Planning meetings
The group needs to be planned in advance, and the more the leaders know each other, the better the group will run. The absolute minimum would be two sessions with all the staff together before hand.
Regular meetings during the course of the group are also vital. With a weekly group, a weekly meeting is best. If you can't get together, phone calls are essential.
The functions of the advance meetings are:
- Develop a sense of identity within the staff group
- Staff training (where necessary)
- Share preliminary information on the siblings who will attend, including needs identified during the pre-group visits
- Plan the details of the group programme and ensure everyone understands the aims
- Plan for evaluation of the group
- Look at individual strengths and weaknesses, and decide who will take the lead in which types of activity
- Delegate tasks, such as buying craft materials and food
- Sort out transport arrangements, and who will be contacting the siblings to confirm final details (If staff are using their own cars for transport, it is best for each driver to contact the ones they will be collecting)
The functions of the weekly meetings are:
- Review the good and bad things from last week
- Make appropriate recordings about the group and/or individual siblings
- Reflect on the needs of the group members
- Plan details for the next session
- Decide who will be doing what
Tips
Each group is unique. Some will be keen on crafts, others on games. Some will settle easily to group discussions, others need to be kept more active all the time. Some will be very free, others may need tighter discipline or structure. Be prepared to change your approach and activities to fit the siblings who are coming, but keep in mind the general aims of the group (and where possible the aims of the individual sessions). You will have some idea after the first session and a much clearer one after the second as to how this group is going to develop.
Discussion of each individual sibling is important. Also you may need to keep records for your organisation or to feed back to referrers. Weekly records make the final reports much easier. See recording
Supervision
Group supervision will be part of the weekly meeting, led by the Group Leader, and this may be sufficient for the Support Workers.
The Group Leader(s) will need their own supervision from within the organisation structure.
There is also a need for someone outside the immediate group to oversee/safeguard/handle complaints/check recording/risk assessments/policies/recruitment
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