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At the micro level, social workers aim to help individuals, families, and small groups improve their problems-solving skills.. At one level, social workers must learn about certain aspe

UNIT 1

WHAT IS SOCIAL WORK?

A new international definition of social work was adopted at the General Meeting of the International Federation of Social Workers’ (IFSW) in Montreal in July 2000 (available on-line at http://www.ifsw.org):

The social work profession promotes social change, problem solving in human relationships and the empowerment and liberation of people to enhance well-being Utilizing theories of human behaviour and social systems, social work intervenes at the points where people

interact with their environments Principles of human rights and social justice are

fundamental to social work

The definition emphasizes four concepts: social change, problem solving, environment and empowerment To begin to understand this complex work it is necessary to

person-in-the-explore these four key concepts

 Social Change Mandate

A social change mandate means working in solidarity with those who are disadvantaged or

excluded from society so as to eliminate the barriers, inequities and injustices that exist in society Social workers should be at the forefront of promoting policy and legislation that redistributes

wealth in favour of those who are less well-off- that is, promoting equal opportunity for women, gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgender persons, people with disabilities, Aboriginal peoples and racial and other minorities, and defending past gains made in these areas

 Problem Solving

Social workers respond to crises and emergencies as well as everyday personal and social

problems Within this process, social workers use problem-solving techniques to identify the

problem and formulate possible plans of action A problem is not usually clearly defined when someone comes to a social service agency It is therefore crucial for the social worker to explore the person’s concerns, to identify the need(s) involved, to identify barriers to meeting need(s) and to carefully determine the goals and possible plans of action A key characteristic of the problem-solving process is the inclusion of the client at each stage The process should also teach clients problem-solving skills so that they can better deal with future problems on their own

 Person-in-the-Environment

A key aspect of effective social work practice is to go beyond the “internal” (psychological)

factors and examine the relationship between individuals and their environments This the-environment approach is partly what distinguishes social work practice from other helping

person-in-professions These “environments” extend beyond the immediate family and include interactions with friends, neighbourhoods, schools, religious groups, laws and legislation, other agencies or organizations, places of employment and the economic system Based on this understanding,

intervention may focus on the individual, interactions between people and any given system or structure, or on the system or structure itself

 “Empowerment” and Social Work

In order for the interventions of social workers to be successful, the clients must believe that the efforts of the social worker will make a difference This leads to the important concept of

empowerment Being empowered means feeling that you have power and control over the course of your life

Empowerment is the process of increasing personal, interpersonal or political power so that

one can improve one’s particular situation Power can be a personal state of mind, in the sense that one feels that one can make a difference and have control and influence over one’s own life It can also be empowerment within an organization in the sense that one has tangible influence and legal rights Empowerment, then, involves both a personal perception of being in control and tangible elements of power within the various social structures of society Social workers seek to empower their clients as a way of helping them to focus on, among other things, access to resources and the structures of power

“Empowerment-based social work,” therefore, has three aspects:

 making power explicit in the client-worker relationship (in order thereby to help equalize the relationship between the client and the worker);

 giving clients experiences in which they themselves are in control (to allow them to see the potential for controlling their lives); and

 always supporting the client’s own efforts to gain greater control over their lives as a way

In other instances, an empowering perspective may involve simply focusing on the strengths

of the person, rather than on the “pathology” or what is wrong with the person In all relationships,

it is generally acknowledged that constructive feedback and positive reinforcement is conducive to helping people make positive changes in their lives It is often more helpful for social workers to guide their client’s focus towards the success they have achieved in the past rather than dwelling on how they have been unsuccessful and dysfunctional

