ABSTRACT
A public mistake creates an opportunity to role model healthy ways of dealing with errors and embarrassment, as well as revealing what issues are triggered for different Members. This chapter focuses on errors visible to the group that Therapists make, not internal ones in our thinking, nor the ones the group Members themselves will make. Therapists compound an error if they rush into putting it onto the Members using verbiage such as, 'And how do you feel about that' without taking some personal responsibility. How Therapists handle their own, inevitable mistakes can define how well the group proceeds from there. In many ways this is about role modeling honesty, humility, and vulnerability as well as showing respect to Members affected by the event. The ideal is to authentically take responsibility and use the event to help expose not only Members' feelings in the moment, but any transferential expectations that were either re-enforced or contradicted by our behavior.
