A flyer or newsletter that advertises the group can be posted at the school and/or community treatment center. Advertisements can also be mailed to members’ homes or put on Web sites. Potential group members are identified and referred by counselors, therapists, teachers, administrators, caregivers, and family members.

After potential group members have been identified, they are interviewed to screen for suitability. The counselor should create a screening device that ensures that he or she has members who are appropriate for the group. After screening, parents or guardians should be contacted to request written consent for their child to participate.

This is also a good time to address any questions or concerns parents may have about the group. The group should consist of approximately six to seven members who are at the same grade and/or developmental level. It is wise for the counselor to create a heterogeneous group in terms of gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and sexual orientation. The group will meet for 8 weeks at a time that is convenient for all involved.

Introductory Session

Session one consists of explaining the focus of the group and the way groups are organized and operate, and outlining what each session will cover. Confidentiality and its limitations are discussed, and group ground rules are established. The facilitator provides the group norms, and the ground rules are those provided by both the counselor and group members.

With the help of the facilitator, the group selects the group goals. To be effective, these group goals should meet several criteria. First, the group members must have an investment in the goals; second, they must be goals the counselor is willing to help members achieve; third, the goals must be measurable (Jones, 1980).

Group members are to be provided a journal and encouraged to spend 5 to 10 minutes each night tracking their feelings of anger and writing down their thoughts and feelings about the day. Journal writings can be shared at group meetings on a voluntary basis.

Finally, members will participate in a brief icebreaker activity designed by the counselor to build trust and rapport.

Session 2

During the second group session, members receive a copy of the group ground rules, and they sign a copy that the counselor will keep and post in the group meeting room. Group rules may be added at any time throughout the group with group consensus.

In general, anger is experienced in one or all of five different areas of life. Anger at others, anger directed at us from others, our anger at ourselves, anger lingering from the past, and abstract anger (Ingram, 2002). All of these areas are addressed by this group intervention.

Group members are asked to identify their own personal anger triggers and complete a questionnaire regarding what causes them to become angry (Phillips & LaHaye, 2002). This invites group members to indicate what factors influence their feelings of anger.

From this starting point the facilitator can lead a discussion into what causes them to be angry, who is involved, and what other feelings they are experiencing along with anger. The group can also discuss other names given to anger along with other feelings that can accompany anger like sadness and frustration (Ingram, 2002).

From the first cave-wall artists to modern-day Sunday landscape painters, normal people in ordinary settings have been using art for therapeutic purposes. On other occasions, art and the creative process can be used as a specific tool to deal with experiences that are difficult to assimilate or verbally express. The creative process can be responsive and therapeutic in providing a release of tension and a vehicle for self-expression.

In investigating the popularity of various art media, it was determined that the most popular material was clay, followed closely by paint (Rubin, 1984). After the third group begins with a check-in, members create a face mask that depicts a feeling of their choice. Students are provided air-dry clay and instructions on making a mask that reflects a feeling or feelings.

This can be a feeling or emotion they frequently encounter, a preferred feeling, how they are feeling today. It can be a happy, sad, angry, or any other kind of face. They sculpt the mask by hand and then use their hands or various implements to design their face.

Session four is spent decorating the masks that members created during the previous session. They work with paint, collage cutouts from magazines, yarn, beads, glitter, paint, and various other media. Several sample masks that vary in complexity of decoration and feeling should be available to provide inspiration and ideas. Students take turns talking about their mask and the feeling(s) and emotion(s) portrayed in the mask.

Session 5

During this session students discuss faulty assumptions and conclusions that can lead to anger. They learn about overgeneralizing, mind reading, labeling, all or nothing thinking, catastrophising. They also discuss the concept of self-talk and the impact it has on how they feel about themselves and how they cope with anger (Ingram, 2002; Peacock, 2000).

After discussing new, more positive ways of thinking, they participate in a story writing exercise using positive thinking strategies to help manage anger. During the story writing, group members write about real life situations they have encountered, or they can be given a scenario to write about.

For example, the facilitator may provide a beginning sentence such as, “As I walked into the classroom, the student in front of me let the door go and it slammed into my nose and people laughed. As I felt the sting in my nose, I thought_______.” They write their story and then discuss how they looked at the situation in a productive manner.

Group members receive further information about productive ways to manage anger. Ideas will include recognizing and expressing feelings, being assertive vs. aggressive, stress reduction and relaxation, accepting responsibility, learning to listen to others, avoiding arguments with someone who simply wants to argue for the sake of arguing, ignoring slights or insults by others, putting themselves in the other person’s place, and treating others as they would like to be treated (www.teachers.net, www. angermanagement.com).

They participate in roleplaying some of the strategies discussed from either real life situations or exercises designed by the facilitator.

The focus of this session is to increase awareness of stress in the lives of the group members. Members should receive information about the causes and signs of stress, stress reduction, and relaxation techniques such as deep breathing, and they participate in a guided visualization to increase relaxation and put them in a state of rest.

The counselor should create or find handouts containing the  information discussed and additional stress reduction resources.  