An empowerment perspective is the key to good social work practice And like other aspects

of good practice, it involves not a specific set of skills, but a general orientation on the part of the worker This orientation is based on helping clients identify their own needs and then helping them

to deal with the exigencies of their own particular situation

UNIT 2

INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL WORK

SOCIAL WORK AS A PROFESSION

Social work is similar to helping professions (such as nursing, policing, and psychology) in that (1)

it possesses a code of ethics; (2) it has the means to regulate and enforce set standards of behaviour among its members; and (3) it has developed a theoretical body of knowledge that guides practice (Cross, 1985) Like other professions, social work also requires its members to reach a certain level

of educational preparedness – in terms of knowledge, competencies, and ethics – in order to

practice

One of the characteristics that distinguishes social work from other helping professions is its longstanding association with the social welfare system, which has guided the development and delivery of many of its programs This association dates back to the late 19th century, when many religion-based charitable organizations were replaced by government-sponsored social agencies, which in turn hired social workers to perform a variety of tasks

Another distinguishing feature of social work is its multilevel approach to practice At the

micro level, social workers aim to help individuals, families, and small groups improve their

problems-solving skills At the mezzo level, social workers seek to improve conditions in and

among social welfare organizations, while at the macro level they address broader issues such as

social problems Exhibit 7.1 outlines some distinctions been social work and two other helping professions

SOCIAL WORK VALUES AND ETHICS

Social work practice is based on a philosophy of humanitarian and egalitarian ideals that shape social work goals and interventions Underlying this philosophy is a set of values or beliefs about how the world should be, rather than how the world really is Important social work values include acceptance of and respect for others and the right to self-determination Social work values reflect the diverse and often opposing beliefs of a pluralistic society and are strongly influenced by culture, relationships, personal experience, individual perceptions, and other factors (Johnson, 1998;

Compton and Galaway, 1994)

The extent to which social work values are adhered to in practice is limited For example, it

is important that social workers keep client information confidential This is because without the assurance that personal information will be kept private, clients will be reluctant to disclose much information about themselves to a worker Circumstances nevertheless arise that warrant a social worker’s disclosure of client information without client authorization For instance, social workers can breach confidentiality to prevent a crime; to prevent clients from doing harm to themselves or to others; when ordered by a court of law; when child abuse or neglect is suspected; or when

supervisors, support staff, agency volunteers, or others have an identified “need to know” (CASW, 1994b)

It is not always easy for social workers to know when to adhere to and when to deviate from established social work values In 1938 the Canadian Association of Social Workers (CASW)

developed a social work code of ethics to help social workers make this kind of decision The

primary purpose of a code of ethics “is to provide a practical guide for professional behavior and the maintenance of a reasonable standard of practice within a given cultural context” (CASW, 1983, 2) The CASW code was updated in 1983 and 1994

SOCIAL WORK KNOWLEDGE

While values focus on what is preferred, desired, or good, knowledge is concerned with what is true

or false Social work knowledge derives both from inside the social work profession and from other disciplines Knowledge that is produced indigenously by social workers is based on the shared experiences of workers, individual professional experiences, and applied research Much of the knowledge that is “borrowed” is from other helping disciplines such as psychology, psychiatry, education, and public health; social work knowledge has also drawn extensively from academic fields of sociology, economics, history, and law It is this “crosspollination” of various types of

knowledge that makes social work a highly interdisciplinary field (Johnson, 1998)

Social work’s person-in-environment focus requires social workers to gain knowledge

about the client system, the client’s environment, and the client in interaction with his or her

environment At one level, social workers must learn about certain aspects of the client system - for example, work with individual clients requires an understanding of the person’s psychological, social, physical, spiritual, and other dimensions It is also important that social workers learn about the client’s environment and how culture, the general economy, the political climate, and other external systems may affect his or her ability to function Finally, social workers need to be aware

of the factors that can influence the interactions between the client and his or her environment

(McMahon, 1994)

SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE

The Planned Change Process

Social work involves the transformation of knowledge into practice The aim of social work practice

is to help people become more empowered so that they are able to function more effectively To achieve this aim, social workers apply a generic, formal, systematic, and scientific set of procedures

This problem-solving process is commonly referred to as the planned change process The planned

change process consists of five phases:

1) intake;

2) assessment;

3) planning and contracting;

