Group counseling can be defined as a psychotherapeutic relationship involving at least one therapist or counselor and at least two clients; typically, the process involves one therapist and about six to ten clients (Conyne, 1997). Generally, as an intervention, the group counseling approach has been found to be effective for a wide variety of psychoemotional difficulties and problems facing clients, most especially those problems which are of an interpersonal nature (Conyne, 1997).
The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of the leader in group counseling. According to Polcin (1991), the characterization of the leadership role and what it entails will often vary depending upon the general psychological treatment paradigm selected by the group leader.
For example, Polcin (1991) notes, group counselors using gestalt theory as a basic paradigm will be highly directive in their approach to group members, e.g., giving them specific homework, telling them what to do to handle certain situations, and so forth. On the other hand, group leaders using a Rogerian framework will attempt to be as non-directive as possible, preferring to view themselves not so much as leaders as facilitators of those therapeutic processes generated by group members (Polcin, 1991).
However, regardless of differences in the basic treatment paradigm selected by counselors, effective intervention for therapeutic change requires that counselors engage in certain common behaviors and/or pay special attention to specific issues. This point has been made by Conyne (1997) who delineated several features of the group counseling process which must be attended to if intervention is to be effective. Two of the most important of these are said to be the facts that:
(1) Counselors must be aware that group work involves continual choice making and be prepared to make those choices; and
(2) Group leaders must trust the group proces
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