The final group ends in termination of the 8-week group process. Members are encouraged to discuss anything they learned in the group and how it may help in their daily living. Group members should be informed that the counselor maintains an open door policy when they need assistance dealing with their anger.

Learning healthy anger management requires patience, a willingness to try different ways of dealing with anger, commitment, and practice (Golden, 2004). Adolescents who learn to effectively manage their feelings of anger greatly decrease the incidence of self defeating behaviors, increase self-awareness, develop a healthier self-concept, and increase their ability to build positive and healthy relationships.

This group is  designed to help adolescents become more aware of their anger and what triggers it while providing them with some tools to deal with it more effectively. Counselors in any setting can use this model to help adolescents with anger problems become healthier young adults.

American Psychological Association. (2004). Controlling anger before it controls you. Retrieved April 6, 2004, from http://www.apa.org/pubinfo/anger.html

Anderson, C. A., Carnagey, N. L., & Eubanks, J. (2003). Exposure to violent media: The effects of songs with violent lyrics on aggressive thoughts and feelings. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(5), 960-971.

Arlett, C., Elgar, F. J., & Groves, R., (2003). Stress, coping, and behavioral problems among rural and urban adolescents. Journal of Adolescence, 26, 574-85.

Golden, B. R. (2004, January). Healthy anger: How to help your child/teen manage their anger. New Living Magazine. Retrieved April 13, 2004, from http://www.newliving.com/issues/jan_2004/articles/anger%20for%teen...

Hughes, J. N., LaGreca, A., & Conoley, J. C. (Eds.). (2001). Handbook of psychological services for children and adolescents. New York: Oxford University Press.

Ingram, L. (2002). Anger tool kit. Retrieved April 6, 2004, from http://angermgmt.com/measure.html Jones, V. F. (1980). Adolescents with behavior problems: Strategies for teaching, counseling, and parent involvement. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Kranz, R., & Dentamaro, C. (1995). Straight talk about anger. New York: Facts on File.

O’Connor, K. J., & Schaefer, C. E. (1994). Handbook of play therapy: Vol. 2. Advances and innovations. New York: Wiley & Sons.

Peacock, J. (2000). Anger management. Gaining control of your anger. Mankato, MN: Capstone Press.

Phillips, R., & LaHaye, T. (2002). Anger is a choice. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Pollock, K. M., & Kymissis, M.D. (2001). The future of adolescent group therapy. An analysis of historical trends and current momentum. Journal of Child and Adolescent Group Therapy, 11(1), 5.

Rubin, J. A. (1984). Child art therapy: Understanding and helping children grow through art (2nd ed.). New York: Wiley.

Thompson, C., Rudolph, L., & Henderson, D. (2004). Counseling children (6th ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/ Cole.

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Divorce Counseling May Help Prevent Teen Substance Abuse

Most children of divorced parents in the United States (40 percent of all children) adjust well to their parents' split. But 20 to 25 percent of children have trouble dealing with their parents' divorce. Many of the problems these children have can last into their adult years. Researchers at the University of Arizona tried to find out whether post-divorce counseling for children helped prevent some negative outcomes of divorce-conduct problems, dropping out of school, substance use, high-risk sexual behaviors, and depression-during the teen years.

To find out whether counseling could reduce problems during the teen years in children of divorce, researchers tested more than 200 9- to 12-year-olds who lived with their mothers after a divorce. The children and their mothers took part in one of three programs:

• One program for mothers included 11 group sessions and 2 private sessions. The group sessions addressed improving the mother-child relationship, disciplining, increasing the father's access to the child, and reducing conflict between the parents.
• Another program consisted of 11 group sessions and 2 private sessions for the mothers and 11 group sessions for the children. The mothers' group sessions addressed improving the mother-child relationship, disciplining, increasing the father's access to the child, and reducing conflict between the parents. The children's group sessions were designed to help the children improve their coping and problem-solving skills.
• The third program was a control group in which participants received three books on adjusting to divorce, but no private or group counseling.

After 6 years, researchers checked on 218 of the families that participated to see how the children had fared as teens. Teens who had received counseling as children were far more likely than those with no counseling to avoid mental health problems that often plague teens whose parents have split up. In fact, surveys revealed that 23.5 percent of the teens who had no counseling or other help had mental health problems, compared with 11 percent of the teens who had been in the programs. Researchers also found that counseling in childhood reduced marijuana, alcohol, and other illegal drug use and number of sexual partners during the teen years.

Teens whose mothers had post-divorce counseling also fared better than teens whose mothers had no counseling. Teens whose mothers took part in the counseling program-even when the teens received no counseling-had fewer symptoms of mental health problems and lower rates of alcohol, marijuana, and other illegal drug use.

While many youth may not seem to need counseling if they appear to be dealing well with their parents' divorce, the lasting benefits of counseling for both parents and children make it a good investment. To learn more about counseling programs in your area, talk to your family doctor.

Sources

Wolchik, S.A., I.N. Sandler, R.E. Millsap, B.A. Plummer, S.M. Greener, E.R. Anderson, S.R. Dawson-McClure, K. Hipke, and R.A. Haine. 2002. Six-year followup of preventive interventions for children of divorce: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of the American Medical Association 288.

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