4) intervention; and 5) evaluation and termination

The intake phase in concerned with screening applicants who apply to social welfare

programs Client needs must be considered in view of the agency’s eligibility criteria and resources: that is, can the agency meet the client’s needs or must a referral be made to a more appropriate

resource? In the assessment phase, information about the client’s concerns or needs is accumulated and then organized to form an overall picture of the client’s situation In the planning and

contracting phase, the worker and client decide together what needs to be changed (perhaps a

behaviour, emotion, thought pattern, or environmental condition) and then establish a contract that outlines the goals and objectives of the needed change and the types of strategies that will be used to

effect the change The intervention phase involves putting the plan into action, monitoring its

effectiveness, and modifying strategies as needed to achieve the goal Toward the end of the

contract, the intervention is evaluated to determine its effectiveness, and the client-worker

relationship is eventually terminated The planned change process does not always evolve in a linear

fashion; as new client needs or goals arise, certain phase may be repeated or deferred

SOCIAL WORK SKILLS

Generalist social workers are trained to apply a wide range of practice skills in their work with

individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities Three generic skill areas are essential for generalist social work practice:

1) Interpersonal skills include communication and active listening skills, the ability to

build a working relationship with clients, and interviewing and counselling skills

2) Process skills enable the worker to identify and assess client needs, plan and

implement appropriate interventions, make referrals, and develop more effective methods for serving clients

3) Evaluation and accountability skills demonstrate competency in evaluating

interventions and holding oneself accountable for one’s practice and behaviour (Johnson, Schwartz, and Tate, 1997)

Social work skills can also be thought of in terms of the various roles the worker adopts

Generalist social workers typically assume a wide range of roles The role of broker involves

helping individuals and groups connect with needed programs and services in the community An

advocate speaks or acts on behalf of a client who is having difficulty exercising his or her rights or accessing needed services A mediator helps people in conflict reach mutually satisfying

agreements, while a consultant assists organizations in improving service effectiveness and

efficiency A social worker who assumes the role of mediator identifies areas of need in the

community and establishes new social programs and services for target groups

The skills and roles mentioned above are generic in that they can be applied to interventions with any size of client system, including individuals, families, and small groups The illustration of the generalist social work perspective in Exhibit 7.2 reflects the person-in-environment perspective and shows the range of approaches and knowledge used in the helping process

MULTISKILLING

In recent years, a new approach to social work practice has emerged in the form of

multiskilling The Canadian Association of Social Workers (CASW, 1998, 1) defines multiskilling

as “an approach to care and/or a concept in which staff are cross trained but not professionally educated in two or more tasks or functions associated with at least two disciplines.” Although social workers are still required to obtain accredited education in social work, they are able through

multiskilling to receive additional training in tasks that are associated with other occupations For example, a social worker may be trained to conduct physical mobility assessments, an activity

traditionally associated with physical therapy or other health-related functions

Multiskilling offers advantages that have made it an increasingly popular approach Some organizations see multiskilling as a way to break up rigid divisions of labour and make professionals more flexible in the tasks they perform There are potential economic benefits as well: staff numbers can be reduced since more people are prepared to perform a wider range of duties

Multiskilling is not without its critics, however According to the CASW (1998, 3):

Social workers believe that specialized practitioners are needed to assist in the meeting the varied needs of people Neutralizing or diminishing the roles of professions and specialists reduces options for clients and increases the potential for harm

At its worst, multiskilling may give staff unrealistic expectations about their ability to

perform tasks that are complex and thus better left to specialists

PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY

The Canadian Association of Social Workers was established in 1926 as a national federation of provincial and territorial social work associations At present, about 15,500 social workers are

registered with a provincial or territorial association (CASW, 2000)

