GROUP WORK EXERCISE - Leader's Values

Consider some of the following areas in which your values and those of group members might clash. How would you respond in each of these situations that could arise in your group?

1. A member discloses how excited she is over a current affair and wonders if she should continue staying with her partner.
2. A woman whose cultural background is different from yours and that of the other members in the group says she is having difficulty expressing what she wants and behaving assertively (both in the group and at home). She says she has been taught to think of the interests of others and not to be concerned about what she wants.
3. An adolescent relates that his life feels bland without drugs.
4. A pregnant 16-year-old is struggling to decide whether to have an abortion or give up her baby to an adoption agency.
5. A chronically depressed man says that at times he thinks about suicide as his way out of a hopeless situation.
6. A man says he is very unhappy in his marriage but is unwilling to get a divorce because he is afraid of being alone.
7. A member who is from a different culture than the other members says he is having difficulty in the group because he is not used to speaking so freely or openly about family problems.