Role Playing a Psychoeducation Group

[Lab 7- May 3: Enabling Occupation Through Learning]

Engaging in role-playing in this lab really made me think about the emotional experiences of the parents of those who had their first incident of psychosis and/or going through their own recovery process. I think that my role as the eldest child and older sister to three siblings helped me settle into the role of "Patrick's mother". After our session, I felt oddly relaxed. The students who played the OTs in our psychoeducation group did a great job of leading and facilitating the discussion. All of our group members actively participated and volunteer to share their experiences, so the group ran very smoothly.



One thing that could've made our psychoeducation group more realistic would be the inclusion of family members who either prefer to be very passive and simply listen to others do the sharing or the more aggressive parents who really dominate the discussion with their emotional outbursts. The group dynamics would definitely have changed if we were not all playing cooperative parents. Although I did not lead the group in this lab, I can imagine that I may struggle in handling the group dynamic if there was an individual who wasn't willing to participate or intimidated others by 'over-sharing'.

I look forward to our Coaching and Counselling for Occupational Change course next year where I'm sure I'll be able to learn more about leading groups and other talk-based interventions.

RESOURCE to Look At:

I found this video, which I think gives a good summary on the importance of using families as a resource in psychoeducation groups.

A women in this video said that:"When I had cancer, she was right there with me. But when it comes to my mental illness, she just didn't understand." I think what she says hits the nail on the head when it comes to describing how stigma affects those with mental illness differently than other illnesses that have immediate physical and "concrete" consequences.

One of the counsellors in the video explains that: "We tell families that spending time together with other families and individuals struggling with Schizophrenia will help them to become aware to the solutions that are inherently involved in their life." I can see how when someone in the family suffers from something that is highly stigmatized, families feel the need to keep it within the family and struggle to reach out help. Keeping their struggles to themselves may make them feel more in control of the situation.

Which makes me think of the lyrics of Barbara Streisand's song "People": 

People,

People who need people

Are the luckiest people in the world

We're children needing other children

And yet letting our grown-up pride

Hide all the need inside

Acting more like children than children

"What the outcome of [psychoeducation groups] is, it's just, over and over again, is a sense of being validated, appreciated and then also, at a sort of practical level, you get some good ideas to try in your own life, in your own terms, in ways that fit you and your family." --William McFarlane, MD, Chief of Psychiatry, Maine Medical Center (from the video)