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Treatment Group Proposal: Caregiver Stress and Family Conflict Support Group

WKS 6 ASSIGNMENT SOCW 6121: Social Work Practice With Groups Dr. April 5, 2026

Purpose

The proposed treatment group will provide both therapeutic care and psycho education to family caregivers who feel stressful and strained as they provide care to their seriously mentally ill or cognitively impaired relatives. In the process of interactions with the client of Parker family media case, a number of concerns were revealed. Sara Parker is a 72-year-old female patient with symptoms of cognitive deficits and hoarding, who has her daughter Stephanie living with her who has developed bipolar disorder. During the home visit of the Adult Protective Services, both of them confessed that there has been an increased conflict at home in relation to Sara hoarding and the efforts of Stephanie cleaning the apartment. Although both of them have not reported the sustained violence, the employee has observed that there has been tension of emotions and physical stress on the family which indicated the presence of caregiver stress and pooring family relationships.

A psycho educational and support group is a proper intervention with this type of dynamics. Psycho educational groups consist of a therapeutic discussion and psycho education on coping mechanisms, mental illness, and family communication (Toseland and Rivas, 2017). Such participants are assisted by these groups to learn practical skills and emotional support of individuals that are also confronted with the same care giving problems. The licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) who will be the leader of the proposed group will have a background in the areas of group facilitation, family systems, and mental health practice. The group leaders should also be knowledgeable of the trauma-informed care and crisis intervention to make sure that the surrounding is comfortable and secure when the emotionally sensitive conversations occur (Corey et al., 2018).

Membership

The proposed group shall cater to adult caregivers and family members to live or offer care to persons with severe mental illness, dementia, or hoarding behavior. These members may be spouses, adult children, or any other relatives that are put under stress or conflict due to the care giving duties. This group participation would particularly impact those individuals such as Stephanie who are struggling to manage their mental health needs and are attempting to care of their relatives.

Subjects will be expected to embody different backgrounds in terms of culture, socioeconomic as well as demographics. Cultural competence will also be required as communities do not hold the same beliefs regarding caring, family responsibility, and mental illness (Sue and Sue, 2022). Engagement of respondent will be done on a voluntary basis to facilitate open, trustful and substantive group discussions. The sample will include six to ten participants depending on the research the most appropriate number to reach a therapeutic and group interaction (Toseland and Rivas, 2017).

Statement of Need

Caregiver support in mentally ill or cognitively depressed persons is severely required. Care giving tends to cause emotional stress and social isolation in addition to psychological stress otherwise known as caregiver burden. These researches have demonstrated that the number of caregivers who are estimated to take care of mentally ill individuals and report high caregiver burden in emotional fatigue and disrupted family relationships is estimated at 31 percent (Zhu et al., 2022). Also, stress related to care giving duties is moderate to severe, and is being reported among a number of caregivers.

These issues are depicted in Parker family case. Hoarding and cognitive impairments have also made Sara create a clutter in her home, as well as on-going conflict between her and Stephanie. At the same time, the bipolar disorder of Stephanie renders her unable to assume care giving roles and be a stable mental system. Devoid of action, such challenges might develop and result in unsafe living conditions or additional emotional decline. The treatment group would provide coping skills, communication and support of families in similar situation.

Recruitment

The interviewees will be identified through the social service agencies, the community mental health clinics, outpatient program in the hospital, senior day treatment centers and the social service agencies. Referrals to the clients facing caregiver stress, or family conflict due to mental illness will be encouraged among the social workers, therapists as well as case managers.

The group facilitator will have to conduct the screening interview on the potential group members before they are allowed to join the group. The screening will assess the role of care giving, degree of emotional distress and ability to participate safely in a group. Those people who have acute psychiatric crisis or interpersonal violence will be directed to more specific services. The invited members will be engaged in an orientation program where the objectives and goals of the group, rules of confidentiality, and participation will be explained (Corey et al., 2018).

References

Corey, G., Corey, M. S., & Corey, C. (2018). Groups: Process and practice (10th ed.). Cengage Learning.

Sue, D. W., & Sue, D. (2022). Counseling the culturally diverse: Theory and practice (9th ed.). Wiley.

Toseland, R. W., & Rivas, R. F. (2017). An introduction to group work practice (8th ed.). Pearson.

Zhu, L., Heffernan, C., & Tan, J. (2022). Caregiver burden: A concept analysis. International Journal of Nursing Sciences, 9(3), 301–308.