According to its mission statement, the CASW (1994a, 2) “seeks to develop, promote,

support and maintain national professional standards of practice of the highest quality.” To meet this end, the CASW sets certain standards and guidelines for social work practice in Canada and

participates in the development of social work regulation and legislation The promotion of

standards and control is intended not only to protect clients and the general public from incompetent

of fraudulent practice, but also to legitimate the profession and its practice Social workers are

expected to practise in accordance with the philosophy, purpose, and standards set by their

profession and to be accountable to their clients, their profession, and society

Exhibit 7.1

A COMPARISON OF THREE HELPING PROFESSIONS

Focus of

attention

Dual focus on individual and environment and interaction between the two

Individual behaviour, which includes internal thoughts, feelings, and emotional responses

Mental illness; wide range of disturbed behaviour and emotional reactions

Behaviour modification;

psychotherapy;

environmental modification

Prescribe psychotropic medication;

communities understand and solve personal and social problems

To solve or prevent behavioural, cognitive and affective problems

To reduce symptoms, change behaviour, or promote personality growth

social administration, research and evaluation, community organization, teaching

Clinical, experimental, neurological

developmental, social, counselling,

educational, industrial personality

Child, geriatric, forensic, liaison, behaviour, family, sexual,

psychoanalysis, research

Ph.D

B.A or B.Sc., M.A., Ph.D

Medical doctor and

Canadian Psychological Association

Canadian Psychiatric Association

UNIT 3

SOCIAL WORK WITH INDIVIDUALS

The helping process with individuals is sometimes called social casework, although this term

is used infrequently nowadays A majority of social workers spend their time working with

individuals in private or public agencies or in private practice Even though other types of social work are increasing, the practice of social work with individuals still predominates

Individual social work is aimed at helping people resolve their problems or situations on a one-to-one basis, that is, helping unemployed people obtain work or training, providing protective services for abused children, providing counselling for mental health, providing parole or probation services, supplying services to the homeless and poor, co-ordinating services for people with AIDS and co-ordinating discharge services for a person being released from hospital All of us on

occasion find ourselves with problems that we cannot resolve alone At times the help of a friend or family member may be enough, but at other times the skilled help of a social worker is necessary Social work with individuals can take different forms depending on the philosophy and perspective

of the social worker While some workers may address personal problems, others may emphasize the social relations underlying the problem Still others may address both dimensions

simultaneously

In general, social work practice with individuals involves the following steps These steps are common to most social work interventions with individuals and families Although assessment precedes intervention, and intervention precedes termination, the process can be cyclical For

example, during intervention the client and worker may discover new information that in turn raises the need for more planning In fact each process is taking place throughout the intervention, but at each step one or more is emphasized As mentioned previously, the steps are mere guideposts for a process that involves a combining and re-combining of actions into new ways of looking at things-

that is a praxis or a process of “action-reflection-action.”

 Intake

Intake is usually the first step taken by a worker when a client seeks help Intake is a process

whereby a request for service is made by or for a person, and it is then determined whether and what kind of service is to be provided The social worker attempts to gather initial information from the client in order to determine what assistance is needed, and whether the agency and worker is the appropriate provider If it is mutually determined by both the worker and client that the agency can

be of service, then some sort of agreement or contract is made When it is determined that the

person’s needs cannot be met by the agency, then a referral to a service elsewhere is made or a decision is made that no social work service is required

During the intake phase, the client makes a personal request for help or someone from the community directs the client to a particular social work agency The social work relationship can be either voluntary or involuntary The intake step is voluntary when a client willing seeks help from a social work agency For example, a parent who recognizes the difficulties of caring for a child may approach a child welfare agency for assistance By contrast, an involuntary client is ordered to see a social worker or is required to do so by law For example, a social worker is required by law to assist a child in danger when, for example, the child’s situation has been reported as unsafe by a

physician, hospital worker, police officer or school teacher In such cases, families are often

uncooperative, especially if allegations of child abuse are reported

In the intake step, the social worker acknowledges the client’s need for help, collects

information from the client, assesses the client’s problem or situation and, based on the agency’s resources, determines if the social worker agency can help the client In essence, when they first meet ,both the worker and client want answers to specific questions The applicant or potential client wants to know: Can I get the help I need here? Can this person help me? How can I get the help I need at this agency or with this person? The worker will ask: Can I help this person or would

it be more appropriate for someone else to help? How can I help this person?

