The Goal of the Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Group

The general statement for the group refers to the main goal that this group wishes to achieve and be able to fully give reasons and facts surrounding the issue being discussed or studied.  This group wishes to be able to find out the ways of carrying out a successful group therapy exercise on alcoholics and produce college students that are fully recovered or on the path to recovery for a better life. This should also be accompanied by reasons as to why these individual college students turn to alcohol and other drugs and provide measures to counter these drivers to ensure no reformed alcoholic turns back to drinking.

Group’s Measurable Objectives

The general objective of this research proposal is to find out the causes of high rates of substance abuse among the students living within the State of Michigan with specific reference to alcohol use disorders.  The measurable group objectives include the following:

1. To improve the overall behavior of college students who are addicted to alcohol by 10%.
2. To promote the use of recreational facilities, social amenities and extracurricular activities that do not include alcohol and other substances among college students within the first four months.

III.    To provide college students with a social and academic environment that supports a sober lifestyle during our first six months of counseling.

1. To increase awareness of dangers of binge drinking among college students by 15%.

Appropriate Steps to Recruit, Screen and Select Group Members

This research proposal seeks to use a given process to identify students who should form part of this group and get help as far as addiction to alcohol is concerned. Leaders in the cognitive-behavioral therapy group require taking special considerations when recruiting and screening college students for group counseling (Botvin, Griffin, & Williams, 2015). Recruiting members for the cognitive-behavioral therapy group encompasses advertising the group in the institution and soliciting referrals. Counselors will offer suggestions that will help to avoid labeling of prospective members during the recruitment process. Group counselors will conduct campaigns and create awareness amongst college students on the need to come forward and sign up for group sessions if they are addicted to alcohol.  This gives the students a chance to exercise their free will and seek help where necessarily without being forced. The opportunity to come forward freely gives the true picture of an addict who is already willing to change and go through the process of reformation

Next, group leaders will perform a pre-group screening. Counselors will request and conduct individual interviews with all if not most of the college students within Michigan State. The fully qualified professionals will then go ahead to carry out personal analysis of those being interviewed to watch out for addiction signs and symptoms (Litt, Kadden, Tennen, & Kabela-Cormier, 2016). These signs could be quick and rapid changes in mood and attitude, sudden changes in the way they associate or socialize with other students. Other signs include reports on criminal activities, signs of depression at school and home, increased case of violence and aggression. These signs can be easily pointed out by counselors or even through the help of college teachers and professors.

Once the mentioned steps have been done, there will be a list of addicts who can then be taken through further screening by the counselors to determine their level of substance addiction. This process will be useful during group formation since those with the same level of alcohol addiction will be grouped together.

The sizes of these groups will also be of great interest since very large groups are very hectic and nearly impossible to be well managed by peer counselors. Some of these college students who are addicts work well and respond to the therapy sessions if they are given personal attention as opposed to being in large groups. The groups will compose of approximately 8-10 individuals. Other considerations include membership, and in this case, the group is open to members. Since the study entails college students, the group will have a heterogeneous membership. The model of the group will entail 24 sessions, in which approximately 5-10 members will meet twice a week for three months. The group meetings will take a duration of 60-90 minutes.

During the Cognitive-behavioral therapy sessions, group members will work with counselors to break down their problems to parts such as physical feelings, actions, experience, and thoughts on alcohol use. Counselors work together with group members to determine unhelpful behaviors and the impact they cause (Riper, Andersson, Hunter, Wit, Berking & Cuijpers, 2014). The role of the counselor is to help alcohol users to change their unhelpful thoughts and behaviors. Precisely, counselor aims to teach alcoholics to apply skills learned during the sessions to their daily life. The purpose of providing the intervention is to educate college students about the alcohol use disorders. Second, the intervention aims to provide relapse prevention training and motivate group members to achieve abstinence and control over alcohol consumption. The role of the group members is to use the skills learned to support one another thus encouraging growth and independence.

Ethical Practice

Potential members of the cognitive-behavioral therapy group have the right to learn about the therapeutic method and guidelines from counselors. For instance, regarding confidentiality, the group therapist will have to share guidelines on confidentiality to group members upfront. Besides, it is important to acknowledge the fact that all the college students within the recovery program have a right to privacy thus obliging all the counselors to protect all the information given to them by these addicts during their recovery process. Some college students in the program may end up giving encounters of how they might have committed certain crimes or done some illegal activities in a move to try and go through the healing process and be at peace in mind. This information has to be kept confidential as it is deemed to be voluntarily given in good faith and with good intentions.

