Developmental Aspects of Group Counseling: Process, Leadership and Supervision

This training video by Rex Stockton, Ed.D., originally released as a three-part series in 1991, has been a helpful resource for group therapy and counseling instructors for many years (Krieger & Whittingham, 2005). A prolific researcher, writer, and instructor in group counseling, Stockton is a major figure in group leader training (McDonnell, Toth, & Aldarondo II, 2005). The video, now released for streaming in its entirety on psychotherapy.net, sets out to illustrate the model of group counseling leadership and supervision Stockton developed at Indiana University’s graduate counseling program. According to Stockton’s filmed introduction, it strives to demonstrate the Beginning, Transition, Working, and Termination phases of group development as well as the co-leaders’ growth process from “uncertainty” to “increasingly confident.” Stockton invites the beginning group leader to identify with the developing group therapists in increasing skill and confidence, utilizing the training video in conjunction with reading and clinical experience. To accomplish its goals, the video depicts nine clinical vignettes and four supervision vignettes from a 16-week closed “process-oriented personal growth group” co-led by male and female doctoral students in counseling and supervised by Stockton. The high-functioning group members are personas played by six counseling program master’s students who have all completed at least an introductory group counseling course. Interspersed throughout, Stockton provides brief didactic commentary on both the group and supervision processes. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 67: 467–474, 2017 Copyright © The American Group Psychotherapy Association, Inc. ISSN: 0020-7284 print/1943-2836 online DOI: 10.1080/00207284.2016.1276747