Humanities Homework Help

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Post 1

As previously explained in the chapter, self-help groups help clients feel empowered because they get to communicate with other members with common experiences, they also help them develop positive personal identification withing the peer group they’re in. In self-help groups clients are able to have an open discussion where they provide each other with emotional support. The Helper-Therapy Principle explains why these self-help groups are effective. Skovholt (1974) discussed how self-help groups allow members to provide help to one another. He outlines that people in self-help groups feel increased interpersonal competence when they impact another member’s life, feel a balance between giving and receiving with other members, obtain social approval from others in group, and also get valuable personalized learning while working with someone who needs help. The helper-therapy principle explains how helpers become less dependent, observe other’s struggling with similar experiences and seeing how they navigate it, and how they gain a sense of social usefulness by helping others.

A self-help group I am familiar with is a group held at my practicum site, Milestones in Recovery which specializes in eating disorders. Residential patients have scheduled group therapy throughout the week but on weekend they have their very own alumni meeting with other members who were previously in the program. There is no therapist present so group members provide emotional support for each other. They tell stories of struggles they are currently going through and other members with similar stories share as well. Group members also help other members who are struggling with their recovery and provide resources for them to get the most out of their recovery. In these meetings members have the opportunity to build interpersonal competence by helping others. They also have a sense of balance between giving and receiving help to other group members. The group provides a base of personalize learning from helping those who are struggling. Group members also receive social approval from group members who’ve they’ve helped and are shown gratitude.

Post 2

• Define the Helper-Therapy principle as described on pages 192-193

The Helper-Therapy principle explains the reason why self-help groups succeed. In 1974 Skovholt discussed the benefits of giving help to others that are more than the benefits of receiving help. He outlines four benefits:

1. An enhanced level of relational capability.
2. A sense of equality in giving and taking.
3. A gain in valuable personalized learning.
4. A win in social approval.

In 1984 Gartner and Riessman identified additional benefits:

1. The person that helps others turn into less dependent.
2. By helping others dealing with similar problems, the helper has the chance to look at the problem at a distance.
3. The helper gains a feeling of social usefulness.

• Give an example of a self-help group with which you are familiar and describe how the Helper-Therapy principle works for that group.

The first self-help group that come to my mind is Alcoholics Anonymous. Last semester I had to attend to some of their meetings for my Group Counseling class. It was a particularly good experience. Before last semester I knew little about the way AA works, but after reading about them, and participating in different meetings I learned a little bit more. AA members share their experience with anyone seeking help with a drinking problem; they give person-to-person service or sponsorship to the alcoholic coming to AA from any source. The AA program offers the alcoholic a way to develop a satisfying life without alcohol. I believe that the Helper Theory principle works for this group because it is not run by a leadership team, but rather, by members who are former alcoholics with a desire to help others. While participating I could notice the benefits explained before. The benefits where not only just for the person running the meeting, but for many of them that with more experience gave great help to other members of AA