MODULE 1

INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE WITH GROUPS

This introductory module provides a framework for studying and working with groups. A definition of
groupwork is offered that encompasses the breadth of groupwork practice and is sufficiently flexible to
allow specialized approaches and objectives. To understand the types of groups that exist in practice, a
distinction is made between treatment and task groups. This module also helps clarify the kinds of task
and treatment groups often encountered in practice and illustrates the commonalities and differences
among these groups

Essential Questions:

What are the main concepts of groupwork in social work profession?

What is the difference between treatment groups and task groups?

Intended learning outcomes:

Describe the main concepts of Groupwork practice.

Identify the different values and ethics in Groupwork practice.
Differentiate task groups to treatment groups

A. DEFINING SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE WITH GROUPS

What is a group?

First, while there are some very different ways of defining groups – often depending upon which aspect of
them that commentators and researchers want to focus upon – it is worthwhile looking to a definition that
takes things back to basics. Here, as a starting point, we are using Donelson R. Forsyth‟s definition of a
group as „two or more individuals who are connected to one another by social relationships‟ [emphasis in
original] (2006: 2-3). This definition has the merit of bringing together three elements: the number of
individuals involved, connection, and relationship.

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Second, groups are a fundamental part of human experience. They allow people to develop more
complex and larger-scale activities; are significant sites of socialization and education; and provide
settings where relationships can form and grow, and where people can find help and support. Humans
are small group beings. We always have been and we always will be. The ubiquitousness of groups and
the inevitability of being in them makes groups one of the most important factors in our lives. As the
effectiveness of our groups goes, so goes the quality of our lives. (Johnson and Johnson 2003: 579)
However, there is a downside to all this. The socialization they offer, for example, might be highly
constraining and oppressive for some of their members. Given all of this it is easy to see why the
intervention of skilled leaders and facilitators is sometimes necessary.

Third, the social relationships involved in groups entail interdependence. As Kurt Lewin wrote, „it is not
similarity or dissimilarity of individuals that constitutes a group, but interdependence of fate‟ (op. cit.: 165).
In other words, groups come about in a psychological sense because people realize they are „in the same
boat‟ (Brown 1988: 28). However, even more significant than this for group process, Lewin argued, is
some interdependence in the goals of group members. To get something done it is often necessary to
cooperate with others.

Fourth, when considering the activities of informal educators and other workers and animateurs operating
in local communities it is helpful to consider whether the groups they engage with are planned or
emergent. Planned groups are specifically formed for some purpose – either by their members, or by
some external individual, group or organization. Emergent groups come into being relatively
spontaneously where people find themselves together in the same place, or where the same collection of
people gradually come to know each other through conversation and interaction over a period of time.
(Cartwright and Zander 1968). Much of the recent literature of group work is concerned with groups
formed by the worker or agency. Relatively little has been written over the last decade or so about
working with emergent groups or groups formed by their members. As a result some significant
dimensions of experience have been left rather unexplored.

Last, considerable insights can be gained into the process and functioning of groups via the literature of
group dynamics and of small groups. Of particular help are explorations of group structure (including the
group size and the roles people play), group norms and culture, group goals, and the relative
cohesiveness of groups (all discussed in What is a group?). That said, the skills needed for engaging in
and with group life – and the attitudes, orientations and ideas associated with them – are learnt,
predominantly, through experiencing group life. This provides a powerful rationale for educative
interventions.

Working with

Educators and animateurs often have to „be around‟ for a time in many settings before we are
approached or accepted: It may seem obvious, but for others to meet us as helpers, we have to be
available. People must know who we are and where we are to be found. They also need to know what we
may be able to offer. They also must feel able to approach us (or be open to our initiating contact). (Smith
and Smith 2008: 17)

Whether we are working with groups that we have formed, or are seeking to enter groups, to function as
workers we need to be recognized as workers. In other words, the people in the situation need to give us
space to engage with them around some experience, issue or task. Both workers and participants need to
acknowledge that something called „work‟ is going on.

The „work‟ in „group work‟ is a form of „working with‟. We are directing our energies in a particular way.
This is based in an understanding that people are not machines or objects that can be worked on like

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motor cars (Jeffs and Smith 2005: 70). We are spending time in the company of others. They have
allowed us into their lives – and there is a social, emotional and moral relationship between us. As such,
„working with‟ is a special form of „being with‟.

