Support Group and Packet for a Preventative Conference

Introduction
There are hundreds of high school students who look forward to the “Reach for the Future Youth Conference” every year, which is part of the Butte County Department of Behavioral Health (BCDBH) Prevention Unit. This preventive conference is a place where substance abuse is openly discussed, positive outlets are encouraged, and supporting others is rewarded. Butte County holds this annual conference on two separate weekends: one for junior high students and the second for senior high students.

This is a challenging conference for many attendees, including the adult advisors. The conference starts off with the Challenge Day, which encourages students and advisors to share personal feelings while supporting others who are also sharing. The second day includes workshops, and the last day is Odyssey. Odyssey is a ropes course where all the students are encouraged to participate in teams. This encourages team building skills while developing trust. One task was climbing over a wall with only your teammates to help you over. These activities were designed to overcome fears, build trust with others, and to try something new.

This past year my internship at BCDBH—Youth Services, Paradise Community Counseling Center (PCCC), also know as The Bridge, chose to invite clients who would benefit from this event. Some of the clients were in need of supportive services prior to attending the conference, so PCCC held a group addressing these needs. Due to the busy schedules of staff at The Bridge, I chose to assist by co-facilitating and designing this five week group for senior high school students.

Statement of Need
Many of the clients of PCCC who attended the conference are high risk youth with mental health illnesses. Often, their needs prevent them from attending a conference like this due to the challenging activities and tasks asked of them. Some clients need additional support where they can practice similar activities prior to the conference. This allows an understanding of what is expected in order to reduce stress, anxiety, and fears that this event may bring up (anonymous, personal communication, January 25, 2006). The support group addressed numerous topics that were pertinent to the conference and the at risk youth from this agency.

Moreover, this support group was important because it promoted preventative services. One study implied that staff working with youth that have mental health issues should know about preventative services (Durlak & Wells, 1997). In other words, staff should encourage preventative services when available to the BCDBH clients. This group prepares the student for the conference by teaching them how to care for one another, trust, and remain or become substance abuse free.
According to Triseliotis, Borland, Hill, & Lambert (1998), good qualities of a social worker are understanding, paying attention to the client’s communication, having continuity, keeping confidences, and being straightforward. The group session addressed many of these areas. This agency understood this and provided a supportive group environment prior to the conference. It would have been very difficult or impossible for our agency’s clients to enjoy and learn from their experience at the convention without prior discussions, tools, or knowledge transacted within the group.

Moreover, there is research backing that many adolescents from ages 12-18 with co-occurring issues who receive more strength and support have an increased chance to attain dual services for their problems (Anderson & Gittler, 2005). This support group provided an avenue for the students to begin the process of advocating for themselves or others advocating for them to obtain appropriate services and treatment.

Description
As mentioned previously, I co-facilitated and designed, with input, the material for the group. Before starting the group, many things needed to be done. Several staff from my internship site shared the responsibility of starting the group due to my winter break schedule. The first thing was to start a sign up sheet for staff with names of clients they felt would benefit from the group before attending the conference. Reminders of the sign up sheet was implemented during staff meetings to encourage participants.

The next step was to send out a letter inviting clients. The group was five weeks long, four sessions before the conference, then the final session after the conference to provide closure and reflection. I met with the other co-facilitator to review ideas, tips and materials for the group. The typical group consisted of an introduction, idea (i.e. anxiety, fear of image, etc.), activity, reflective discussion, and a relaxation technique. After sending out letters, I called the potential group members to remind them a week before the group started. Our group size was consistently seven members—not including co-facilitators. The group focused on possible issues and similar activities the conference would bring forth.

One week before the event, I handed out information of what to bring, contact information of parents or guardians, and medical release information with instructions. The forms were returned and the conference was attended by the group members, another staff member and myself. All students attending the conference presented with mental health needs. This presented challenges and additional support was required, so two additional staff volunteered to attend the conference.
One week after the conference the last group was held to provide reflective discussion, evaluation of the group process, closure, thank you cards, and snacks. The thank you cards were sent out to those who organized the conference and the BCDBH—Community Service Division who approved client scholarships. Additionally, copies of the thank you cards were given to the top director of BCDBH.

The last step of this project was to create a binder with step-by-step instructions of what to do in future years for “Reach for the Future Youth Conference” support groups. This binder has a check off list of steps, copies of all the forms and letters created by this intern, and a computer compact disc with electronic copies of the steps, letters, and forms. Moreover, it included suggestions for next year on the check off sheet of steps.

Evaluation
At the last group meeting, I asked group members to evaluate the group experience. One client stated that the group was found to be beneficial because it familiarized him with what to expect. Furthermore, this same student mentioned that he would not have known anyone going to the conference if he did not attend the group. This gave him added support to attend. Several other group members commented that they had a positive experience in the group sessions and were glad they attended the group prior to the conference. One useful tool given and practiced in every group was a relaxation technique. One group member said that he used this at the conference and it worked for him. The staff at BCDBH was grateful to me for co-facilitating and designing the group. They felt it benefited and aided their clients.

An area of improvement would be to verify all group members acceptance into the conference prior to starting group. Two weeks into the group I found out that two of the members were placed on the conference’s waiting list. This made group discussions about the conference awkward for me and them. Due to the benefits of the group, it was decided to allow them to continue with the group sessions as long as they understood they were on a waiting list and still wanted attend the conference. Sadly, these two teenagers were not accepted due to space limitations.

Furthermore, the last group session’s agenda had many items. In the future, I would allow for two sessions after the conference for more discussion and reflection. Also, I found it would be wise to encourage the group members to fundraise so the entire fee did not fall upon the scholarships. This would provide additional resources and allow more students to attend the conference.

Reflection
Overall, working on this community project was meaningful and fun. I felt that the support group added to the client’s experiences at the conference. The conference itself was a trying time because of all the energy needed for this three day event. In the end, it was worth witnessing the group member’s growth in the areas of confidence and comfort levels. I hope that BCDBH—Youth Services decides to continue inviting clients and using the group resources this project provided to organize more support groups.

References
Anderson, R. L., Ph.D, & Gittler, J., J.D. (2005, February). Child and adolescent mental health: Unmet need for community-based mental health and substance use treatment among rural adolescents. Community Mental Health Journal 41, 35-49.
Durlak, J., & Wells, A. M. (1997). Primary prevention mental health programs for children and adolescents: A meta-analytic review. American Journal of Community Psychology 25, 2, 115-153.
Triseliotis, J., Borland, M., Hill, M., & Lambert, L. (1998). Social work supervision of young people. Child and Family Social Work 3, 27-35.