Group Work in various Settings
Group Work in Community Development Setting
Group Work in Institutional Settings
Group Work in Clinical Settings
Group Work Practice with Children
Group Work with Mentally Retarded Children
Group Work with Youths
Group Work with the Aged
Group Work in Family Agencies
Group Work with Women
Group Work in various Settings
Group work or group counseling can be employed in almost any situation and with any type of disability group or client problem. Groups provide the opportunity for members to learn from each other through sharing ideas, common concerns, and possible solutions to problems. Being able to share fears and apprehensions with others is helpful because of the cathartic effect—getting it off one's chest—and because of assuring group members that they are not alone, that others have similar or worse problems than they do. Because of positive peer pressure, individual group members often develop better personal appearance and habits and begin helping one another by listening empathetically and giving realistic suggestions.
The first step in developing a positive emotional climate is taken by the worker. As he relates with the individual and the group, he must help them become aware of their feelings toward each other and about themselves. Each person is helped by the leader to express his feelings about himself, and provides a real contribution or commitment to the group and enables the members to learn more about each other. This process of sharing real feelings with each other provides the basis for further movement within the group.
To the extent that individual members are honest with and accept each other they will achieve a level of functioning allowing them to begin working effectively. Once the relationship has been formed, the group can begin to work together toward the consideration or solution of the common problem. For example, in a group focusing on getting along on the job, the members can share positive and negative experiences, fears, apprehensions, as well as ideas and plans, without fear of retaliation or hostile criticism from group members. In addition to being accepting of one another, members will be more receptive of materials and information made available by the group leader. When problems arise within the group they can be worked through if members follow the initial process of openness toward each other combined with warmth and acceptance. These general steps illustrate the cycle involving relationship development, problem solving, relationship maintenance, and eventual group dissolution when tasks have been completed. The process of group interaction and movement provides members with an example and an experience of working together in groups. This experience for many members is their first in a positively functioning group and gives them a model for future action in their own social, work, and home groups. Learning these positive relationships in the group counseling setting can often facilitate changes in the member more quickly than individual counseling, since reality testing with associates is constantly available. Between meetings the individual may he willing to try out new techniques learned in the group. This speeds up the change process. The individual counseling experience can also be enhanced by allowing the individual to try some of his ideas in a protective yet "lifelike" group setting.
Group Work in Community Development Setting
Certain features of the social group work in community settings have to be borne in mind when considering the role of social group worker. The primary objectives of social group work in community setting include: social integration of the community on a local neighbourhood basis through participation in self-help and mutual-aid programmes; motivating people to improve their living conditions especially those adversely affecting their physical and social development; creation of opportunities for undertaking programmes of economic betterment based on the maximum use of community resources and local initiative; identification and development of local leaders with emphasis on providing them organisational skills and enabling them to locate and fully utilize various technical, social and welfare services; and development of a sense of belonging to the community. The group work in community setting is in the form of self help groups, recreational groups, action groups, etc.
The social group worker in the role of organiser needs all her skills in organising the various sections of a community into well-knit groups. She organises the group members
to develop their personality through participation in recreational, cultural and other activities. In this role one of her primary tasks includes the development of responsible leadership from the groups organised by her. For the worker operating on a macro level, one of the major tasks is to work at an inter-group level. This includes the ensuring that inter-group rivalries are kept at the minimal level, fostering of inter-group cooperation, matching the objectives of each group and the objectives of the community as a whole, facilitating communication, etc. Another crucial role for the group worker is that of a ‘resource person’. It requires her to be aware of various avenues within and outside the community, which could be utilized for enhancing the functioning of the group members. The group worker also has to become a vital link between the civic administration and the people, especially during the initial stages of his work. Subsequently, however, this role of a ‘liaison functionary’ has to be transferred to the group members. In the performance of the above stated role, the social group worker in community setting also needs to play the role of a ‘management expert’. In this role, she needs to impart skills to the group leaders and other members in the area of office management with special emphasis on skills in letter writing, filing procedures, basic accounting, writing records of meetings, and elementary public relations and fund raising.
Group Work in Institutional Settings
The group, as an arena for trying out and living out new experience, becomes especially relevant in residential treatment. Residential treatment serves individuals who cannot benefit from ordinary reflective and relationship therapy, otherwise they could have been helped through some form of out-patient treatment. For these clients the essence of therapy becomes located in the series of experiences they find within the residential treatment program. For them treatment is anchored in the experiences of discovering the consequences of behavior and actual effective coping with the tasks before them. Social group work efforts become especially relevant, because in group work the worker is preoccupied with the activities of the group and with the opportunities for each group member to demonstrate to himself and in the presence of others his actual competence and his questions about areas of incompetence. Group experiences can become the most vital resource for ego development.
Social group workers function in different roles in institutional settings. The multiplicity of their professional functions suggest that they need to continue to examine and define their special task for themselves and their colleagues. If a social group worker is called on to function as a supervisor of group living staff, training specialist, or administrator, he will undoubtedly bring to bear this specialized knowledge. His professional alignment remains with social work; his professional functions however, are those of a supervisor, teacher, or administrator, whichever is demanded of the particular situation.
