There are many cases in mental health practice where you may be leading a therapy group as the “outsider.”  Maybe you are new to the area and your group is full of local citizens.  Maybe you are leading a mental health group for veterans and you are a civilian.  Maybe you are the only female in a group of only men.  Regardless of why you are the outsider, you will probably find that simply because you are the outsider, your advice may not be viewed as entirely trustworthy by the group members.

If this happens to you, do not take it personally. Instead, stop and think about the situation from the perspective of the group members. Do you always trust those in a position of leadership or authority without question? Most likely not. In the same way, don’t expect your group members to automatically trust you simply because you’re leading their mental health group.

If you prove yourself trustworthy and listen to your group members, in time you will most likely earn their trust. But what about in the mean time? And what about the new members that you will hopefully be adding to your group? How can you provide useful strategies to them if you are not yet deemed a trustworthy resource?

One very effective strategy is to take the approach of being a group facilitator rather than group teacher. A group facilitator is someone who directs the group towards achieving a common goal rather than simply telling them what to do. For example, suppose you want to lead a group on improving sleep. Whereas a group teacher might show up with a topic outline and a list of strategies to share, a group facilitator comes prepared with ideas, but instead of dominating the conversation by sharing those ideas, the facilitator asks the group to collaborate and develop a list of strategies to improve sleep and then provides their input and instruction by building upon the ideas presented by the group members.

There may also be times when no one has any ideas to share. In that case, the facilitator will share one or maybe two of the ideas they brought to the group just to get the ideas flowing. In most cases, group members will then follow and begin to speak up and share their own ideas and strategies.

When you serve as a facilitator, the goal is that by the end of the group all members will be leaving with multiple new ideas and strategies to address the mental health topic discussed as well as the comradery of knowing that they are not the only ones who struggle with the particular issue. In serving as a group facilitator, you have directed the development of a more trustworthy compilation of resources even with a group that may not yet fully trust you. And in the process, you have hopefully had a greater impact than if you had simply served as a teacher and taught everything you knew.

This post was originally published in March 2016 and has been edited and expanded for this re-posting.

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