Psychology
in
rhc Schools
Volume
29.
July 1992
ASSESSING PSYCHOSOCIAL ENVIRONMENT
IN MENTAL HEALTH CONSULTATION GROUPS
JOHN
M.
DAVIS
Raskob Learning Institute
Oakland, California
CAROLYN
S.
HARTSOUGH
University
of
California, Berkeley
Those
of
us who work within the field
of
education are finding ourselves drawn
to and mandated
to
work in groups, such as student study teams. However, most
of
the theorizing and research
on
consultation is focused on individual consultation.
Yet
it
is clear that the more we work in groups the more important it becomes
for us to understand the dynamics involved in group consultation. The purpose
of
this study is
to
examine some
of
the relevant dynamics in mental health consultation
groups.
Conoley and Conoley
(1982)
defined consultation as “a voluntary, nonsupervisory
relationship between professionals from differing fields established to aid one in his or
her professional functioning”
(p.
1).
Group consultation would share the same defini-
tion, except that the consulting would be accomplished in a group format with a con-
sultant or consultants and a group of consultees.
Although group consultation has been a consulting option for some time (e.g.,
Altrocchi, Spielberger,
&
Eisdorfer,
1969;
Mackey
&
Hassler,
1966;
Mariner, Brandt,
Stone,
&
Minnow,
1%1)
and evidence exists supporting its usefulness for helping educa-
tional personnel (e.g., Tobiessen
&
Shai,
1971;
Wilcox,
1980),
issues such as coordina-
tion of meetings, attendance, insecurity of consultees, and confidentiality (Brown, Wyne,
Blackburn,
&
Powell,
1979)
seem to have stifled research and practice in the area
of
group consultation relative to the vast amount of literature available on individual con-
sultation (e.g., Mannino, Trickett, Shore, Kidder,
&
Levin,
1986).
However, with the
changing context
of
consultation in the schools (Milstein,
1987)
and with the changes
advocated by PL
99-457 (1986),
which pushes even more for multidisciplinary teams,
it may well be time for us to refocus interest on group consultation.
Like its individual counterpart, group consultation remains rather a vaguely defined
process. Robbins and Spencer
(1968)
have stated that “consultation is an interpersonal
process that is in many ways like teaching, has some elements in common with supervi-
sion, and occasionally looks like psychotherapy” (p.
362).
Group consultation is like
teaching and supervision in that the consultant at times imparts ”wisdom,” or at least
information; it is like other task-oriented group activities in that the members are there
to accomplish a task (e.g., to help a teacher devise new ways to work with a child);
and it is like counseling or therapy in that group members may sometimes reveal per-
sonal information about their thinking and feeling that is relevant to the problem they
present. Given these complexities, it does not seem appropriate to assume that infor-
mation and concepts taken from other types of groups can be directly applied to group
consultation.
Requests
for reprints should
be
sent
to
John M. Davis, Raskob Learning Institute,
3520
Mountain Blvd.,
Oakland,
CA
94619.
224