To engage with another‟s thoughts and feelings, and to attend to our own, we have to be in a certain
frame of mind. We have to be open to what is being said, to listen for meaning. To work with others is, in
essence, to engage in a conversation with them. We should not seek to act on the other person but join
with them in a search for understanding and possibility. (Smith and Smith 2008: 20) Not surprisingly all
this, when combined with the sorts of questions and issues that we have to engage with, the process of
working with another can often be „a confusing, complex and demanding experience, both mentally and
emotionally‟ (Crosby 2001: 60).

In the conversations of informal and community educators the notion of ‟working with‟ is often reserved for
describing more formal encounters where there is an explicit effort to help people attend to feelings,
reflect on experiences, think about things, and make plans (Smith 1994: 95). It can involve putting aside a
special time and agreeing a place to talk things through. Often, though, it entails creating a moment for
reflection and exploration then and there (Smith and Smith 2008:20).

As Kerry Young (2006) has argued, „Working with‟ can also be seen as an exercise in moral philosophy.
Often people seeking to answer in some way deep questions about themselves and the situations they
face. At root these look to how people should live their lives: „what is the right way to act in this situation
or that; of what does happiness consist for me and for others; how should I to relate to others; what sort
of society should I be working for?‟ (Smith and Smith 2008: 20). This inevitably entails us as workers to
be asking the same questions of ourselves. There needs to be, as Gisela Konopka (1963) has argued,
certain values running through the way we engage with others. In relation to social group work, she
looked three „humanistic‟ concerns. That:

 individuals are of inherent worth.

 people are mutually responsible for each other; and

 people have the fundamental right to to experience mental health brought about by social
and political conditions that support their fulfilment. (see Glassman and Kates 1990: 14).

Working with groups – a definition for starters

What does it mean, then, to say that we work with groups, or that we are group workers? A problem that
immediately faces us is that most commentators and writers come at this question from the tradition or
arena of practice in which they are located. However, if we bring together the discussion so far we can
say that at base working with groups involves engaging with, and seeking to enhance, interactions and
relationships within a gathering of two or more other people.

Some will be focusing on issues and problems, and individual functioning. It is not surprising, for example,
that Gisela Konopka (1963) writing from within social work would have this sort of focus – although she
does look across different areas where these might arise:

Social group work is a method of social work which helps individuals to enhance their social functioning
through purposeful group experiences, and to cope more effectively with their personal, group or
community problems.

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However, as Allan Brown (1992: 8) and others have pointed out, many group workers look beyond
helping the individual with a problem. Group work can emphasize „action and influence as well as reaction
and adaption‟ (op. cit.). Thus, Allan Brown argues:

… group work provides a context in which individuals help each other; it is a method of helping groups as
well as helping individuals; and it can enable individuals and groups to influence and change personal,
group, organizational and community problems. (Brown 1992: 8. Emphasis in the original) This particular
way of conceptualizing group work is helpful in that it looks to strengthen the group as what Lawrence
Shulman (1979: 109; 1999) described as a „mutual aid system‟. The worker seeks to help people to help
each other. Crucially, it is concerned with the ways in which both individuals and groups can build more
fulfilling lives for themselves and for communities of which they are a part. It also looks to wider change.

Social group work is a method of social work that helps persons to enhance their social functioning
through purposeful group experiences and to cope more effectively with their personal, group or
community problems (Marjorie Murphy, 1959).

Social group work, is a primary modality of social work in bringing about positive change, it is defined as
an educational process emphasizing the development and social adjustment of an individual through
voluntary association and use of this association as a means of furthering socially desirable end. It is a
psycho social process which is concerned in developing leadership and cooperation with building on the
interests of the group for a social purpose. Social group work is a method through which individuals in
groups in social agency setting are helped by a worker who guides their interaction through group
activities so that they may relate to others and experience growth opportunities in accordance with their
needs and capacities to the individual, group and community development. It aims at the development of
persons through the interplay of personalities in group situation and at the creation of such group situation
as provide for integrated, cooperative group action for common ends. It is also a process and a method
through which group life is affected by worker who consciously directs the interacting process towards the
accomplishment of goals which are conceived in a democratic frame of reference. Its distinct
characteristics lies in the fact that group work is used with group experience as a means of individual
growth and development, and that the group worker is concerned in developing social responsibility and
active citizenship for the improvement of democratic society. Group work is a way to serving individual
within and through small face to face group in order to bring about the desired change among the client
participants.