In a situation when a group member expresses an intent to harm others or themselves, the group therapist has the right to inform the relevant authority. The therapist is obligated by law to take reasonable steps to minimize harm during the treatment process (Satyanarayana, et al. 2016). Counselors of the cognitive-behavioral therapy group have the role in maintaining a professional, respectful and ethical working environment that discourages sexual inappropriateness and discrimination. Regarding ethics on the termination of therapy, the counselor is obligated to terminate the therapy when the group member feels that he/she no longer requires the services or does not benefit from services offered.

Crises and Trauma

The group discussions are meant to be places where all these students trying to recover can freely talk and get help without being ashamed. These experiences can sometimes be very traumatic and painful for these students.  Traumatic events overwhelm the ability of the person to sustain the emotional, cognitive and physical feelings (Worden, Epstein & McCrady, 2015). Following a traumatic event, college students may experience symptoms such as avoiding trauma reminders, numbness and re-experiencing trauma events. Adapting the cognitive-behavioral therapy group in response to a trauma-causing event will include identifying the crisis team and scheduling meetings to review the group’s crisis response plan. The group will develop a culturally appropriate record that contains resources for mental health support and will be useful during the response or recovery period. Promoting resilience in college students in schools prior to a traumatic event starts with encouraging a supportive school environment.

Due to the diverse population, college students might have specific needs such as racial or socioeconomic. This can be best dealt with through encouraging all the counselors to create a conducive and friendly atmosphere for these students and even share their own experiences before asking these students to share theirs thus developing a sense of belonging and security. There will also be mandatory sessions where all the students come together and taught on the need to live together despite the skin of their color or language. College students can also be taken through economic empowerment programs that equipped them with necessary skills to do simple jobs and make an honest living.

Leadership and Theoretical Perspective

The methodological approaches of a cognitive-behavioral therapy focus on changing cognition and behaviors of group members. The model will focus on behaviors and develop problem-solving capabilities. The leadership style that group leaders will use during the intervention is active engagement with group members. Besides, counselors will have to perform a consistently directive orientation. The techniques of the group leaders include teaching group members on self-destructive behaviors (Gajecki, Berman, Sinadinovic, Andersson, Ljótsson, Hedman & Lindefors, 2014). Another technique includes helping college students to monitor feelings and behaviors related to alcohol use disorders. This kind of leadership style and therapy ensures that the self-esteem of the participants is boosted since their opinions matter. Counselors of cognitive-behavioral therapy may explore specific approaches such as rational emotive therapy since it is appropriate to college students.

References

Botvin, G. J., Griffin, K. W., & Williams, C. (2015). Preventing daily substance use among high school students using a cognitive-behavioral competence enhancement approach. World Journal of Preventive Medicine, 3(3), 48-53.

Gajecki, M., Berman, A. H., Sinadinovic, K., Andersson, C., Ljótsson, B., Hedman, E., & Lindefors, N. (2014). Effects of baseline problematic alcohol and drug use on internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy outcomes for depression, panic disorder and social anxiety disorder. PloS one, 9(8), e104615.

Litt, M. D., Kadden, R. M., Tennen, H., & Kabela-Cormier, E. (2016). Network Support II: Randomized controlled trial of Network Support treatment and cognitive behavioral therapy for alcohol use disorder. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 165, 203-212.

Riper, H., Andersson, G., Hunter, S. B., Wit, J., Berking, M., & Cuijpers, P. (2014). Treatment of comorbid alcohol use disorders and depression with cognitive‐behavioural therapy and motivational interviewing: A meta‐analysis. Addiction, 109(3), 394-406.

Satyanarayana, V. A., Nattala, P., Selvam, S., Pradeep, J., Hebbani, S., Hegde, S., & Srinivasan, K. (2016). Integrated cognitive behavioral intervention reduces intimate partner violence among alcohol dependent men, and improves mental health outcomes in their spouses: a clinic based randomized controlled trial from South India. Journal of substance abuse treatment, 64, 29-34.

Worden, B. L., Epstein, E. E., & McCrady, B. S. (2015). Pretreatment assessment-related reductions in drinking among women with alcohol use disorders. Substance use & misuse, 50(2), 215-225.

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