EXAMPLE ANSWER: Q29

Q29. You are setting up a peer group. Please describe, in a paragraph or two, the benefits and how you would go about organising and promoting it.

Learning outcomes: 6.1 An appreciation for the benefits of peer groups and an awareness of how to organise one.

Student answer Peer groups and peer support are an essential part of developing and maintaining professional confidence and competence. Knowledge and experience can be shared within the group, in a safe setting, for shared learning. Supervision support such as the emotional or social challenges of working with people can be facilitated. As therapists many of us have experienced transference or over identification with a patient and many have become ‘stuck’ as to how to progress with a certain case. Peer supervision enables ideas, constructive assistance and positive sharing take place. By working with peers the relationship dynamic within the room is equal and can promote honesty and true development of the therapist. In order to organise a peer group one needs to consider several factors: where, who and what is in the content. Location wise the facilities need to have space for all the participants to attend with adequate seating; ability or local access for refreshments and practical facilities such as toilets. It is also important that confidentiality is able to be maintained e.g. not a coffee shop during public opening hours where conversations can be overheard. There is possibility of using web-based methods such as Skype which can mean participants from a wider geographic location can be included. Participants can be recruited from a range of sources. This could include members of training courses that have met and trained together; members of online forums or Facebook groups such as Helpful Hypnotists; people trained from different training schools (sending invites out to the training schools and asking for the invite to be shared) and advertising peer support sessions on physical (counselling centres etc) or electronic bulletin boards. The wider the net is cast, the wider the range of skills and experiences are available to be shared and learnt from- especially important at the start of ones career. The content or agenda of the session can then include people bringing their questions and experiences as well as case study examples which allow focus to be maintained. It may also be a good idea to arrange for a more social time before or after the session so that hypnotherapists have the opportunity to catch up on non-hypnotherapy issues to ensure that these do not ‘bleed’ into the peer support. (LO Learning outcomes: 6.1 An appreciation for the benefits of peer groups and an awareness of how to organise one)

Tutor feedback (DO NOT delete/edit feedback. Write amendments, additional information & thoughts underneath this table) Correct. You have a really good understanding of all the factors involved in setting up your own group. I do hope this is something you will consider in the future and be able to offer the valuable support and sharing of ideas that would be so welcomed by those in the profession. You make some very important points, particularly on the question of confidentiality which is missed by some. Great answer, thank you.

Further Example Student Answer:  Peer groups are essential for growing the skill set and confidence of any hypnotist as it exposes them to a range of client based issues and solutions they would not normally see, the group can bring reflective notes on past clients or potential clients and the group can work out the how they would deal with each situation and then decide on the best solutions between them, raising the knowledge of all in attendance, as well as providing them with the support during the early stages of their career on other matters of establishing a successful therapy business not normally covered in classes or new and innovative procedure and inductions etc.

To set up a peer support group I would look to either the people in class whilst I was studying or hypnosis forums such as Facebook, etc. hopefully engaging with people from different training backgrounds and certainly looking for different levels of skill and experience to provide the greatest benefits to the group as a whole.

Once a group of people are agreeable to meeting up a suitable location should be found for confidential discussions of anonymous clients issues but with suitable facilities for social interactions such as light refreshment and drinks to promote friendship amongst the group.

If the group is too dispersed to meet physically then a private Facebook group is an option but face to face meeting are preferable as they are easier to share and support each other.

Q29. Correct. A good answer with an appreciation of the process and practicalities involved.