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The Power of Groups - Book Cover Look Inside

The Power of Groups

Solution-Focused Group Counseling in Schools

A fresh, dynamic approach to build on students' strengths and encourage positive mental health.

This nuts-and-bolts resource shows how to use solution-focused brief counseling in group settings. Research-based and practical, this guide gives school professionals the foundational theory and knowledge to adapt solution-focused group counseling for any topic, curriculum, or grade level. Readers will find:

  • Case studies of real students encountering real problems 
  • Forms, permissions slips, and sample letters for starting a group
  • "Do This" and "Avoid This" sections
  • Sample agendas for elementary, middle, and high school levels, complete with activities, session scripts, and discussion questions

Full description


The Power of Groups - Book Cover Look Inside
Product Details
  • Grade Level: PreK-12
  • ISBN: 9781412970976
  • Published By: Corwin
  • Year: 2009
  • Page Count: 192
  • Publication date: June 01, 2009

Price: $39.95

Price: $39.95
Volume Discounts applied in Shopping Cart

For Instructors

Request Review Copy

When you select 'request review copy', you will be redirected to Sage Publishing (our parent site) to process your request.

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Description

Description

"A valuable addition to the growing conversation about solution-focused practice in schools. Cooley provides the nuts and bolts of solution-focused group work with students of all ages."
—John J. Murphy, Professor of Psychology
University of Central Arkansas

"The book is a pleasure to read, extremely informative, and helpful. The organization and content teaches a skill in a way that makes the reader feel empowered."
—Cynthia Knowles, Substance Abuse Prevention Specialist and Consultant

A fresh, dynamic approach to build on students' strengths and encourage positive mental health.

Solution-focused brief counseling helps students improve their well-being by concentrating on goals and solutions rather than dwelling on problems. This resource shows how to use this highly effective approach for group counseling sessions so that students can dialogue and learn alongside their peers.

Research-based and practical, this unique guide gives school professionals the foundational theory and knowledge to adapt solution-focused group counseling techniques for any topic, curriculum, or grade level. Readers will find:

  • Case studies of real students encountering real problems
  • Forms, permissions slips, and sample letters for starting a group
  • "Do This" and "Avoid This" sections
  • Sample agendas for elementary, middle, and high school levels, complete with activities, session scripts, and discussion questions

Help students address common issues by creating lively, engaging group meetings using this powerful, goal-oriented methodology.


Key features

  • The book is filled with examples of real students encountering real problems
  • It includes the nuts and bolts for initiating and sustaining group counseling sessions
  • The author has years of experience with students and speaks from a "been there" perspective
  • This fills a real gap in counseling practice—the implemention of solution-focused group counseling
  • The author includes sample forms and scripts to help make group counseling sessions successful
Author(s)

Author(s)

Leslie Cooley photo

Leslie Cooley

Leslie Cooley worked as a school psychologist in public schools for 20 years. Initially hired in 1978 to facilitate counseling groups, she approached the task with enthusiasm and massive naivete as she had little training in group counseling. Based on her natural optimism and easy way of relating to students, she developed a variety of skills and techniques that were closely related to the later work of the innovators of solution-focused counseling.

That was 1978 to 1983. Since that time, Cooley has earned a PhD and is a licensed clinical psychologist in California. In the 1990s, she transitioned from working in the schools to teaching at the graduate level in school psychology at California State University, Sacramento. Her mission was to surreptitiously infiltrate the school system with what were once radical ideas about building on strengths. In that, she has been successful… successfully mainstream! Solution-focused strategies are no longer radical, and books like Seligman’s Positive Psychology have become bestsellers. Cooley continues to do a limited psychotherapy practice with a focus on families and she continues to believe that most of the problems kids develop can be successfully managed at the school level, where any intervention is less intrusive than a referral to someone outside the school.

As a graduate school trainer in school psychology, Cooley has been teaching group counseling to school psychologists for over a decade. She is systematically robbing graduate students of the character-building experience that she had scrambling to learn to run groups in the schools. However, in the schools today, there is plenty to scramble about already!

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

About the Author

1. Creating Change One Group at a Time

Facilitating Change

An Equation for Change

The Importance of a Theoretical Model

Choosing a Foundation: An Exploration of Models

Practitioner Training

Summary

2. Solution-Focused Counseling: A Primer

The School as a System

The Assumptions of Solution-Focused Brief Counseling

Conclusions

Summary

3. Turning a Solution-Focused Attitude Into Practice

What Happens if I Do Something Wrong?

