4.2. Educational or information groups

Purpose: To identify current coping methods used by people living with anxiety and depression and for them to reflect on whether their strategies are emotion or problem-based focused.

Resources required: A whiteboard and markers.

Beginning phase: Begin with the ice-breaker activity, Scissors, paper, rock (see Chapter 2).

Middle phase: The social work facilitator asks the group the following open questions and lists them on a whiteboard:

• What do you like to do for self-care?
• What are some examples of coping strategies?
• How do you define emotion-focused and problem-focused coping strategies?
• What are examples of emotion-focused and problem-focused coping strategies?

The group then identifies, in their own way, the function of each strategy. Next, the facilitators will define emotion-focused and problem-focused coping strategies. Emotion-focused strategies are often utilised when something is outside of our control, often requiring us to have a few different strategies in our toolkit to bring us down on our distress scale. Conversely, problem-focused coping strategies can be used when we are able to influence the outcome of our current situation.

Once the differences between the strategies are discussed, ask the following open questions:

• When would we adopt emotion vs problem-focused strategies?
• How does it feel to characterise these strategies in this way?

Ending phase: The social work facilitator summarises what has been shared and plans the agenda for the next group meeting. Conclude the session by thanking everyone for coming.

Purpose: Using a person-centred lens, compared to a biomedical patient-centred approach (Vaida & Șerban, 2021), provide medical professionals with an understanding of the competing priorities for people who inject drugs when accessing treatment for hepatitis C virus (HCV).

Resources required: Whiteboard, markers, butchers paper, and a pre-written case study involving HCV. A sample case study is outlined below.

Beginning phase: Acknowledge the important and integral work undertaken by nursing and other allied-health professions within the HCV cascade of care. Highlight the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration.

When welcoming people, the social work facilitator explains:

Even though this is an educational group and not a therapeutic group, we still need to maintain confidentiality and be particularly mindful that this is a safe space to share thoughts and feelings.

The facilitator needs to remember to keep revisiting the importance of confidentiality throughout the group session.

Each group member is invited to state their name and describe how they feel when people accessing their respective services do not comply/commit to HCV treatment. Each group member writes a one one-word description summarising their feelings on the butcher’s paper.

The facilitator validates the group members’ thoughts and feelings:

I know that I have had all of these feelings and thoughts at some point when working with different people accessing my organisation. We all know that the curative treatment process is simple: people take a subsidised course of tablets for a few months to clear the HCV infection. However, maybe there is more to it than this; let’s look at a case study.

Middle phase: Present the fictitious case study.

Alexa is a 32-year-old unemployed woman who ‘couch surfs’ in a low-income neighbourhood. She has been injecting drugs for eight years and was recently diagnosed with HCV at a community clinic. Alexa says service providers frequently dismiss her concerns and withhold critical information.

The social work facilitator then invites each group member to draw out the potential additional presenting problems for Alexa alongside her HCV diagnosis. For example, substance use disorder (SUD), homelessness, economic hardship, and discrimination. Once identified, each point is listed on the adjacent whiteboard.

Next, the group unpacks the case study further, discussing the impact of the additional presenting problems on Alexa’s everyday functioning. These additional points are also listed on the whiteboard under each relevant problem. For example, the effect of daily drug withdrawal, having nowhere safe to store belongings including medications for HCV, the inability to afford transport to the treatment clinic, etc.

The group continues to discuss Alexa’s competing priorities and the complex intersectionality of SUD, homelessness, and economic hardship, which likely influences the stigma/discrimination Alexa experiences (Mattsson, 2014).

Next, the facilitator checks in with each group member, and the initial words written on the butcher paper are revisited. Each person describes how they may now feel toward people accessing their service who do not comply with/commit to HCV treatment. These feelings are listed on the whiteboard to demonstrate the shift in empathy and understanding.

Ending phase: The social work facilitator again validates the group members’ feelings and reframes a person-centred approach for participants to maintain in practice. The group wraps up with the facilitator asking if people have any questions, thanking group members for participating in the group and asking for feedback.

Purpose: Educating teachers of children in kindergarten to year four about the impact of domestic violence and improving the safety and school experience of these children.

Resources required: Tea and coffee / refreshment station; an information sheet that lists and explains the different types of domestic and family violence and potential behaviours demonstrated by children exposed to this violence; government department information such as the Keeping children and young people safe guide (ACT Government, 2024); social work contact details; agency policies; and an evaluation form.

Beginning phase: The facilitator acknowledges that this is a heavy subject. They explain that it is okay for people to take breaks during the session and help themselves to refreshments outside the door at any time.

Middle phase: The group discusses what is family and domestic violence and the different types of abuse, for example, physical, psychological, emotional, sexual and economic. The group discusses the impacts of family and domestic violence on children, such as cognitive, emotional, social, physiological, academic, and self-esteem issues (Australian Institute of Family Studies, 2023; ACT Government, 2024; Department of Child Protection, 2024).

The social work facilitator then requests the teachers to look out for signs that may indicate a child is exposed to family and domestic violence, such as, a child aggressively interacting with others, always being angry, always hungry, not having a lunch box with food, having poor hygiene, blaming themselves for things outside their control, being abusive, always scared, academically underachieving and always hypervigilant (ACT Government, 2024). It is also explained that such signs could indicate that something else is wrong–such as a child experiencing loss and grief rather than family and domestic violence. The facilitator asks the teachers for help in identifying children displaying the early signs of domestic violence. This is because teachers see the children daily; they often are the people who can tell if a child is being harmed through exposure to family and domestic violence.

The social work facilitator requests to be informed about children suspected of experiencing family and domestic violence so they can intervene in the situation and make appropriate referrals. If the child discloses that they are exposed to domestic and family violence, the facilitator requests that the teacher thank the child for sharing this information, reassure them that they have done the right thing in sharing, and explain that the teacher will be speaking to some other people who will help to decide what’s next. The teachers also help the child understand what they are thinking, their emotions, and their behaviours. They are to provide comfort and assure the child that there is help. A notification will be made to the child protection service. According to the child’s needs, additional referrals will be made, such as speech and occupational therapists. The facilitator emphasises that the priority is the child’s future and safety.

Ending phase: The facilitator concludes by asking if the teachers have any questions. The facilitator emphasises the importance of early intervention, as this can help keep children and their significant others safe. The social work group facilitator gives teachers the handouts and their business cards.

Evaluation: The facilitator thanks the participants for their time and requests they fill out the feedback form.