because I thought that I was going to get all the answers
on how to survive a divorce. This whole thing started because so and so told so and so and she
told me that the divorce meetings are a cure-all for an individual who is depressed because she
lost her spouse and of everything she has worked for the last 30 years of her life. If someone
would have just told me not to marry a guy who lives with his mom and does not own a thing.
Thats what happens when you dont use birth control and also are anti-abortion. If I only had a
magic ball.
Allinall,wehadmemberswhowerestrong,memberswhowereoutgoing,informativeand
open.Thesedifferentlevelsofpersonalitytypesandtherolesofeachmemberwerejoined
togethersothatwecouldbeginhealingandstartanewlife.
Group Session-Assessment
Intheassessmentprocess,weneedtodeterminethesignificanceofwhyweareformingthe
group.Thesignificanceofthisgroupssessionistohelpthememberstodevelopcopingskills
sothattheyarebetterabletohandlelifeduringthisdifficultperiodintheirlife.Themeetings
areheldtoupliftthegroupmembersspiritsandreferthemtoactivitiesthatkeepthembusyand
theirmindsoffoflosingeverythingthattheyhadworkedsohardfor.Theintentistoforthe

Running Head: PAPER 2 GROUP ANALYSIS PAPER

memberstobecomecohesivewithoneanotherandformalastingtrustandfriendshipasthey
spendtimetogether.Thesessionsarealsoconductedsothateachmember,while
communicating,isabletolearnfromeachotherandexchangecommonknowledgethrough
mutualaid.
To describe how the assessment works for our particular group during the
ending stage, I thought that what needs to be done is to reassess the groups
progress and discover whether or not there is still a need for the group
members to continue with group sessions. If it appears that the needs of the
group members have changed and they are satisfied with their goals being
met, that meant that we were all are ready to go off and begin a new life.
(Toseland & Rivas, 2012)

Group roles were also self-established and each

member was able to contribute something that would work toward our set
goals. At the beginning, the members roles were very small. There are
those who listen and those who convey information to others. These roles
were not very aggressive but rather passive because they seek and offer
opinions, beliefs or ideas during discussions. (Bebee & Masterson, 2009)
At this point, according to Boss, we only had four more years before we
were supposed to date. I didnt have the nerve to tell her that I was already
seeing someone. Betty was also dating, too. Even Married forgot that she
was married-but-not-married and she found someone to spend time with as
well. We even began to double date once our meetings came to a close.
Group Dynamics
GroupGoalsandHiddenAgendas

Running Head: PAPER 2 GROUP ANALYSIS PAPER

Storiesaresharedbyindividualgroupmemberstohelponeanotherwhichhelpstowork
towardacommongoaloflettinggooftheselflabelingofdivorceeandmovingforwardasa
single,focusedindividual.Groupmembershelptofillinforothergroupmemberswholackthe
knowledgeorhaveashortageofskillsthatconsistofpersonalvalueandloyaltytoothers.They
areabletodothisbylearninglessonsfromthegroupsleaderandothergroupmembersthatwill
helpthemtomakepersonalchangesintheirlivessothattheycanbuildstrengthwithin
themselvesasindividuals.Astimepassesandthegroupmembersgettoknowoneanother,a
bondisbuiltandfriendshipsareformed.
Boss does a great job resolving conflict within the group. Her task role as
a leader gave her the ability to help with members differing opinions about
ideas, information and facts (or lack thereof, Liza) helps to stimulate the
groups dialog and builds a health environment and promotes good solutions
for group members. (Toseland & Rivas, 2012) For example, there are times
were the group members feel like they are going to go out of their minds
with boredom as Betty rambles on and on about how she did this so well she
has got this to do and hardly any time to do it and how is it that she is able
to do it anyhow and how her church is going to elect her for sainthood. Boss
will also quickly change the subject when she witnesses the group members
pulling their hair out with every I and me that comes out of Bettys
mouth. Bosss skills are most duly noted when she uses her expertise to call
out Lizas over the top stories about how her ex-husband is the best exhusband any woman could ever have because, well, he is just better than
any of our ex-husbands. Boss will typically come up with a few words like