Techniques and Strategies of Solution-Focused Counseling

Summary

4. Adapting Group Curriculum Material: General Principles

Choosing an Activity

Make It Your Own

  • Creating a Safe Environment

Creating a Safe Environment

Summary

5. Adapting Group Curriculum Material: Specific Strategies

Group Discussion

  • Group Discussion

Goal Setting

The Role of Questions

Summary

6. From Ideas to Action: Planning and Preparation

Getting Referrals

Permission Letters

Setting Up the Group

Pre- and Postevaluation Surveys

Handling Pressure

Summary

7. From Ideas to Action: Getting the Group Up and Running

At the First Meeting

Keeping the Group Afloat

Successful Ways to End a Group

Summary

8. Group Agendas: A Sampling

Elementary Level: Making Friends, Sessions 1 Through 3

Middle School: Handling Pressure, Sessions 4 Through 6

High School: Making Decisions and Life Goals, Sessions 7 Through 9

Summary

9. Troubleshooting

Potential Snags

Intervention Ideas

Self-Evaluation

Summary

10. The Power of Groups

The Students

The Process

The Leader

References

Index

Reviews

Reviews

Quote by Melissa Holland, Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Faculty, California State University, Sacramento: "Provides both theoretical grounding and practical instruction, including multiple case examples, sample wording, and forms to help put into practice this strength-based and goal-oriented approach. This is an ideal text for both graduate-level courses in counseling and for the busy professional searching for a text grounded in theory yet brimming with practicality."
"Provides both theoretical grounding and practical instruction, including multiple case examples, sample wording, and forms to help put into practice this strength-based and goal-oriented approach. This is an ideal text for both graduate-level courses in counseling and for the busy professional searching for a text grounded in theory yet brimming with practicality."
Melissa Holland, Licensed Clinical Psychologist
Faculty, California State University, Sacramento
Quote by John J. Murphy, Professor of Psychology, University of Central Arkansas: "A valuable addition to the growing conversation about solution-focused practice in schools. Cooley provides the nuts and bolts of solution-focused group work with students of all ages. Packed with practical ideas and materials."
"A valuable addition to the growing conversation about solution-focused practice in schools. Cooley provides the nuts and bolts of solution-focused group work with students of all ages. Packed with practical ideas and materials."
John J. Murphy, Professor of Psychology
University of Central Arkansas
Quote by Katy Olweilier, Counselor, Lakeside School, Seattle, WA: “The book does a credible job of covering SFBC foundations and group counseling tenets and then blending the two into a comprehensive and immensely practical resource. A thorough presentation of basics for beginning counselors and a review for experienced counselors.”
“The book does a credible job of covering SFBC foundations and group counseling tenets and then blending the two into a comprehensive and immensely practical resource. A thorough presentation of basics for beginning counselors and a review for experienced counselors.”
Katy Olweilier, Counselor
Lakeside School, Seattle, WA
Quote by Bernita L. Krumm, Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership, Oklahoma State University: "Beginning counselors will appreciate the ways to ensure the success of counseling groups and the many examples that illustrate the tenets of solution-focused group counseling. Experienced counselors will add to their repertoires of counseling skills and techniques. Solution-focused counseling provides a positive, proactive way of assisting individuals in finding answers to their questions.”
"Beginning counselors will appreciate the ways to ensure the success of counseling groups and the many examples that illustrate the tenets of solution-focused group counseling. Experienced counselors will add to their repertoires of counseling skills and techniques. Solution-focused counseling provides a positive, proactive way of assisting individuals in finding answers to their questions.”
Bernita L. Krumm, Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership
Oklahoma State University
Quote by Cynthia Knowles, Substance Abuse Prevention Specialist and Consultant: “The book is a pleasure to read, extremely informative, and helpful. The author is clearly an expert on the topic and is able to teach and write to the reader with ease. The organization and content of this book teaches a skill in a way that makes the reader feel empowered.”
“The book is a pleasure to read, extremely informative, and helpful. The author is clearly an expert on the topic and is able to teach and write to the reader with ease. The organization and content of this book teaches a skill in a way that makes the reader feel empowered.”
Cynthia Knowles, Substance Abuse Prevention Specialist and Consultant
Quote by Rhonda Cash, School Psychologist, National School District, National City, CA: "Cooley provides the nuts and bolts of creating and leading solution-focused counseling groups in this succinct and highly readable book. A must for all those wanting to develop their skills in this area!”
"Cooley provides the nuts and bolts of creating and leading solution-focused counseling groups in this succinct and highly readable book. A must for all those wanting to develop their skills in this area!”
Rhonda Cash, School Psychologist
National School District, National City, CA
Quote by Sandi Miller, School Psychologist, Western Placer Unified School District, Lincoln, CA: “This book provides not only a practical foundation for strength-based, solution-focused group counseling, but also insights that can be generalized to enhance all our interactions with students and staff. For those well seasoned in SFBC and those new to this orientation, it is a exceptional resource for creating change.”
“This book provides not only a practical foundation for strength-based, solution-focused group counseling, but also insights that can be generalized to enhance all our interactions with students and staff. For those well seasoned in SFBC and those new to this orientation, it is a exceptional resource for creating change.”
Sandi Miller, School Psychologist
Western Placer Unified School District, Lincoln, CA

    Other Titles in: School Counseling

    Price: $39.95
    Volume Discounts applied in Shopping Cart

    For Instructors

    Request Review Copy

    When you select 'request review copy', you will be redirected to Sage Publishing (our parent site) to process your request.