 Assessment and planning

The assessment and planning step includes two processes In the assessment process, the

social worker and the client analyze what help is needed based on the client’s ideas, thoughts and feelings about the particular problem Once the assessment is complete ,the social worker

formulates a plan designed to help the client with the particular problem The plan is not set in stone but provides an initial course of action

Many social work textbooks describe a process that involves problem definition, data

collection and objective setting This type of model flows more from a management or bureaucratic approach to social work that stresses technical rationality In this model, the worker knows best and can rationally plan the optimal course of action In this section, we are emphasizing a social work process that stresses reflection-action-reflection in which the social worker continually thinks things through while acting on the problem at hand He or she adapts the intervention based on dialogue and reflection on experiences of and feelings about past actions Assessment is both a process and a product of understanding on which action is based (Siporin 1975,219) It involves gathering relevant information and developing an understanding How a social worker selects information and how he

or she analyzes it is accomplished with reference to the assumptions that underlie a particular social work model, and by one’s own experience of the world In order to form a plan in the assessment phase, the social worker also relies on other people who know the client personally For example, in cases in which a client is provided with social services as a result of an involuntary intervention, the social worker may initially rely on information provided by a teacher, doctor or police officer (or, for example, an elder in a First Nations community)

During assessment and planning, the worker and client identify problems and a set of actions needed to reach the desired goals The skill set for direct intervention would include the following items:

 Validating feelings The social worker validates the client’s feelings by conveying an

understanding of them This builds a rapport and helps the client to identify and sort out a variety of feelings The social worker must also consider non-verbal emotional responses in developing this understanding

 Interview questioning Open-ended and closed-ended questions are used in an

interview to elaborate information Open-ended questions give the client the opportunity to discuss aspects of the problem that they see as important in more depth The questions often begin with “how” or “what.” Closed-ended questions give the social worker the opportunity to clarify details of the client’s narrative They are often used late in a session to check for accuracy

 Paraphrasing Paraphrasing is a basic social work communication skill With

paraphrasing the social worker re-states what the client has said in her or his own words Social workers use paraphrasing to confirm that the meaning the worker has attached to a client message is indeed the meaning intended by the client It also provides feedback to the client that the worker has grasped what he or she is saying Beginning social workers need to be aware that overuse of paraphrasing can give the client the impression of being mimicked

 Clarification This skill is used to determine if the worker and client are on the same

“wavelength.” It is often used to probe an issue that is not understood by the social worker It involves asking for specific details about an event Clarification often becomes a reciprocal process between the social worker and client as each tries to understand the true meaning of what the other is saying

 Summarizing This is skill is used in attempts to capture or pull together the most

important aspects of the problem or situation It provides focus for the next interview and can assist in planning Both the feelings and content of the client’s message should be used It is also useful when the social worker believes that it is time to move

on to another topic

 Information giving Without overwhelming people with too much information at one

time, the social worker often shares information about resources in the community (e.g., women’s shelters) or information that shows that the client is not alone in experiencing the problem Be sure the client realizes that they can refuse the information, and provide pamphlets or brochures where possible

 Interpretation This skill enables the social worker to delve into the presented problem

and “read between the lines.” The worker’s insights may help the client develop a deeper understanding of what is really going on, and not just what appears to be happening It may provide an alternative way of looking at the problem or a new frame of reference Always check both verbal and non-verbal responses of the client

to your interpretation

 Consensus building Consensus building attempts to work out agreement on what

should be done to address the problem It may be easily attained or there may be discrepancies between what a client says they want and their behaviour, or between separate messages given by a client Confrontation may be used to challenge a client

to examine such discrepancies It should be non-adversarial and respectful and used only when a safe and trusting relationship has developed

