A. Thesis Statement

Homelessness is genuinely one nerve-racking state of affairs faced by big figure of adult females in the United States today. This is. for most instances. a effect of past events in a woman’s life such as physical. domestic. and sexual maltreatments at some point in her life. Homelessness leads to figure of negative deductions in a woman’s life that normally come in signifier of Domino consequence. Abuses that happen at the early old ages of her life cause the inability to achieve the equal degree of instruction and preparation. which so makes it hard for her to happen the needful employment.

The deficiency of employment entails poorness ( in most. if non truly in all instances ) that leads to more than merely one struggle in woman’s life and her household. The sad portion is that non merely the shelter. the apparels. and the nutrient travel off. Self-esteem. self-morale. and the thrust to go on with life go with those things. These are the things that are non readily and easy recoverable.

Group therapy is a diverse subject in Psychology that aims at supplying aid to the in demand group of people. by giving them the needed exposure and means to retrace life. Following the construct of cognitive behavioural therapy. the environment the individual is exposed to act upon his behaviour. Group therapy goes with the attempt of supplying the needful type of environment for mark members or participants.

By and large. group psychotherapeutics is guided by the underlying doctrine that patients can reorganise their life styles towards healthier norms. with the assistance of group members who help them towards the procedure. Homeless adult females need to experience they are non entirely and that the state of affairs they are in is non a hopeless instance as they may believe it is. It is merely another stage in some people’s lives that will shortly be over. if they will set attempt to contend against it.

B. The Anchor of this Survey

The modern-day psychotherapeutics concerns 100s of different types of techniques that the healer now uses. These techniques are supported by theories and attacks in psychotherapeutics. Some of the most popular theories behind the current patterns of psychotherapeutics involve ( 1 ) Psychodynamic. wherein patients are treated or seen within the position of unwellness or “what is losing. ” This attack concerns the “dynamic” in every person that is at that place from the childhood and progresses as life does. To set it merely. this attack emphasizes that all the jobs of an person can be traced back to one’s early childhood old ages. Interpretations are the following best thing to listening that the psychodynamic healers do ;

( 2 ) Humanistic. which views worlds as good in general. and as entity with the freedom to take actions and behaviour to use in their lives. Worlds are responsible for their emotion and behaviour. doing duty one of the focal points of this theory. This theory emphasizes that battle is within the person. that no affair how his childhood was. he is responsible in driving his life. with no faulting to people around or to other factors which other psychotherapeutics theories see contributable to the behaviour ; and ( 3 ) Cognitive behavioural – the one this survey focuses on.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy acknowledges the fact that the knowledge or the thought the individual has explains how his mental upset was started and developed. Cognitive-behaviorists believe in the important function of societal acquisition in person’s childhood development. They besides believe in the thoughts of support and mold. This theory states that an individual’s personality derived itself from past experiences in which the person concerned himself in critical thought. designation of ideas and feelings. and imitations of behaviour.

That is to state that when the parent does non shout whenever he is emotional. the kid is likely to turn hiding cryings when he is emotional. Children observe and imitate things. and this is how they learn. If the individual is exposed in unhealthy societal interactions. so the individual will larn and possess unhealthy ways of get bying with jobs in life. Worlds are viewed impersonal in this theory. and that it is the societal environment that creates the healthy or unhealthy human being in him ( Grohol. 1995 ) .

Cognitive-behavioral therapy is an attempt to switch the irrational and unhealthy manner the individual thinks by educating him and reenforcing positive life narratives that aim to give cardinal alterations in the manner the individual views the state of affairs. Cognitive-behavioral healers are by and large more directing than psychodynamic healers. The therapy is by and large short-run. runing from three to nine months. The techniques used by cognitive-behavioral healers normally vary. depending on the job of the patient. Though the underlying theory is similar. a cognitive-behavioral therapy would non use same techniques in assisting a individual header with fright of highs with techniques used in assisting another individual header with terrible depression ( Grohol. 1995 ) .

There are figure of scientific grounds stating that cognitive behavioural therapies are by and large more effectual than medicines in handling depression ( Antonuccio. 1995 ) . Psychotherapy. in general. is the preferable intervention for depression. regardless of its badness and symptoms.