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B. Values & Ethics in Groupwork Practice

The group worker enables various types of groups to function in such a way that both group interaction
and programme activities contribute to the growth of the individual, and the achievement of the desirable
social goal. The objectives of the group worker include provision for personal growth according to
individual capacity and need; the adjustment of the individual to other persons, to groups and to society,
the motivation of the individual toward the improvement of society and; the recognition by the individual of
his own rights, abilities and differences of others. Through his participation the group worker aims to
effect the group process so that decisions come about as a result of knowledge and a sharing and
integration of ideas, experiences and knowledge, rather than as a result of domination from within or
without the group. Social Work Intervention with Individuals and Groups through experience he/she aims
to produce those relationship with other groups and the wider community which contributes to responsible
citizenship, mutual understanding between cultural, religious, economic or special groupings in the
community, and a participation in the constant improvement of our society towards democratic goals.

The guiding purpose behind such leadership rests upon the common assumptions of a democratic
society; namely, the opportunity for each individual to fulfill his capacities in freedom, to respect and
appreciate others and to assume his social responsibility in maintaining and constantly improving our
democratic societies. Underlying the practice of group work is the knowledge of individual and group
behaviour and of social conditions and community relations which is based on the modern social
sciences. On the basis of this knowledge the group worker contributes to the group with which he works
with a skill in leadership which enables the members to use their capacities to the full and to create
socially constructive group activities. He is aware of both programme activities and of the interplay of
personalities, within the group and between the group and its surrounding community. According to the
interests and needs of each, he assists them to get from the group experience, the satisfaction provided
by the programme activities, the enjoyment and personal growth available through the social relations,
and the opportunity to participate as a responsible citizen. The group worker makes conscious use of his
relations to the group, his knowledge of programme as a tool and his understanding of the individual and
of the group process and recognizes his responsibility both to individuals and groups with whom he works
and the larger social values he represents”.

In a single paper it is impossible to list, much less discuss, all the basic concepts upon which principles of
effective work with groups are based. I have chosen ten concepts 7. related specifically to “groups,” each
of which leads to other concepts, and all of which provide illuminating insights into the intricate processes
of interpersonal relations which occur in groups of people. These concepts help us to see selectively and
understand and communicate what goes on in the group process. To this extent, they help us to develop
and refine principles and techniques. Some of the concepts from which principles of work with groups are
drawn are:

1.A group is the interaction of a collection of human beings.

2. All groups are alike and all are different.
3. All groups have a purpose, not necessarily conscious, which is expressed in the substance of the
interaction.
4. All groups originate either as “psyche” or “socio” groups; the first drawn together for purposes of
personal satisfaction and the second, because of an external educational interest or common task.
5. All groups experience conflict and exercise controls-the equilibrium or homeostasis of the group.
6. All groups have two kinds of structure: (a) interpersonal relationships seen as the process of
acceptance creates isolates, pairs, and triangles; and (b) division of labor through which roles are
assigned to “get things done.” 7. A “concept” may be defined as an abstract idea of universal significance.
7. All groups use a decision-making process based on elimination, subjugation, compromise, integration,
or combinations thereof.
8. All groups reflect the social status system of the community and create one of their own in its decision-
making processes.

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9. All groups develop morale or esprit de corps which distinguishes each from all others.
10. All groups tend to develop traditions.

These concepts are some of those which are essential to understanding any type of group; they provide a
basis from which any person working with a group in any capacity may develop principles and techniques
for working with them for any purpose, i.e., to control, manipulate, or enable them. When principles and
techniques are developed from them for use by social workers, the value system of the social work
profession has a determining influence on the formulation of principles and how the techniques for
implementing them are used.

There are social work principles 8. based on these concepts. The enabler:

1. Respects all human beings and their social organizations through respecting their right to manage their
own lives.
2. Accepts each individual and group as unique and the right of each to be different from every other.
3. Feels with individuals and groups without necessarily feeling like them.
4. Adjusts his behavior to his understanding of the behavior of the group.
5. Accepts and handles negative and positive feelings for the benefit of the group.
6. Diagnoses where the group is and helps it to move on from there.
7. Supplies the group with needed factual material and helps it to recognize issues without indicating
solutions.
8. Stimulates the group to consider implications of issues and new horizons.
9. Supports the group in making and carrying out decisions consonant with individual and social welfare.
10. Recognizes the structure of interpersonal relations as an influential factor in group decisions.
11. Helps the group to divide responsibility and involve as many members as possible in planning and
executing a program.
12. Respects and uses the structure established by the group for division of labor.
13. Expects conflict and helps the group to use it constructively.
14. Accepts the role of authority, when necessary, without passing judgment.
15. Understands the social status system of the community and neighborhood and helps individuals to
live with it or to change it, when change is necessary to safeguard the right of self-determination and the
welfare of the community.

