In the category of Group Counseling and Group Work on the National Counselor Examination (NCE), the Counselor Preparation Comprehensive Examination (CPCE), or another counseling exam, you’ll want to have an understanding of the various types of groups that exist, and what the purposes of these groups are.
In this video, we’re looking at open groups as well as closed groups. We’ll discuss what they are, how they function, and the pros and cons of each. Not only that, but I’ll also provide examples of open and closed groups.
What is a closed group? A closed group is a group where, once the group has started, new members cannot join. This means that if a member leaves the group in the middle of it, their seat is simply empty—a new group member would not replace them. Rosenthal (2017) refers to closed groups as a room with a closed-door policy. People can leave the room, but new people cannot enter.
What are advantages of a closed group? Closed groups have some advantages. For one, the group will often more easily build trust with one another. As the group continues, the group develops a sense of connectedness and relationships build between group members. This unity between members can be incredibly powerful in a group setting. Another advantage is that closed groups tend to be more structured.
What are disadvantages of a closed group? However, there are downsides to closed groups. Perhaps the most relevant is that if all of the members in a group leave, there will not be a group left. Additionally, closed groups tend to be more structured (which can be a benefit), but they can lack flexibility at times.
What is an open group? Open groups, on the other hand, allow members to come and go. When the group starts, if six members leave, they could be replaced by six new members who join the group. Therefore, group membership is in flux and changing at all times.
What are advantages of an open group? Flexibility is a key advantage of open groups, as they are more likely to continue as membership numbers may be more stable. Said another way, open groups can lose members, but they can also gain members. When we look at this over time, the total number of people they have in the group will tend to be somewhat consistent (at least compared to closed groups). The flexibility also allows open groups to be more responsive to the needs of members.
What are disadvantages of an open group? Although open group have the advantage of being able to add new members, this is also a disadvantage of open groups as group members are not always able to form as strong of connections with other members like is possible in a closed group. Additionally, as new members join, they are not familiar with what the group has experienced or discussed. Because of the changing membership in open groups, they are not able to be as structured as a closed group can be.
What are examples of open and closed groups? If we think about examples of open and closed groups, we can look to Alcoholics Anonymous, or AA. You’ll be able to find both open and closed AA meetings. An open AA meeting allows anyone to attend—therefore, family, friends, or even students can attend an AA meeting. This was something I did for my addictions course in grad school. AA also offers closed meetings. To go to a closed meeting, you must struggle with alcohol addiction—family, friends, and students are not able to attend these meetings unless they currently are or have struggled with alcohol addiction.
Whether you realize it or not, you have probably been in a closed group! A college course is typically a closed group, since once the registration deadline has passed, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to join the class.
Another example of an open group may be a fitness class. Typically, they will allow people to join the class one week, take the next week off, and overall come and go as they please.
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Group Counseling is a really important area to have a good understanding of before you start any counseling exams. Today, we’re going to be covering two types of groups that exist open and closed groups. We’re going to cover what they are, how they function, and some pros and cons of each type. My name is Keegan. I recently graduated with a master’s degree in counseling. I’m making videos like this to help you and others prepare for the NC, the CPC or whatever counseling exam you have coming up. When it comes to studying for these exams, the more ways that you can interact with that information. From reading to listening to watching to writing notes, the better.
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And I say, the more the better, because the more ways that you can interact with it, the more likely it is to stick in your mind. I hope that these videos help this information to stick in your mind a different way to help you on your upcoming exams as we talk about closed and open groups. Let’s begin with clothes groups and what they are. So a closed group doesn’t let anybody join the group once it’s started or once the deadline is passed. I think it’s really helpful sometimes to connect these concepts to real life things. Whether you realize it or not, you probably have actually been part of a closed group
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as most classes at the university level function in this way. Once the deadline for a class is passed, you’re not able to join anymore. If you wanted to join halfway through this semester, there’s a pretty solid chance the university is not going to allow that. Rosenthal talks about closed groups as having a closed door policy, meaning that people can leave the room, but they can’t come back in through that door. The door is closed. So once the person is left, they can’t reenter and new people can’t come back either.
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There are advantages to closed groups. For one, closed groups can better build trust. Not only trust, but the group often will build better relationships because the closed group means that new people aren’t joining. Everyone’s getting to know the same people week after week or however often the group is meeting. Therefore, close groups can have more connectedness and can build stronger relationships, which is where more of that trust will come in. And the unity between closed group members can be a very powerful piece of this type of group. However, there are also downsides to close groups.
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One of the most relevant being that as people leave the group, the group does not bring on new people. Instead, the group size is just dwindling as people leave or don’t continue with the group. This means that theoretically everyone could leave a group and the group would just be done. It wouldn’t be able to go the full span that the group was intending to go because everyone would be gone. They wouldn’t be coming back. And new members can’t be added to a close group. Open groups, on the other hand, allow members to come and go as they please.
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This means that if a group loses six members over a month, six new members can be added or six new people can join the group at any point to rebuild those numbers. As a result, open groups tend to constantly be in flux with membership constantly changing. Before we get into more of the pros and cons of open groups. If you’re enjoying this video and taking away from it, please help me out by giving it a like and subscribing to the channel so you don’t miss any future videos. Open groups tend to be more flexible and as a result of this flexibility, they can often last longer than closed groups will. Not only that, but because open groups can add new members. As other people leave, their membership tends to be more stable over time. They may lose some, then they may gain some. And overall it will be more stable across a period of time than a close group would, which would only lose members and can’t gain new ones. However, this flexibility in membership can be a disadvantage of open groups as well.
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This is primarily because group members can’t build the same trust and relationships as they do in a closed group setting. As membership is changing and people are coming and going from the group in an open group setting. This can negatively impact the relationships that can be formed between group members and one new person could theoretically throw off the trust or relationship that the Open Group has formed up to that point. Additionally, as new members join. They are not familiar with what the group has discussed in the past. This means that new members will have to be brought up to speed constantly on what the group has discussed,
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what things have been taken away from that discussion. If the new member has different things that they’d like to discuss as part of that, or what experiences the group has had with the whole and how that is affected, people in the group. Another factor in open groups is that they often can’t be as flexible as a closed group can because closed groups are targeted to one group of people that are not changing, they can be more structured and stable in that sense. However, open groups have to consider that new people are going to be joining as other people are leaving.
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If we think about examples of open and closed groups, we can think about Alcoholics Anonymous. In Alcoholics Anonymous, you’ll be able to find examples of both open and closed groups. AA will host some open meetings where family, friends or even students can join. In fact, this is something that I did. I went to an AA meeting as part of my addictions course and was able to join the group and listen in because it was an open meeting and anyone can join those
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Alcoholics Anonymous also hosts closed meetings. And these meetings are only for the people who are struggling with an addiction to alcohol—family, friends, students are not able to join these meetings. We talk about university classes typically using a closed group sort of structure. An example of an open group meeting that you may run into more often is something like a fitness class where you maybe can join from week to week. You don’t have to make it to every class every week, and you may be able to skip a week here or there and it doesn’t really matter.
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It’s more flexible, and that could be another example of an open group. So in summary, closed groups have a certain number of members that they’re beginning with, and they’re not going to add new members throughout the course of that group. As people leave the group size becomes smaller in that closed group. Open groups, however, will fluctuate in membership. As people leave. More people may join. Some more people may leave and more people may join. Membership in open groups is going to be constantly changing.
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I hope this video on open and closed groups is helpful for you. Make sure that you check out my channel as you’ll be able to find a lot more content like this and make sure that you subscribe so you don’t miss any future videos. Thanks so much for watching.