At least 800. 000 individuals in the United States are considered “homeless” each twenty-four hours ( Montauk. 2006 ) . The United States Census defines “homeless” as the individual with no topographic point to remain to and does non anticipate to hold someplace to remain to in the following 30 yearss. This. nevertheless. is a really proficient position of a really human job. Generally. homeless people are exposed to high hazard of unwellness than the general population.

The stateless population represents work forces. adult females. elderly. kids. and infant. For the intent of this survey. nevertheless. stateless adult females will be focused on. Although work forces compose the largest of stateless population in the United States. adult females with kids are fall ining them in a quickly increasing mode. In 1994. the United States Conference of Mayors reported an addition of 25 % in the figure of petitions for shelters.

Researchs have shown that petitions came from households who are normally headed by adult females with kindergartner childs. While presently. it is estimated that 20 % -25 % of homeless grownups in the United States is composed of adult females. it is projected that in the hereafter. individual female parent will do up the larger portion of America’s stateless population ( Vladeck. 1990 ) .

Peoples may go homeless for figure of grounds ( Wright. 1991 ) . For adult females. force and maltreatment normally triggers the state of affairs of being homeless. They are normally stateless as a consequence of flying from hurting of domestic force and maltreatment. Many stateless adult females suffer from mental wellness jobs due to fortunes in life that conveying long-run consequence on person’s emotions. self-esteem. self-perception. and societal operation. Such fortunes are in signifier of assault from male spouses. and physical and sexual maltreatment experienced during 1s childhood ( Browne. 1993 ) .

There had been an analysis of informations about the mortality rate among stateless adult females in seven metropoliss: Copenhagen. Toronto. New York. Montreal. Philadelphia and Brighton. Boston. and U. K. The survey shows that there is high hazard of decease in adult females of stateless population that those of general population. where mortality is greater among those under 45 old ages of age.

One of the most comprehensive surveies about women’s homelessness is the 6-year research undertaking on household homelessness and poorness in Massachusetts that was conducted by the National Center on Family Homelessness. Participants of the survey include 220 stateless female who head the family and 216 adult females with low income who head the family. Study findings provide underpinnings of the predominating force in the lives of stateless adult females and how women’s overall wellbeing is affected by victimization during childhood and maturity.

As a decision. there is permeant force in the lives of stateless adult females. where 92 % of stateless adult females had been through terrible physical maltreatment ( more than 66 % of these adult females got physical maltreatment from caretaker ) and sexual maltreatment ( 43 % were sexually molested at childhood ) at some point in life. Such maltreatments started. for most adult females. every bit early as the age of 12. Maltreatment during childhood does non stop in childhood. Most of the instances continue to adulthood.

For married. stateless adult females. 63 % had been victims of confidant spouse force. where more than half of them were physically injured as outgrowth of the maltreatment. More than one-fourth of these physical hurt instances required medical intervention. More than the physical hurt. maltreatment besides frequently consequences to serious emotional jobs to victims. About 40 % of the stateless adult females had Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ( PTSD ) . As a agency to get by with the depression brought approximately by maltreatments. about 33 % of stateless adult females attempted self-destruction. Some engaged themselves in intoxicant or drug dependence.

Violence. as before stated. soberly and negatively compromises the well-being ( emotional and physical being ) of stateless adult females. Maltreatments to adult females offer domino consequence to the advancement in women’s life. Abuses that go on in early childhood frequently cause terrible break in person’s focal point on instruction. doing these adult females non to achieve equal degree of instruction.

Lack of equal instruction is one of important barriers to holding good employment. In add-on. there are instances where opprobrious spouses make attempt to impede employment attempts. Depression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ( PSTD ) may besides hinder women’s attempts and will to work. Then comes the issue of self-esteem. Homeless adult females are logically missing good and nice apparels and braces of places to have on during interviews. This authoritative scenario brings more emphasis to these adult females and causes them to see themselves in low morale.

Jasinski and Mendez ( 2006 ) studied the features and relevant victimization experiences of two groups of adult females – ( 1 ) the group of adult females who became homeless before the age of 32 and ( 2 ) the group of adult females who became homeless after the age of 32. Part of preliminary consequences is that those who became homeless at a younger age were the 1s who experienced childhood maltreatments.

