Tag: group tips

CT Group Tip: Memorization for Change

memorization and thinking changeCreating a culture of positive change should be the focus of every Criminal Thinking group. Shaping a culture that supports change can be done intentionally with rituals that frame the group process. Many groups begin with a short reflection or recitation of group rules or code of conduct. Including a group, memorization process can help cognitively embed positive principles of change, as well as victim recognition, in the minds of group participants.

The Following group reading helps support the accountability and victim awareness that most offenders lack at the beginning of the thinking change process. It also ends with a commitment to positive change for themselves and their victims.

A group participant reads each line of the reflection and the group repeats each line in return.

“Crime”
“Crime Hurts People”
“I Will Not Hurt Others Or Myself Again”

The Five Deterrents are also a good source for group memorization. When participants commit these deterrents to memory they can be more easily accessed and remembered when negative thoughts and situations present themselves. A good memorization technique is to have the group recite the first word in each deterrent to help remember the content of each deterrent, i.e Stop, Stop, Plan, Exam, Do.

  1. Stop and think of who gets hurt
  2. Stop and think of the immediate consequences
  3. Plan ahead, think ahead, make another choice
  4. Exam-ination of conscience
  5. Do not dwell on it

Want more CT Group Tips? View our other tips here…

CT Group Tip: Facilitator Preparation

Group Facilitation PreparationCriminal Thinking group facilitators who conduct ongoing and open-ended groups may become lax in their pre-group preparation process. Presenting material that we are very familiar with over time can lead to unconscious habits of behavior and biases that may work against a more deliberate and focused approach to the group thinking change process.

Working with offenders in a group therapy setting requires presenters to be armed and ready to prevent an intellectual boxing match. I have found that working through a group readiness ritual provides me and a potential co-facilitator a clear understanding of the ultimate outcomes that we hope to achieve. It also allows us to agree on methods of handling conflict, criminal thinking tactics and other potential diversions that will eventually surface during the group process.

These steps help to make the group process conscious and deliberate:

  1. Before the group begins:
    1. Discuss the general or specific purpose of group.
    2. Describe the goals, methods and materials that will be used to to accomplish the purpose.
    3. Discuss group activities (who will present what, when and how)
    4. Determine the role of the co-facilitator:
      1. Observer – takes notes, evaluates, learns “student-role”
      2. Participant – asks questions as a group member, is involved in process “encourager-role”
      3. Facilitator – guides group process equally with other facilitator “Guiding role” – determine the level and type of confrontation which will be used by both facilitators-determine how tangent subjects or diversions by staff or clients will be directed-discuss how you will both stay consistent with each other

To be effective facilitators, group leaders must have knowledge of the group’s content and purpose and understand the method and means in facilitating the group process.

What pre-group steps do you take to facilitate conversation and change in criminal-thinking or other types of groups? Visit the CriminalThinking.net resource pages for ideas and free worksheet assignments related to all the major thinking errors.

"An approach to the treatment of offenders which emphasizes the role of altering thinking patterns in bringing about change in an offender's life."