Teenage Pregnancy: Young Pregnant Teens at a Shelter (Essay Sample)

Teenage Pregnancy: Young Pregnant Teens at a Shelter
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Beginnings
During the initial stages of a group, it is evident that there are various issues faced. However, it is the manner in which such issues are addressed that group cohesiveness is enhanced. Even though there are so many issues of concern, some of these are personality differences, differences in goals, communication issues, and trust issues. When working with young pregnant teens at a shelter, it is evident that their area of concern is pregnancy. However, this does not make them the same in needs and personalities. Some of the teens might have supportive families and thus pushing well with their pregnancies while others are having difficulties as they are neglected by their family members and friends. It is after showing each one of them that their issues are important and would be addressed that group cohesion would be achieved. Differences in teens’ issues also lead to differences in goals (Dupper, 2008). Nevertheless, the young teens have to work as a team in order to enhance their cohesiveness. The team leader should therefore set mutual goals that serve the needs of each teen.
Further, during the initial phases of a team, communication might be a major issue. This is based on the diversity of the team members with each preferring a different type of communication. It is also as a result of communication issues that some team members are unable to express their feelings and problems. This way, it becomes impossible for the team leader to help them. However, with free and open communication, each team member would be encouraged to share any challenges she has. This can be resolved through catharsis in which the social worker gives each team members an opportunity to express her feelings including the ones buried within. This gives the team members a sense of belonging and identity improving cohesiveness as they feel part of the team (Brandler & Roman, 2015). The last problem is on trust issues that are resolved through free interaction and the feeling that each team member can trust and have confidence on the social worker. In this case, the teens should feel free to share their problems with the social worker without any fear of ridicule or disclosure to other people.
Middles
A social worker is convinced that the groups is entering the middles after he sees the group members move from a cautious and evaluative positions to a confrontational, intimate, and competitive phase. As the team members confront and compete with each other, the social worker is now convinced that they are entering a new phase. It is through competition that the team members understand the roles they can fit in and occupy them. It is therefore the role of the social worker at this phase to push the team of the pregnant teenagers to a greater level of intimacy so that they are able to explore their feelings and make it to have them resolved (Wood & Tully, 2006). The social worker can therefore open a discussion in which the pregnant teenagers would explain what they expect from the group and how they wish the team was managed.
In order for the middle phase to be successful, cohesiveness should be enhanced. Nonetheless, this might be challenging if the team has trust issues, avoidance problems, and failure to clarify the contract. This might lead to vulnerability feeling, tentative exploration, and fear of exposure. The social worker should therefore employ strategies that would increase a feeling of safety and confidence in the group (Brandler & Roman, 2015). It is after the pregnant teens feel that they have confidence with each other and are safe in the group that they would feel free to share anything. This helps the social worker to understand them better since it is after analyzing their feelings and experiences that the social workers would identify their issues and set goals to be achieved. Communication should also be effective with the teens given an opportunity to express their feelings with each other and with the social worker.
Endings
While ending the group is inevitable, Conyne (2013) argues that this comes with various challenges. For instance, all the team members feel a sense of loss since they need to adapt to a different way of living. If an individual leaves the team, the remaining team members have to learn to live with the loss. If it is the entire group separating, the team members have to learn living individually on in different constituted groups. This means living with other new people that a person is not accustomed to. For the case of the pregnant teenagers, ending of the group means that the comfort one is used to living with people of the same age and sharing similar problems is gone. The teens therefore face a great challenge trying to strike a balance between maintaining what has been gained from the team experience and adapting to a new life.
During the ending phase, the major goal of the social worker is to ensure that the team members maintain what has been gained from the team. At this phase, the social worker should encourage the tees to express their hidden feelings including anger and sorrow. This helps in ensuring that no challenge is left unresolved and the team disbands in honesty. The social worker should also not rush into the ending phase. He should rather prepare the team slowly to the stage. In addition, he should emphasize on the power of the self so that each teen learns to live independently (Brandler & Roman, 2015). The social worker should also demonstrate authority since in most cases, the team members are afraid of being left alone and thus would do anything to stick with the group. Without adequate authority, the social worker would sympathize with the teens and thus would not disband the team even when it is no longer beneficial.
Group Work and Social Working
A group is a powerful mechanism for change if the team leader works collaboratively with the team members. In order to ensure that all team members are committed to the change, Carroll (2011) argues that the team members should have the personal issues considered. When setting the goals and planning the change, individual goals should be incorporated. In addition, the team leader should set the goals together with the team members and plan the change together. The team members should therefore be actively involved in the change process from the beginning and give suggestions that ensure that the planned change is effective. Change would therefore be successful through teams if different views are considered and team members are involved to avoid resistance based on gossip and rumors.
Groups are therefore very beneficial because it is through them that diverse suggestions are given thus coming up with the most appropriate strategy or plan. When working with groups, it is also possible for each group member to learn from the other thus improving results. For instance, in this case of working with pregnant teens, the tee...