This group had higher inclination of going individual. holding lower self-pride. and achieving lower instruction as compared to adult females who became homeless at a ulterior phase in life. The survey of Nyamathi.et Al.( 1999 ) . revealed that stateless adult females have lower degree of mental wellness and self-esteem compared to their intimate spouses. In line with this. higher degree of depression. ill will steps. and anxiousness is observed in stateless adult females than in their confidant spouse.

While it is by and large true that stateless adult females. like the general homeless population. need the basic points like shelter. nutrient. and vesture. there are more than these basic demands that should be given to homeless adult females. It is the demand to deliver oneself from the loss of self-esteem. Illness. hurting. and brokenness lead to diminishment of one’s psyche. Fortunately. there are group therapy plans that aim to assist homeless adult females convey back dignity. which would assist these adult females rise above homelessness.

Group therapy is a really diverse subject in Psychology. On a general note. group therapy is defined as the face-to-face meeting of 6-10 persons. headed by the trained group healer. The function of the group healer is non truly to order what to speak about or how to travel about the treatment. but chiefly to ease the treatment and take the group to accomplishing the aim. In a group therapy. showing oneself is extremely encouraged. It is really of import to construct trust in a group. as this will allow the members speak out their existent emotions.

The environment within the group. feedback from participants. and the acquisition brought approximately by interactions with one another are merely some of the things about a group therapy that contribute to the success of mending the marks. The primary purpose of group psychotherapeutics is to assist participants get the better of emotional troubles and derive personal development in the procedure. Group can go a locale for developing new and healthy behaviour out of an person.

There are two general ways into which group therapy is categorized. First. by the clip bound set for each group ; and 2nd is the focal point of group and the manner by which its members are selected. Group therapy can be an on-going procedure or can be bound to certain figure of Sessionss defined from the start. In the group under the on-going session class. the session continues indefinitely after it starts.

Some members may go forth the group after finishing the intervention while new members may fall in so long as there are available gaps in the group. There are therapy groups running for ten long old ages or so. In contrast. time-limited groups run the therapy under some predefined length of clip ( or figure of Sessionss ) . Unlike in an ongoing-based group session. time-limited Sessionss do non normally entertain new members midway the session. The figure of Sessionss is defined by the group healer and is dependent on the focal point of the group.

The focal point of the group is another determiner of how to categorise a group. Some groups are general in focal point. That is. it targets to better the overall life facets. which so makes it heterogenous or something that entertains members of changing psychological issues. It is the group healer that selectsqualifiedgroup members. who he sees will interact in such a manner that will assist all members of the group. The “focused” or “topical” groups. on the other manus. have members with same job country. Focus therapy groups emphasize on holding its members learn how to get by with things and how to alter some negative position about the job.

Group therapy was originally used as a agency for healer to salvage some cost in managing psychological science interventions Sessionss. In the procedure. nevertheless. which is supported by different researches. every bit good. group therapy benefited patients in ways non ever addressed by single therapy. Some people are dying about fall ining group therapy Sessionss with the fright of allowing other people hear their narratives. Therefore. in group therapy. it is really of import to derive trust of each member about the common confidentiality of whatever will be discussed in the session.

Why group therapy? When people of same state of affairs happen trust and comfort in each other. they tend to declaim the troubles that bring them to the current state of affairs. Other members of the group. with the supervising and counsel of the group healer. can give support and comfort to other members of the group until the member feels lighter about the job. knowing there are people who understand and cognizing she is ne’er entirely. Hearing things and words of encouragement from people who absolutely understand and experience the same degree of trouble you are in brings confidence that there are people you can number on to.

The group allows societal interaction. which. in the instance of stateless adult females. is frequently lost in the procedure of going homeless. Group members are non forced to talk the innermost ideas. It is the trust they have in each and everyone that lets them unwrap the deepest secrets. which. it turn. helps buoy up the burden. There are members of the group who have passed the state of affairs other members are presently in. It helps to hear success narratives that would do the people presently in that state of affairs experience that everything will be all right in clip and that there is non such thing as “hopeless instance. ”

What does it take to be a leader of a psychotherapeutics group? Group therapy is but another profession. necessitating the group leader to possess the cognition about relevant theories. constructs. and how to set them in pattern. The leader should cognize how to get the better of opposition within the group. how to manage struggles as they arise. how to cover with hard members. and how to pull off ain feelings and emotions.