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Wow! That is something! How about the weather? Is it snowing out there?
as she walks over to the closest window. Boss also talks about how the
broad purpose of our group is for us to spell out certain experiences that
allow the other group members to learn and hopefully solve any issues that
we may have through group discussions. This is also an opportunity to feel
each other out and learn about each other through non-verbal
communication, viewpoints and having the ability to figure out our
differences and the acceptance of those differences. Boss handles these
hidden agendas with great expertise. It is apparent that she is very good at
handling those who agendas may be to bring one or all of the group
members down.
Toward the end of our sessions, our goals had changed. Our goals went
from how are we going to cope in this cold cruel world with a devil for an exto wondering whether or not he was going to show up to the kids birthday
party that we are throwing. That kind of thing. It was great to see the
transformations in each of us as we grew together and developed a bond
that we hoped would not be broken. Our biggest goal was to make our exes
a frenemy, that is a friend/enemy. We all succeeded and we transcended by
exceeding our goals.
Group Norms
At the beginning of each meeting, we go in a clockwise direction and tell
a little about ourselves. This is done so that we can re-familiarize ourselves
with each other or explain a little about ourselves if there are new group

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members. Each time we do this, a little more information comes out about
one or more of it and us gives us a better understanding of what each of us
needs in our group sessions. Bosss type-A personality helps her to take the
role of leading the groups sessions with an introduction of new group
members (funny, there has not been one since I joined) and comes ready
and willing to pass out some uplifting and comical hand outs pertaining to
our miserable single divorced lives. She will then talk about the topic of the
days discussion and agenda and tells us about what the groups tasks will
entail for this days meeting. It could be something as interesting as a
singles-dance for-divorcees-who-cannot-date-until-they-have-been-divorcedfor-five years-so-why-are-you-telling-us-about-it-then? Or maybe she will tell
us to join Bettys sewing circle on Wednesday nights. That will for sure
squash all of the lonely feelings us divorcees are experiencing. Anyway, her
uplifting attitude and cheerful demeanor helps the atmosphere and gives us
reason to come back week after week. (So does the free bagels cream
cheese, and delicious coffee from Starbucks) Boss will also explain
information about the agency and the background of the group. Things like
how the group started, success stories, etc. Finally, we get to the meat and
potatoes. This means that we set goals for our meeting and discuss the
purpose of our meeting for that particular session. For example, we can talk
about learning better ways to cope with the challenges of being divorced.
We can also talk about how those of us with children bear the responsibility
of being both mom and dad in the custodial home. Afterward, we conduct

Running Head: PAPER 2 GROUP ANALYSIS PAPER

talk amongst ourselves and begin to form a bond with one another, as
strange as each of us is.
Throughout the ending phase, our group norm changed. We did not see
any more conflict between our members. Married seemed to take a liking to
Liza and they hit it off outside of the sessions. They met for dinner, movies
and shopping. Liza likes to talk and Married loves to listen. It was friendship
at first sight. Eventually, Betty joined the duo and the duo became a trio.
The next thing you know, we are all meeting on Thursday nights up a Branns
for happy hour. Our groups solidarity gave us the power and the courage to
do thing s that we probably would not have done if it werent for our group
meetings. We also were able to differentiate what was acceptable and
unacceptable in regard to certain behavior and we created boundaries that
we did not cross. Once each of us figured out who the others were made up
of, there was less negative body language and we did not get on each
others nerves as much. I was even able to tolerate Marrieds heavy
breathing. It did not annoy me as much as my exs chewing his food always
did. As a matter of fact, now that I think about it, HIS breathing is what really
annoys me! Anyway, I believe that we were now able to conform to one
anothers behavior and that committed us to each other as friends. All in all,
it appeared that the groups norms mostly came from each group members
ability to bring something of themselves from past experiences. (Bebee &
Masterson, 09) We were able to build on these norms and work toward
helping ourselves.

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Levels of Cohesiveness
Group Climate
Getting to know the group members has been quite entertaining and for
some twisted reason brings me back every Tuesday and Thursday because I
surely do not want to miss anything important that may come up in the
meetings session. I actually think that I am liked for some reason because
when I speak, people actually hear what I am saying. Maybe that is just a
woman thing because my husband never listened to me. It seems like all of
the members enjoy the high spirit of our group leader. She leads the group
with the positive perspectives of being single. Like, hey, we no longer have
to put the toilet seat down again! Ever!!! And no more piles of dirty
underwear on the floor! These are the moments we share as a group that
keeps us going strong. There is a level of acceptance of each other as
individuals as we get to know each other during our bi-weekly meetings.
As the meetings were coming to a close and we were going to be set free,
I noticed a self-transformation. It took several meetings and I mean several
meetings, but I noticed that I was no longer squirming in my chair as I
listened to Liza talk about another one of her tall tales. The other members
were on the same page-I could tell by their body language. Even Betty, with
her constant talk about herself entailed not as much skin crawling as when I
had first met her. I believe that the group was able to, at this point, pick out
positive traits that were noticeable of one another and that helped us to
build respect between ourselves.
Group Culture

