Create a new account

It's simple, and free.

Details

  • 5 Pages
  • 1297 Words

Group Retreat Weekend

The intensive nature of the retreat weekend brought out everything that is best about the processes of this group. Reflection and self-disclosure operated in an atmosphere of trust that, looking back to the beginning, did not seem like it would come to be as intensive as it has. At first, the idea that "relations among members and their communication styles and patterns" could be as significant as they have become seemed unlikely (USSBC 522). I had assumed, however, that since everyone was starting from much the same place in terms of the specialized, professionally oriented nature of this group, that communication would be relatively easy and that trust would be taken for granted to a certain extent. This, of course, proved to be a serious prejudice. A little reflection soon demonstrated that the kinds of issues one had to deal with in this group -- developing greater awareness, identifying behavior patterns, and developing authenticity in dealing with others -- were serious issues whose roots were deeply personal in nature. The manner in which the give and take of the group assisted in identifying and focusing on one's own issues was a revelation in itself.

By the time of the retreat at Seneca River there had been a qualitative change in the process of self-exposure that reflected most positively the manner in which a group identity had been forged. Formerly, revelations of personal anguish, conflict, or general troubles seemed to be offered as tokens of people's trust in the group. Each revelation seemed to call attention to itself as somehow being a statement that, "Yes, I trust all of you and feel that I can say this to you." But the transition to true group identity has been marked by the disappearance of this kind of self-conscious approach in which people -- whether they fully realized it or not--had to weigh everything they said prior to making any kind of revelation. Accompanying this need to consider carefully...

Page 1 of 5 Next >

More on Group Retreat Weekend...

Loading...
APA     MLA     Chicago
Group Retreat Weekend. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 08:03, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1693958.html