Although cognitive psychotherapeutics purposes at authorising patients in geting accomplishments needed to promote their manner of life. it is human nature to defy alterations because they are stuck in self-defeating forms. Fencel and Flapan ( 1985 ) position opposition. by and large. as mark of integral self-importance and is nil negative. Resistance of patients may come from cultural values. bitterness towards the healer. fright of aliens. and fright of arrested development. Group psychotherapeutics is bound to meeting figure of intense opposition in its population ( Milgram and Rubin. 1992 ) .

Abraham Maslow’s celebrated theory of the hierarchy of demands provinces that worlds follow the certain order of fulfilment of demands towards satisfaction. Here is the order of the human demands. wherein the lower degree demands to be addressed first earlier leaping to the following because. harmonizing to Maslow. homo does non experience the 2nd demand until the first 1 is satisfied.

1. Psychological demands. These are the biological demands that each individual has to hold. Otherwise. he will decease. Example of which includes nutrient. H2O. and O.
2. Safety demands. These are the things that would do the individual experience secure and safe. Examples are shelter and vesture.
3. Need for love and belongingness. This involves get the better ofing the feeling of disaffection and solitariness. A individual needs to experience he is non entirely and there are groups where he belongs.
4. Need for regard. This involves both the self-pride and the regard the individual gets from people around him. This is defined to be the regard people have towards the individual. which in bend. would give the individual ground to esteem himself. When this is satisfied. the individual feels valuable and confident. Otherwise. the individual tends to experience unworthy. frustrated. weak. and helpless.
5. Self-actualization demands. It is non clear what the individual precisely wants when he reaches this degree. but Maslow defines it as the demand to be and to make what the individual is born to make.

C. About The Survey

All the theories presented supra service as underpinnings to the undertaking of this paper – to develop a curative group utilizing “group” as an object of intervention. The group is expected to reframe the homeless women’s constructs of duty and potency. and to assist them acknowledge and alter self-defeating ideas and behaviour. As an wake. the group should be able to “revive and enhance” the life of stateless adult females as they engage in this group and should travel far beyond merely supplying physiological and safety demands.

1. Coverage of the Group/Group Selection Process

This survey concerns the stateless adult females in the United States. between 18 and 25 old ages of age. found in the street and particular establishments for homeless for mere shelter and nutrient for endurance. The gamut of age is specifically chosen to concentrate on the consequence of homelessness to adult females at their early old ages. No racial penchant is concerned in the choice. Womans with physical disablement are non counted out. Homeless adult females may be individual. married. with or without kids. widowed. or divorced. No penchant is given on the educational attainment. Intentionally. these adult females will non undergo formal interview procedure or psychological tests as necessity to recruitment. This group is a group for mending immature. stateless adult females – whoever they may be.

The topographic point is a house with upper limit of 30 members. Food. vesture. and other basic demands are free of charge. Womans with kids are non allowed to come to the house with their kids. Rather. the group will happen particular establishments that can take attention of the kids during the class of their mother’s mending procedure.

2. The Group Leader

Leader of the group is person who knows the Immigration and Naturalization Services and outs of the construct of cognitive behavioural theory and its application in psychotherapeutics. The leader does non needfully hold to be person who has first manus experience on being homeless. nor the individual needs to be a adult female. The leader. in this instance. is the individual who can actuate others with his position of life. One needs to cognize how it is to pull trust among members of the group. how it is to ease a healthy and unfastened conversation. and how to objectively recognize aims of the session without holding to do the members feel the objectiveness of the session. The leader is tasked to actuate the squad and be the span to recognize group’s aims. He is at that place to administrate the agencies by which stateless adult females can be “treated. ” The group believes that the leader. merely like any other individual. has two ears and one oral cavity. He needs to listen more than speak.

1. The Healing Procedure

The first two hebdomads is intended to expose adult females to the group environment where they will be put in the same topographic point with others who are in the same state of affairs. but do non needfully have the same narrative as theirs. During this exposure phase. there will be series of group activities. games. and diversion that fundamentally aims to set these adult females in the comfort degree of opening up life narratives. These activities do non specifically necessitate to undertake homelessness and painful yesteryear experiences that brought these adult females to the state of affairs. Merely. the purpose of this stage is for these adult females to acquire the feel of the group and to familiarise themselves to other members through activities aimed at constructing a squad or a group.

