This Handbook explains two key points. How groups form and what to look out for as the group proceeds. Particular emphasis is placed on how they become dysfunctional as they are forming and how leadership should be expressed. Through reading this book ways of head off disaster and complete tasks are discussed. Hopefully it will allow you to enjoy the group process that can difficult and unpleasant to manage if it is mismanaged. The leadership skills that are outline in the book will help you create and run effective groups.





BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF PATRICIA WILENSKY, PH.D.

REGISTERED PSYCHOLOGIST, PROVINCE OF B.C. 1980-2006



Patricia Wilensky was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. She finished her Masters Degree in Psychology at Queens, Belfast and did her Ph.D. at The University of Toronto in 1979. Her research was in Ethics and Moral Development and their application in the Canadian Prison System.

Patricia has presented widely on broad ethical issues especially with regard to groups and to professional relationships. She sees ethics as a living, breathing component in relationships. She includes suffering, grief, shame, and honor as ethical concepts. She is interested in the effects of secondary traumatization and moral distress on professionals. She has worked as a consultant to several hospitals, Service Agencies, and School Boards. She has consulted with B.C. Alcohol & Drug Programs since the mid-eighties and with the Ministry for Children & Families since 1997. She has taught Clinical Courses at UBC, Counselling Psychology, the Adler School, and at the B. C. School of Professional Psychology.

Patricia uses reconciliation and reparation through group process as a methodology for healing from trauma in toxic workplaces. She has applied the EMDR Protocols to trauma treatment in groups. In groups including families, classrooms, and work settings, issues of change, loss, grief, envy, rage, suffering, intimacy, sacrifice and redemption occur constantly. These factors impact on workplace performance, personal satisfaction, and the wellbeing of the group members. Patricia and her partner Marshall Wilensky have ten years experience jointly using the EMDR with couples and for trauma repair. She and Dr. Marv Westwood of UBC have written a text on group therapy and Therapeutic Enactment for trauma (2005), Groupactionpress@telus.net. Patricia specializes in group therapy for professionals who are survivors of alcoholic or narcissistic families. She has written Pursued by Demons, Held by Angels: A Handbook for Adult Children of Alcoholics and Adult Survivors of Narcissistic Parents (2006).