Planning is based on sets of decisions made by the worker and the client that are shaped by the worker’s analysis of the information collected in the assessment phase The planned actions may

be at a wide variety of levels: individual, environmental, multi-person, systemic or structural For example, they might involve therapeutic, educational and social action-oriented approaches What frequently varies between practice models is the focus of attention A behaviour therapy approach would tend to focus on changing individual behaviours, whereas a social action or structural

approach may focus on changing systems or structures in society in order to shift power relations In any event, the social worker assesses the client’s problem with the client and negotiates a plan with the client that includes:

 the type of actions or interventions;

 the length of the interventions;

 the frequency of their meetings;

 desired effects; and

 the intervention plan (where a contract is made with the client)

The next step, following assessment and planning, is intervention

 Intervention

The worker, the client or both may undertake the intervention stage The actions taken may

be directed at the client, other individuals, groups, communities, institutions, social policies or political and social structures or systems In other words, intervention can include a wide variety of actions, tactics and techniques that are not always directed at the treatment of the individual alone For example, where the social worker is using a structural or feminist approach to practice, the intervention will usually include some kind of organization, community or social action measures

It is though the process of intervention that the worker and client implement the assessment and plans The intervention undertaken is directed at meeting the client’s needs as determined by the worker and client In the intervention stage of social work with individuals, the client shares with the social worker any information regarding what progress has been made in resolving the problem

or situation During this step, the social worker:

 establishes a rapport with the client;

 accompanies the client in the intervention;

 provides advice and support to the client;

 adjusts the intervention based on the client’s information; and

 helps the client to resolve the problem or situation by providing new knowledge and skills that assist in solving the problem

The intervention phase should focus on creating a dialogue between the client and worker and perhaps others who are implicated in the situation being addressed There will always be jumps, hesitations, uncertainties and half-formed ideas In situation where the uncertainties are large or numerous, it would be advisable to take small cautious steps and then reflect on the experience This opens up the possibility of enhancing an understanding of the important elements in the situation and altering the course of action

 Evaluation and Termination

In this final step, evaluation and termination, the client and the social worker together to

assist the client to achieve a resolution to the original problem or situation, and to prevent the

situation from occurring again In this step, the social worker evaluates the following elements of the intervention with the client and the social work supervisor:

 the choice of the intervention;

 the length of the intervention;

 the frequency of their meetings;

 the outcomes;

 the need for any follow-up; and

 when to terminate the intervention - in most cases, the decision to terminate the relationship is mutually agreed upon by the client and the social worker

Evaluation is an ongoing part of the social work process, aimed at determining whether the

goals and needs of the client are being met Evaluation should identify the rationale for the action chosen, whether or not needs were met, the expected and unexpected effects and alternative courses

of action that may need to be taken

Clients are usually not involved in the evaluation process because it is believed that specific skills are required and evaluation is focused primarily on issues of accountability Increasing, however, there is a recognition of the benefits of client participation: client have an insider’s perspective on agency functioning, information can be validated by clients, issues of

confidentiality can be discussed, plans and contracts can be adjusted, knowledge and skills can be gained, the client-worker relationship may be strengthened and clients can be empowered

Finally, in the termination stage essential records are organized and stored The use of

records raises concerns about the confidentiality of sensitive information: what constitutes the

ethical disclosure of information about a client? In addressing this question, social workers are obligated to follow the guidelines of the agency or organization employing them They must also

obey legislation and association policy The CASW Code of Ethics stipulates, at length, the

requirements for collecting, recording, storing and accessibility of client records

UNIT 4

SOCIAL WORK WITH GROUPS

Social work with groups has its historical roots informal, recreational groups such as those organized by the YWCA, the YMCA, settlement houses, scouting organizations, and more recently,

in self-help groups Settlement houses are frequently credited with providing the roots for group work Today, most social agencies do some kind of group work, including recreation, education, socialization and therapy

