Enhancing Student Wellbeing through Effective Group Therapy Techniques

Group work is a dynamic and often transformative approach in therapeutic and educational settings. It offers individuals the chance to connect, share, and learn from others in a structured, supportive environment. Whether in schools or clinical contexts, group experiences foster interpersonal growth, self-awareness, and emotional regulation. Grounded in decades of research, including the work of Yalom, Rogers, and Corey, group work enables participants to move beyond isolation and into a shared space of understanding and change. This blog explores the key elements that make group work effective, the challenges unique to group settings, and the deep potential it holds for personal and social development.

Participating in a group experience can increase a  person’s social skills, giving them feelings of “universality” (Yalom & Leszcz, 2005) and connection  (Tucker & Oei, 2007). Participants may learn things about themselves through their interactions with  other members within the group. It is important to provide a safe and trusting environment. This can  be encouraged through co-constructing a group contract and careful facilitation to enable all members feel valued. Once members feel safe they may then feel comfortable to challenge their own patterns of behaviour and thinking and/or may confront other members in the group. Past hurts may  be triggered in the group situation as members may remind an individual of people from their past  (transference). This may cause the person to feel or behave in a way similar to that in which they did  as a child in their family of origin. If issues are brought into conciousness, often helped by the  process of giving and receiving feedback, the issues have potential to be worked through, creating an  opportunity for a person to develop new ways of being in the world (MacNair-Semands, 2002). 

Social and emotional impasses can be overcome in a group environment, however there are  certain therapeutic factors required if positive changes are to remain long-lasting (Yalom & Leszcz,  2005). Long-lasting change does not occur in groups if the focus is on affect expression alone. They  suggest there needs to be combination of feeling expression and cognitive understanding in the  development of an overarching model of the world.

Rogers (1951) states that if the conditions are right for a person to grow, he or she already  contains the inner wisdom to move towards creating a meaningful life. The group conditions may be  improved in a closed group where membership stays consistent throughout the group process. This  can enhance trust, as people develop relationships with each other. Closed groups often have a  waiting period before the group starts. This waiting period gives participants time to consider  whether or not to commit to the group (Rollnick, Miller & Butler, 2008). Even in closed groups  there can be an element of flux in a school environment due to other activities and commitments.  Students have school trips and assessments, and unexpected disruptions arise for teachers and  students such as illness, fire alarms and drills and school-wide crisis events. An individual in the  group may be in a state of flux in their identity with values being balanced between personal views,  family and cultural expectations, and strong peer influence. Any of these things may change the  membership and consistency of delivery of a group programme in a high school setting.  

Yalom (1985) states the ideal number of members of a therapeutic group as seven or eight,  however five to ten are within an acceptable range. Jacobs, Masson & Harvill (2006) and Corey  (2010) believed that less than ten people is ideal for a psycho-educational group. There are  theoretical arguments for the improved effectiveness of homogenous groups, where the members are  similar.

Table 2 illustrates the group process model according to a variety of theorists.  

Stages/Transitions of Group Development
Author	1	2	3	4	5	6
Stages/transitions
Tuckman  (1965),   Tuckman  & Jensen  (1977)	Forming	Storming	Norming	Performing	Adjourning
Gazda   (1989)	Exploratory	Transition	Action	Termination
Yalom   (1995)	Orientation	--------Conflict----------	Cohesiveness
Gladding   (1999)	Forming/Orientation	Storming	Norming	Working	Terminating
Trotzer   (1999)	Security	Acceptance	Responsibility	Work	Closing
Corey   (2000)	Formation	Orientation	Transition	Working	Consolidation	Follow  up/Evaluation

Table 2. Stages/Transitions of Group Development Model (Capuzzi & Gross, 2002, p. 40)

Corey, Corey, Callanan & Russell (2004) stated the differences between a range of types of  counselling groups. There are therapeutic groups, group counselling, support groups, self-help  groups, marathon groups, but the type of group incorporated into many schools' social and emotional learning curriculum are psycho-educational. These groups are often used in schools and tertiary institutions. They are used to  disperse information to more than one person at a time. The origins of this type of group began in  1905 when Joseph Hersey Pratt used a group format to give tuberculosis outpatients information  about their illness. He noticed that the participants learnt from each other and formed supportive  bonds that enhanced the information sharing (Gladding, 2008). 

