Please complete the following assignments and put your answers in a Word document. Post the document in the digital drop box by the identified deadline.

1a. (5 pts.)
In Chapter 7, Day discusses a variety of concepts related to cultural diversity and the functioning of counseling groups. One premise that underlies this discussion is the common human tendency to stereotype or make generalized assumptions about individuals who have different “categorical memberships” (i.e. ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, gender, religion, race, social class, age, etc.). Your process group is made up of a diverse collection of individuals who have a variety of such memberships. A critical issue for counselors is our awareness of the ways in which we stereotype or make generalized assumptions.

Identify 2 instances in your process group where you have already made stereotypical or generalized assumptions about other members based on their categorical membership. Be honest and forthright in your admission of this. Describe how these generalizations could affect the group experience for you and others. Based on your reading of Chapter 7, suggest some ways that you could address these generalizations by utilizing the group. (3-4 paragraphs, double spaced)

1b. (10 pts.)
In Chapter 8, Day discusses the humanistic approach to group therapy, relying heavily upon the work of Carl Rogers. Understanding this approach is fundamental to being an effective group counselor, even if other theoretical models are employed. The essential premise of this model is that individuals are innately equipped to fulfill their potential as human beings if given the opportunity to do so. Certain facilitative conditions foster that process of actualizaton and the actions of the group leader model those for group members.

Review the 15 stages of a humanistic encounter group as described by Rogers in Chapter 8. Briefly identify which of these stages have been experienced in your process group and what happened. Specify what you will do (or have done) as the leader to provide each of the three core facilitative condition so that the group might progress through these stages. What impact will these facilitative conditions have on your group (or what impact have they had). (1 page double spaced)

1c. (5 pts.)
Existential approaches to counseling focus on the nature of human existence (i.e. inevitability of death, freedom to choose how to approach life, existential isolation/aloneness, and the lack of absolute meaning/purpose). Existential counseling helps individuals learn that they have the freedom to choose how to come to terms with and accept their human circumstances with all the complexities and paradoxes that exist. Essentially, existential counseling is about searching for and sometimes finding what personally gives meaning to life and choosing to engage in life even if seems to lack meaning and purpose. The goals of existential counseling involve improving awareness of self and realizing the full personal experience of life’s existential anxieties, assuming responsibility for self in the world and understanding the necessity to make meaningful sense of it, and embracing the freedom inherent in authentically choosing our cognitive, emotional, and behavioral approaches to addressing life’s issues. There are no canned techniques for existentially focused group leaders. Rather, there is an emphasis on experiencing members in the present moment, understanding the nature of their existential dilemmas, and teaching them to reflect upon their own existence including their deeply held values and the source of those values thus allowing them to choose different values that are more congruent with their sense of self and empowering them to implement desired actions in concert with those values.

Identify and describe a personal existential dilemma of which you are aware or need to become more fully aware of. Identify at least one other individual in your process group who also appears to be struggling with a similar existential issue and describe it. Formulate something you could say to that person that would acknowledge your understanding of his/her dilemma that would also reveal your own struggle and invite each of you to share more deeply your common existential anxiety. (2 – 3 paragraphs)