C. Three foci for group workers

From this exploration I want to highlight three foci for group workers. They need to „think group, attend to
purpose, and stay in touch with themselves.

Thinking group

For the worker working with a group entails „thinking group‟

(McDermott 2002: 80-91). „Thinking group‟ means focusing on the
group as a whole – „considering everything that happens in terms of
the group context (also the wider context in which it is embedded –
social, political, organizational) because this is where meaning is
manifest‟ (op. cit.:81-2). She continues:

In advocating for the group worker to keep in mind that, while

groups are comprised of individuals, at the same time their coming
together may enable the expression of powerful forces reinforcing
as sense of commonality and solidarity. These are the building
blocks for the development of trust. Trust and its counterpart –

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reciprocity amongst members, may establish the bonds which serve to enable members to achieve their
individual and common goals. The task of the worker is to nurture such developments. (op. cit.: 82)

For Fiona McDermott the capacity to „think group‟ is the single most important contribution that group
workers can bring to their practice. They need to avoid working with individuals in the setting of the group,
but rather see individual growth and development as something that emerges out of group interaction and
group life.

Attending to purpose

As well as attending to the group as a process of harnessing the

collective strengths of group members, workers also need to look to
purpose. Urania Glassman and Len Kates (1990: 105-18), for
example, have argued that group workers should attempt to effect two
complementary objectives. The first is the development of mutual aid
systems; the second is to help the group to attend to, and achieve,
their purpose (what they describe as the actualization of purpose). In
other words, workers need to keep their eyes on the individual and
collective goals that the group may or does want to work towards.
They also need to intervene in the group where appropriate to help
people to clarify and achieve these.

When considering purpose it is also important to bear in mind the nature of the group engaged with – and
the context within which we are working with them. An influential model for thinking about this in social
work came from Papell and Rothman (1966). They distinguished between four models in social group
work:[2]

 Remedial model (Vinter, R. D., 1967) – Remedial model focuses on the individuals dysfunction
and utilizes the group as a context and means for altering deviant behaviour.
 Reciprocal or Mediating model (W. Schwartz, 1961) - A model based on open systems theory,
humanistic psychology and existential perspective. Relationship rooted in reciprocal transactions
and intensive commitment is considered critical in this model.
 Developmental model (Berustein, S. & Lowy, 1965) - A model based on Erikson's ego
psychology, group dynamics and conflict theory. In this model groups are seen as having "a
degree of independence and autonomy, but the dynamics of to and fro flow between them and
their members, between them and their social settings, are considered crucial to their existence,
viability and achievements". The connectedness (intimacy and closeness) is considered critical in
this model.
 Social goals model (Gisela Konopka & Weince, 1964) - A model based on 'programming' social
consciousness, social responsibility, and social change. It suggests that democratic participation
with others in a group situation can promote enhancement of personal function in individuals,
which in-turn can affect social change. It results in heightened self-esteem and an increase in
social power for the members of the group collectively and as individuals.

Subsequently, there has been various variations and developments of this model e.g. Shulman (1999) –
but this original model still remains helpful as a way of alerting us to thinking about purpose – especially
from the perspective of the agency employing group workers.

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Attending to ourselves

As Parker Palmer has argued in the context of

education any attempt at reform or
development will fail if we do not cherish and
challenge the human heart that is the source
of good practice (Palmer 1998: 3). For
Palmer, good practice is rather more than
technique, it flows from the identity and
integrity of the worker‟ (Palmer 2000: 11). This
means that they both know themselves, and
that they are seeking to live life as well as
they can. Good group workers are, thus,
connected, able to be in touch with
themselves, with those they work with and
their „subjects‟ – and act in ways that further flourishing and wholeness.

In a passage which provides one of the most succinct and direct rationales for a concern with attending
to, and knowing, our selves Parker Palmer draws out the implications of his argument. Teaching, like any
truly human activity, emerges from one‟s inwardness, for better or worse. As I teach, I project the
condition of my soul onto my students, my subject, and our way of being together…. When I do not know
myself, I cannot know who my students are. I will see them through a glass darkly, in the shadows of my
unexamined life – and when I cannot see them clearly, I cannot teach them well. When I do not know
myself, I cannot know my subject – not at the deepest levels of embodied, personal meaning. I will know
it only abstractly, from a distance, a congeries of concepts as far removed from the world as I am from
personal truth. (Parker Palmer 1998: 2)

If we do not know who we are then we cannot know those we work with, nor the areas we explore

D. The Difference Between Task, Counseling, and Psychotherapy Groups

The deliberate study of group work in social work reveals that many spheres of our personal and
professional lives are comprised of groups. Whether family groups, committees, work teams,
therapeutic groups, etc. social workers are likely to navigate and traverse many different types of
groups during their profession.