The following two hebdomads if for more serious revelation Sessionss where members will be foremost asked to watch picture of success narratives of adult females who were one time stateless. After which. each member will be asked to reflect. The floor so opens for opening up of each member’s narratives. It is a regulation of the group non to mandate or necessitate the members to open up. “Let her clip come” is the slogan.

Everything falls in perfect timing. The series of activities during the first two hebdomads is expected to construct members’ trust and assurance in one another. which is expected to be seen in this stage. Opening up is non an mundane session. Diging down past experiences every so frequently may do the individual commiseration herself the more. The sharing session happens one time a hebdomad. There will be Sessionss where invitees are invited to come over. These invitees are adult females with similar experiences who opted to resuscitate her life than stay suffering.

It is expected that there will be opposition. Women will non be forced to set trust to the group – coercing them is non an option. The group will allow it be. regardless of the clip it would take to eventually suppress the fright of look and the issue of swearing “strangers. ” The group believes that when people are exposed to an environment that does them no injury. they will “give up” and embrace the beauty it has to offer.

Daily. there will be particular categories that cover religion in God. women’s worth. and personal accomplishment. These categories intend to do these adult females feel they are non to fault in the state of affairs and that the things that happened in the yesteryear are challenges given to them that are meant more to do them stronger than interrupt them. In these categories. there will be no rating system. no test. The categories aim to learn and non to rank pupils. This will do members experience free inside the house and will avoid favoritism of members who get least in tests or take part least in the treatment.

After the first month of stay and learning Sessionss. adult females will be educated with different accomplishments such as authorship. picture. cookery. and other support activities. These livelihood activities form portion of subgroups inside the group. Women will non be assigned to fall in a specific subgroup. Rather. they will freely take the subgroup to fall in to. Their end product will be sold outside the house and the income will be given to them. Other indispensable vocational classs such as computing machine literacy will be offered to everyone.

After get the hanging a specific particular field of involvement. adult females will be taught to prepare decently and professionally. The group will assist them happen a occupation in the chosen field. where the group will still be behind them to assist until six months after employment. The group does non acquire any part of women’s income.

1. Appraisals and Evaluation

Womans will undergo psychological trial six months after employment to estimate the possible countries where they need more “assistance. ” Had the individual is proven to be making good plenty. the individual is released from the group. The “graduated member” of the group can be one of the talkers in the acquisition and sharing Sessionss for future members of the group. if she volunteers to. The group does non mandate. it does non necessitate. The group is bound to the rule that if the thing is done because you are forced to make it. your bosom it non at that place. No sound end product can be derived from something non done by bosom.

This strategy is expected to convey stateless adult females to the universe of holding self-dignity. duty. and self worth. While it is genuinely painful to look back at how things were. it is ever an chance to one time once more turn out a person’s bravery and ability to stand amidst the burden at the dorsum. The true strength of a tyre can ne’er be tested in a silk-like route. There needs to be obstructions. Strong are those who conquer it all.

Mentions

Antonuccio. D. O. ( 1995 ) .Psychotherapy for depression:No stronger medical specialty. American Psychologist. Vol. 50. Pp. 450-452.

Fenchel. G. & A ; Flapan. D. ( 2005 ) .Resistance in Group Psychotherapy. Group. Springer Netherlands. Volume 9. No. 2. Pp. 35-47.

Grohol. J. M. . ( 2004 ) . Theoretical Orientations and Practices of Therapists.

Jasinski. J. L. and Mendez. M. ( 2006 ) .Victimization of Homeless Women: An Analysis of the Impact of Age First Homeless. Retrieved 13 July 2007 from hypertext transfer protocol: //www. allacademic. com/meta/p125392_index. hypertext markup language

Montauk. S. L. ( 2006 ) . The Homeless in America: Adapting Your Practice. Vol. 74. No. 7.

Nyamathi. A. . Galaif. E. R. . & A ; Leake. B. ( 1999 ) . A comparing of stateless adult females and their intimate spouses. Los Angeles.

Vladek. B. C. ( 1990 ) .Health attention and the homeless: A political fable for our clip. Journal of Health Politics. Policy. and Law. Vol. 15. Pp. 305-317.