Group Proposal

Section 1-Title, Purpose, Format of the Group: this bit of information can be used to guide the paper read below.

Name of group and why that title was chosen.
Define your group as one of the following types: mutual support, psychoeducational, or therapy.
Explain why this group is needed.
Cite literature supporting use of the model and/or type of group you are using and why it is well matched to the target population.
State the goals of the group.
What is the plan for the number, frequency, length, and time of meetings and what is the rationale for those decisions?
Identify whether the group is open or closed in terms of population and whether it is a fixed number of sessions or on-going (and why). Discuss the pros & cons of your chosen format.
Describe your role as a leader or co-leader, and what you will do in that role (active, reflective, educative etc.).

Section 2- Group Conditions:
What physical space, financial, child-care, transportation, food or other arrangements will need to be considered?
If necessary, how will you advocate for what you need to run the group?
Describe how you will plan for your group sessions.
Include an appendix with a sample outline for at least three group sessions and the major topics to be covered (if defined topics are part of your group).

Section 3-Recruitment, Engagement:
Recruitment
Who is the population you are trying to recruit and what demographic or personal history qualities affect the likelihood that they will connect to the group?
What screening procedures will you use for inclusion/ exclusion?
What intersectional identities are in play and how will the blend of potential participants be influenced by demographic and cultural characteristics?
What problems do you anticipate with recruitment, permissions, or screening?

Engagement
How will you orient and engage the group at the first meeting?
How will you manage issues of power and privilege, including your own?
How will you work with differences of race, gender, economic status, age, education levels or other personal characteristics of group members, particularly in conjunction with your own intersectional position and privilege?
What challenges do you anticipate in engaging the group members?

Section 4- Group Interventions and Cohesion:
What intervention modalities do you expect to use most often?
Be sure the interventions are appropriate for the type of group you are running. For example, if this is a mutual support group, specific facilitation skills are more likely to be a customary intervention, mini-lectures may be part of a psychoeducation group, while in a psychotherapeutic group, reflection might be a regularly used intervention. Be detailed about your interventions.
Include references from the literature to support the use of this type of treatment for your population. If there is no evidence base for your population, cite evidence from the closest population and note the lack of research relating to your target population.
How will you promote group cohesion?
Name two potential challenging scenarios that may arise and describe how you would intervene to manage them.

Section 5- Evaluation:
How will you assess how the group is functioning over time?
How will you evaluate whether the group’s purpose/ goals have been achieved?
How will you evaluate your role as the facilitator in engaging, assessing and intervening with this group?
Summary of why this proposed group should take place.