Peer groups: Cumbria spring group - more on what makes groups helpful
Last updated on 29th May 2009
Yesterday was a fairly classic first full day of one of these four day peer groups that I've been involved with for so long. Like a musical form ... a concerto or something ... there are usual stages to the group, phases which it typically moves through. When I wrote about this spring peer group a year ago, I used the metaphor of a cooking pot saying "so it's crucial that people feel the pot, the container of the group is safe enough, that it can hold and allow what comes up to work through without spilling over and burning anyone badly. So part of what we're doing can be viewed as making a container that feels caring enough, safe enough, accepting enough for members of the group to explore and work on issues that may bubble up for them. Another aspect of this cooking pot metaphor is that it's important too that it's 'on the heat', that the way we are in the group helps people get in touch with issues, pains, conflicts, experiences that it can be helpful to work on in this environment."