Basic Characteristics of the Ending Stage

Basic Characteristics of the Ending Stage

The ending stage is the final stage of the group in which closure is brought to the group and the work that was done. The focus of the ending stage is helping members remember the work that was done and find ways to implement these skills in their everyday lives. The ending stage has four major characteristics. These will be discussed in the following section.

The first of the four characteristics is that members may not continue to participate fully in the group. Members may try to stop participation completely or may just try to participate less than in the group. This often happens because members know the group work is coming to an end. They distance themselves from the group in order to prepare themselves for not having the support of the group.

Another characteristic of this stage is the emotions a member feels and exhibits. He or she may not want to leave the group. Often members express a feeling of fear or sadness that the group is ending because they fear they will be unsuccessful without the group. He or she may also express reservations about being able to translate what was discussed in the group to action in everyday life outside the group.

On the positive side, the ending stage serves as a good evaluation of the group process. To really know the effectiveness of a group, the group itself must evaluate it. This gives leaders insight into what can be changed for the next group that is led. Also, it gives the members insight into what they can work on outside the group environment.

During the ending stage, there may also be discussion of a follow of meeting after the group ends. The discussion should include the purpose of a follow up meeting and may include some type of way to measure accountability for the members. This is crucial in the members' development because it will help each member be able to effectively implement change that was worked on. It will keep members honest and give them the tools to determine if their change efforts are successful.

Member Functions of the Ending Stage

The largest job of the member during the ending stage is to consolidate the learning that was done and identify ways to apply this knowledge into his or her everyday life. This is also a time when the members take time to determine feelings about ending the group. Many members feel anxiety about the group ending. Many times the anxiety is produced by the thought of leaving the supportive environment.

Often members also feel they do not have the ability to implement skills that were learned in the group on their own. The ending stage is a time to deal with these feelings and find ways to overcome them to be able to implement skills into everyday life. Help from the leader as well as other group members can help a member with this task.

In order to get closure about the group any unfinished business must be dealt with by the members. This could be an issue that was discussed previously in the group that is still unresolved. Unfinished business could also relate to different people in the group. It must be remembered that conflict can surface at any point during a group. If there are unresolved feelings