Some people prefer a group environment and may never have gone to, or considered going  to, individual counselling. The choice not to engage in counselling has been linked with some  cultural groups’ norms of discouraging individual help-seeking from professionals (Carty,  Rosenbaum, Lafreniere, & Sutton, 2000). Groups that are an everyday part of the school  environment – from sports teams to interest clubs – can offer support without the stigma that some  people attach to counselling (Corey et al., 2004). 

Another advantage of group work is that clients can experience real-world situations in  relation to others. Groups can raise the self-esteem of individuals by creating a support network,  encouraging each other (Yalom & Leszcz, 2005). Groups in which there is a mastery of new skills  acquired may have positive flow on effects including increasing students’ levels of self-efficacy  (Bandura, 2000). 

Other people prefer individual counselling to a group because of prior life experiences that  may reduce their ability to trust others. Corey et al. (2004) put forward a case for both individual and  group work to be offered simultaneously to group members, to help process anything that may have  come up in the group. An individual may discuss issues in one on one counselling that they do not  feel comfortable talking about in the group environment. 

A workshop on using Rhythm2Recovery drum circles in schools, facilitated by Rebecca Rylands, fostered collaboration and creativity among participants.

Individual and group counselling offer different, yet complementary aspects. It is up to the  individual to determine which mode suits them best. A positive aspect of educational groups is that  the concept is very similar to school, and consequently participants do not always have to present  with ‘problems’ or ‘labels’ to be allowed entry.

Group work is more than just a collection of individuals in a room, it is a carefully facilitated process that allows people to explore their inner worlds in connection with others. When the right conditions are in place (safety, structure, and skilled facilitation) participants can access powerful insights, regulate their emotions, and build lasting skills. In school environments, psycho-educational groups play a vital role in promoting social and emotional learning, especially for students who may not access traditional counselling. While individual counselling remains important, group work offers a unique and effective pathway to healing and growth for many. As our understanding of group dynamics continues to evolve, so too does our ability to use them as a tool for meaningful change.

References

Bandura, A. (2000). Self-efficacy: The foundation of agency. In W. J. Perrig & A. Grob (Eds.), Control of human behavior, mental processes, and consciousness (pp. 17–33). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Capuzzi, D., & Gross, D. R. (2002). Introduction to group counseling (3rd ed.). Merrill Prentice Hall.

Carty, B., Rosenbaum, P., Lafreniere, P., & Sutton, D. (2000). Group therapy in multicultural contexts. Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health, 19(1), 45–59.

Corey, G. (2010). Theory and practice of group counseling (8th ed.). Brooks/Cole.

Corey, G., Corey, M. S., Callanan, P., & Russell, J. M. (2004). Group techniques (3rd ed.). Brooks/Cole.

Gazda, G. M. (1989). Group counseling: A developmental approach (4th ed.). Allyn and Bacon.

Gladding, S. T. (1999). Group work: A counseling specialty (3rd ed.). Merrill.

Gladding, S. T. (2008). Counseling: A comprehensive profession (6th ed.). Pearson.

Jacobs, E. E., Masson, R. L., & Harvill, R. L. (2006). Group counseling: Strategies and skills (5th ed.). Brooks/Cole.

MacNair-Semands, R. R. (2002). Processing therapeutic feedback in group psychotherapy: An integrative leadership model. Group, 26(3), 191–201.

Rollnick, S., Miller, W. R., & Butler, C. C. (2008). Motivational interviewing in health care: Helping patients change behavior. The Guilford Press.

Rogers, C. R. (1951). Client-centered therapy: Its current practice, implications, and theory. Houghton Mifflin.

Trotzer, J. P. (1999). The counselor and the group: Integrating theory, training, and practice (3rd ed.). Accelerated Development.

Tucker, M., & Oei, T. P. S. (2007). Is group more cost effective than individual cognitive behaviour therapy? The evidence is not solid yet. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 35(1), 77–91.

Tuckman, B. W. (1965). Developmental sequence in small groups. Psychological Bulletin, 63(6), 384–399.

Tuckman, B. W., & Jensen, M. A. C. (1977). Stages of small-group development revisited. Group & Organization Studies, 2(4), 419–427.

Yalom, I. D. (1985). The theory and practice of group psychotherapy (3rd ed.). Basic Books.

Yalom, I. D. (1995). The theory and practice of group psychotherapy (4th ed.). Basic Books.

Yalom, I. D., & Leszcz, M. (2005). The theory and practice of group psychotherapy (5th ed.). Basic Books.