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The neatest thing about our group is that we have one common goal and
that is trying to get ourselves through a difficult time with some light hearted
conversation and learn about one another and most importantly, learning
more about ourselves. For instance, when I got divorced, I had this really
weird feeling of not having an identity. I had always felt that I was Mrs.
Brusseau. That was who I was. By learning about my group mates and their
differences, I was able to build a new identity through lessons I learned from
my group-mates that I would have otherwise not known had I not gone to
these meetings. Just as I have been able to describe group members when
discussing their differences, I was able to discuss who I am without any
hesitation. That is something that I would have had a difficult time with
earlier on.
The ending phase brought some great relief. I felt that I could actually
begin to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Other group members stories
gave me the strength that I needed to be able to move forward with my life.
The differences between each group members and each story that they
shared with us helped me to heal in a variety of different ways. I learned
that the reason for Lizas lies was due to the fact that her husband did not
listen to her. The meetings allowed Liza to be heard and listened to. Even
though we knew that her differences were annoying, we gained an
understanding of why she did what she did. That helped me to realize that I
am lucky to have to kids that are always around to listen to me. I dont have
to be lonely, I have children who are there for me and love me

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12

unconditionally. They are my family. Another example of learning involved

marrieds life. She started to make sense, too. Her husband was the first and
only man that she had ever been with. We found out that he had been
verbally abusive to her and cut her down quite often. That is why she talked
about herself all of the time, she needed to pump herself up because he had
continuously brought her down. She needed to be the star of her own show
to feel validated and gain self worth.
Each one of us had differences and we all ended up learning a lot about
each other and that helped us to grow.
Impressions
What I found to be most important in our group sessions was the sense of
belonging. We all had a common goal and we worked together as a team to
help each other reach that goal. The group was able to change in respect to
learning about one another and using that information to better us as
individuals. This helped to establish good results for each group member
and also as a whole group because the groups development had made a
notable change as we learned from one another. The cohesiveness that
developed in our group as each meeting progressed had many positive
effects. Everybody came to every group meeting and there was rarely an
absence, unless there was some type of emergency. We all felt a sense of
belonging because we were all in the same boat.
Plan of Action

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The plan of action in our group meetings entails each of us having the
ability to tell our stories and self disclose with hope that one thing that we
say may help another person in our group get better as each meeting
progresses. In order for our group to be more effective, we need to weed out
the bias that we have toward one another and accept each one of us for who
we are. We need to respect that individual, no matter what their
shortcomings are. This brings us to a very important part of implementing
the group. We discussed how important communication is in-group
dynamics. We were open to talking outside of the meetings through e-mails,
texting and phone calls. This was helpful because we thought that some of
the members might need outside maintenance between group meetings.
Towardtheend,wehadopportunitytouseourdifferentattributesandofferthematgroup
meetings.Weallpitchedinsharedapartoftalentstohelpusgainconfidence.Forexample,
BettyjustlovedbringingherBettyCrockerBrownies,homebaked,ofcourseorherBundtCake.
(Peoplestillmadethose?)Also,Bosslovedtoreferenceanythingthathadtodowithdivorce
andwassuretomakeacopyofwhateveritisandpassonealongtoeachofus.Bythetimeour
meetingsceasedtoexist,Ihadenoughpaperstostartaforestfire.MystrengththatIamableto
sharewithgroupmembersistoofferasoftshouldertocryonbecauseIhavebeentoldthatIam
goodatthat.
Conclusion
Intheend,ourlonelinessgreatlydiminishedbecausefivenuttypeopledecidedtogettogether
inagroupandmeetconsistently.Itwasawesometoseethateachgroupmemberlivedupto
theirpersonalitytypesandhowthistransformedfrombeingannoyingatfirsttoitbeinganasset

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14

toeachmember.Groupmemberswereabletotakesomeknowledgewiththemfromothersand
useittobenefitthemselves.Wewalkedintothegroupasbigmesses,lonelyandbrokendown,
andwewalkedoutofthegroupashappyandconfidentbeings.Weendeduphavingagreat
respectforoneanotheronceourstoriesweretold.

References
Beebe,StevenA,Masterson,JohnT.CommunicatinginSmallGroups:PrinciplesandPractices.
9thed.NewYork:Pearson,2009.Print
TeamDynamics.123HelpMe.com.04Dec2014
http://www.123HelpMe.com/view.asp?id=167638>.
Toseland,RonaldW.,andRobertF.Rivas.AnIntroductiontoGroupWorkPractice.NewYork:
Macmillan,1984.Print.