In social group work practice, as in all social work intervention in general and in residential treatment specifically, the social group worker utilizes the social group work method in order to engage his clients and himself in a purposeful group experience. His objective is to enhance the social functioning of each client preventively and rehabilitatively. The social work group provides the worker with his arena of practice. By means of the group sessions the worker introduces conditions in and through the group that serve as intervening, that is, associate, experiences to each client's ongoing life experience and his family, peer, school, work, and/or other community life. The content and focuses of the group worker's intervening activities in any setting are based on three major considerations:
1. The nature of the clientele who, with the worker, make up the group
2. The context in which the group experience proceeds.
3. The formation and acceptance of treatment objectives by the worker and his clients.
In brief, social group work intervention is based on each client’s personal circumstances, the circumstances of the social group work experience, and the continuous understanding about the intervening group experience as a means in context for effecting change within each client's personal life situations.
The group worker's present functions in treatment centers seem to be:
1. Participation as a responsible member of the clinical team in observation of the child and helping with diagnosis, using his particular skill of observation of individuals in group interaction.
2. Giving direct services to the children through work with therapy (activity and discussion) groups and with representative groups of children, such as house councils.
3. Supervision and coordination of the group living situation by working closely with house parents or group counselors.
4. Work with parent groups when possible.
Kirby summed up eight ways in which the group worker could be of service in the institutional setting. Some of the major areas of professional service which a professional group Worker is prepared to offer in the institution are briefly:
1. The direct practice of social group work with small groups of clients or patient.
2. Working with other staff members toward helping them understand the group process.
3. Sharing with other staff members the group worker's observations and recommendations with reference to individual and group behavior.
4. Sharing with other staff members the group worker's observations and recommendations with regard to social climate and group living factors in the institution.
5. Analyzing the need for and recommending the formation of various kinds of groups to meet the needs of the individual clients of the agency.
6. Assuming the responsibility as a professional group worker for helping io maintain the limits and standards of the agency.
7. Accepting responsibility for co-ordinating and enriching the recreational program along with supervising and training recreational staff and volunteers.
8. Interpreting the agency program to the community through contacts with volunteer groups, community agencies, service clubs and similar organizations.
In the institutional setting the social group worker makes a contribution through providing opportunities for constructive use of free time. Besides this her contribution includes the understanding of the group, nature of institutional living and makes it possible for many of the institutional residents to make a constructive use of the institution’s services. Institutional living is group living. It consists of living groups, school groups, work groups, leisure-time groups, friendship groups, age groups, and a wide variety of other groups. The group worker’s skills required in making constructive use of these group relations for the success of institutions. Some of the institutions that make use of the group worker’s skill are correctional institutions, institutions for the mentally retarded and the handicapped, homes for the aged, and children’s homes. The group worker perform different role according to the different function of the institution as well as to the personnel who are employed.
The social group worker in institutional setting takes on a specially helping role towards the other staff members like houseparent or counselor, since they are directly related to the group living process. Another important role of the social group worker in any institutional setting is related to his direct work on some specific problem of the group, as for instance, discharge from the institution, intake into the institution, special behaviour problems, or problems around emotional needs that cannot be handled in the day-to-day group living situation. In this context the group worker’s role is to supervise and coordinate special services which are not carried by the houseparent but which relate to the group living experience. It is important that the group worker coordinate these services from the point of view of social relationships as well as of treatment for the individual, so that in them the treatment focus is maintained.
Group Work in Clinical Settings
In the hospitals and clinics, the social group worker becomes a member of a team composed of the medical doctor, psychiatrist, psychologist, therapist, nurse, and social caseworker. In such settings with a defined treatment goal, the purpose of the service becomes much more specific than in the community setting. As service is more “pinpointed,” the methods and role of group worker also become more specific. Social workers in medical setting extend direct services by using group work and casework methods. In the medical setting the social worker carry out group work and performs various roles:
i) enable patients with similar problems to come together and so feel less isolated and alone in facing their problems;
ii) bring about a feeling of belongingness and bring a part of a community which would give them the courage and confidence to adjust to the larger community outside;
iii) work through problems in an atmosphere of mutual acceptance;
iv) use the group as a therapeutic agent for emotional growth and attitudinal change through the process of mutual sharing.
Group Work Practice with Children
Children and adolescents constitute a significant part of all societies. In many developing societies they constitute around 40-50 per cent of the population. The social and economic progress of a country, to a great extent depends upon the development inputs provided to this segment of the society. Group work as a method can be used to work with this significant population to provide a number of services that will ensure a solid foundation of human and social capital in the country.
Group Work in Schools
A relatively recent development has been the use of social group work in schools. Traditionally, school social work has centered its service around the social casework method. As Johnson points out, the specific function of the school social worker is ". . . to add his professional competence to that of other specialists in the school in order to help children who are not learning or are not achieving expected educational goals to make maximum use of the opportunity to learn and to develop into social beings in society. In carrying out his functions, the school social worker is engaged in two kinds of activities: those which focus on a particular child and those which focus on the welfare of school children generally.