When deciding between individual or group intervention, a social worker must consider which method would be most effective In some cases, group work may be the most appropriate and least costly mode of intervention Group work may be more appropriate in cases where the problem lies within group systems, such as families or peer groups In other cases, a problem may be dealt with by a group of people experiencing a similar problem For example, a group of abused women make be able to relate to one another and share a common experience, thereby overcoming feelings that the abuse was somehow their own fault Group work may also be appropriate when addressing the problems involved in the development of relationships between people

It can be more economical to work with people in a group For example, it may be a more efficient forum for sharing information, delivering education and providing support A group may also be more effective in working to change the policy of an agency or advocating for particular benefits, as a group generally has a stronger voice than any one individual The choice of group work or individual work depends largely on the particular situation being addressed Neither is necessarily more effective than the other

Social work practice with groups occurs in hospitals, mental health settings, institutions for persons with disabilities (which led to the popularity of self-help groups), prisons, halfway houses for former prisoners (to prepare them for reintegration into the community), residential treatment centres, residential centres for adolescents in trouble with the law, education groups dealing with issues such as child rearing and violence, self-help groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous, abused women’s groups, and therapy groups dealing with emotional or personal problems and other

settings Today, almost every social service agency has one or more such groups for their clients

 Ingredients of Group Work

Group social work involves several key elements: an agency, a group with membership, a group consensus and a contract An agency has social workers that have an interest in particular issues and the expertise to deal with them in a group situation The group work experience also requires individuals who need each other in order to work towards the goals they have set for

themselves These members must hold a degree of consensus on the issues with which they will deal Finally, a contract must exist that outlines an understanding between the potential group

members and the social worker (agency) and the terms and frames of reference for the group work experience

For the purposes of social group work, group can be classified in a variety of ways

Generally groups are classified according to the purpose that brings the group together For

example, Mesber (Turner 1999, 213) describes two types of groups based on the purpose of the

group: treatment groups and task groups She also quotes Toseland and Rivas (1995,14) as they

differentiate between the two types:

The term treatment group is used to signify a group whose major purpose is to meet member’s emotional needs … In contrast, the term task group is used to signify any group in which the major purpose is neither intrinsically nor immediately linked to the needs of the members of the group In task groups, the overriding purpose is to accomplish a mandate and complete the work for which the group was convened

socio-Treatment groups gather for the purpose of meeting the therapeutic objectives of the group members Individuals work as a group to address problems that they experience personally The three types of treatment groups are family or household groups, therapy groups and self-help or peer groups

 Family or household groups consist of family or household members They may be

members of the opposite or same sex, with or without children Family group work or counselling is most effective when the issues that need to be addressed require

interaction between family members

 Therapy groups consist of individuals who do not share a household together or have

any kind of relationship with one another outside the group setting They are people seeking individual assistance Interaction in a group environment is merely part of the therapy for the individual members The group has no purpose outside of its

therapeutic objectives

 Self-help or peer groups consist of people who have similar problems or interests

and believe that working and interacting together will provide opportunities for all the group members to grow and change A social worker may or may not guide the group

 Group Work Intervention: Tasks and Group Phases

Successful group work intervention involves an understanding of group intervention tasks and the stages of group development Group workers need to be aware of the group intervention tasks necessary to help maintain and guide a group In a group, the tasks take place in a group

context and therefore generally pass through identifiable stages of development Often the specific social work interventions or tasks are most effective at particular group development stages

For successful group work intervention, it is also important to know how to identify the

stages of group development The intervention tasks for group work will be quite different

depending on the type of group (e.g., self-help or treatment), but the stages of group development will often be the same for each type of group By identifying the group’s stage of development, workers can better help the group meet its needs and goals

The stages of group development are:

1 Orientation stage Group members commit to the group and task roles begin to emerge

2 Authority stage Members challenge each other and there is often conflict over power and

control issues Although conflicts are usually resolved through the sharing of feelings, members frequently drop out at this stage

3 Negotiation stage Group norms and task roles are designated and accepted and group

cohesion and increases