Tips
for Assessing A Group
Positive Characterizes found in Healthy Groups
- There
is flexibility and responsiveness to the needs of the attendees.
- All
members are encouraged (but not pressured) to participate, but not to
dominate.
- The
sharing is at a personal level.
- People
attend regularly and are committed to their healing.
- Group
members are open to self-evaluation of the process and how the group is
working.
- The
group has clarity of purpose.
- Sexual
or emotional exploitation is not accepted as part of the norm.
- Group
members coalesce to protect the group from exploitation or abuse of its
members within the group.
- People
are regarded as whole individuals.
- People
are not coerced into staying if they desire to leave.
- There
is a defined process or norm for dealing with conflict.
- The
group has a sense of humor about itself.
- The
group does not stay frozen in form.
Negative
or Limiting Characteristics found in Unhealthy Groups:
- The
Group discourages or blocks outside involvement.
- The
group limits or discourages access to reading materials or other forms of
personal growth.
- Expression
of dissension is punished, squelched or strongly discouraged.
- The
group becomes grandiose in its self-definition – “Ours is the only way”.
- People
get locked into stereotyped roles.
- The
group becomes paranoid about outsiders or those who question the norm.
- People
talk like robots.
- In-group
jargon predominates in conversations.
- The
group exerts pressure on people to stay.
- People
use the group for sexual needs.
- The
group is unable to reflect on itself, its history, or its values from a
broad perspective.
From the book Many
Roads, One Journey by Charlotte Kasl.
A more detailed discussion is available on pages 292 – 297 of the
paperback edition.
Also helpful is the Advanced Bonewits Cult Danger
Evaluation Frame (version 2.6).
This is found at http://www.witchvox.com/basics/cultaware.html.