Therefore, a more intentional and elevated understanding of the distinctions between major group types,
including their core elements, purposes, and functions is crucial to establishing more competent .

Task Group Work in Social Work

Task groups are designed with the primary goal of accomplishing a single actionable goal or fulfilling a
series of identified objectives within an established goal, i.e., tasks.

Task groups are generally structured within professional, academic, political, or advocacy parameters and
not designed to meet the socioemotional needs of members. As such, members are likely to organize
around or be assigned to task groups based on their skills, expertise, or resources rather than
commonality of psychosocial experiences or shared personal issues.

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Task groups tend to be more formal in their structure and decorum and focus on goal-setting, objective
outputs, problem-solving, and decision-making around principal tasks to which their personal growth or
well-being are secondary.

Some of the readiest examples of

task groups students may expect to
be a part of our group project
assignments in an academic
program, from jointly constructed
papers to active reading partners to
class presentations.

In my experience, the group project

experience is deliberately intended
to foster academic and
professional growth, and cultivate
collaborative skills and attitudes,
with the success of the group
hinging primarily on the completion
of an end-product, with that product
often evaluated by a third party or
authority.

In the field, social workers may encounter opportunities to observe or become part of program
committees, task forces, or team training groups, all of which are examples of task groups.

Counseling Group Work in Social Work

Counseling groups are distinguished by their cognitive-behavioral focus on using the group to identify
members‟ ideas about the kinds of persons they wish to be, and identing or removing obstacles or
blockages to that goal in growth.

Counseling groups tend to be occupied with themes and tasks of

growth, enhancement, prevention, and development in the here-
and-now, whereas psychotherapy groups may be more invested
in treatment, remediation, and transformations in personality
structure, with goals surrounding the alleviation of psychological
problems and working with both the past and present. 1

Counseling groups offer more present and future-oriented growth

goals, such as clarifying values and ideas, increasing self-
confidence or developing new interpersonal skills. Behavioral
modeling by the counselor is emphasized.

An example of a counseling group might be a life-adjustment

group offered by a college wellness center for students who are coping with living away from home,
making new connections, and new responsibilities and independence.

There are three common counseling group formats used:

1. Maypole (leader in middle, addressing each member individually)

2. Round Robin (every gets a turn go around, leader in circle)
3. Freeform (members and leader in circle formation, communication is open)

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Psychotherapy Group Work in Social Work
Psychotherapy groups are generally distinguished by the unique emphasis on the treatment aspect of
developing a culture of mutual aid between group members, and focusing awareness on the here-and-
now process.2 Psychotherapy groups are essentially concerned with:

 Differentiating content (what happens) and process (how it happens)

 Growth taking places largely through the group process
 When someone speaks or acts, what are they really sharing? What is the process of their action
in the here and now?

Through the therapeutic support modality,

members are given socio-emotional space
to 1) safely and bravely navigate the
course of their addiction behavior, 2)
manage the emotional content of addiction,
and 3) explore the addictive behaviors as
coping mechanisms for underlying issues
such as anxiety or depression. Facilitator
techniques for inducing regression may be
used to access and “map” psycho-
emotional trajectories and locate their
origins in time.4

An HIV support group I co-facilitated at a

health outreach agency is another ready
example of a psychotherapeutic group.
Toward the development of my work as
this support group‟s facilitator, I have come to prize Roth‟s assertion that “a healthy group engages
conflict with an appreciation that the conflict affects the group as a whole…with some members carrying
the conflict and others metabolizing the conflict so that the whole group is able to resolve the conflict.”

This group type requires social workers to be more cognizant of how some group members hold or
highlight feelings such as anger, fear, confusion, and desire for the group to rally around or resist, all
which is a shared process. Furthermore, it helps social workers become more prepared and articulate in
bringing the group‟s attention to that process in the present, which may empower members to recognize
and operationalize the group as more than just a device for their relief, but a living system of recovery and
healing within a culture they co-create.

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Garvin, Gutierrez, and Galinsky (2004), Handbook of social work with groups.

Lindsay, Orton (2008), Groupwork practice in social work, learning matters Ltd.

Mendoza, Thelma L., (2003) Social work with groups, Megabooks company

Toseland, Ronald W., & Rivas, Robert F., (2001) An introduction to groupwork practice, fourth edition., A
pearson education company

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