This essay seeks to elaborate on the positive and negative contribution of group work to the

professional practice of social work. Group work is of great relevance in social work practice as it gives
the clients the confidence to strive for resilience after realising that they are not the only people with
that challenge. Group work can be a therapy itself which contributes towards the social work goal of
restoration of the social functioning and wellbeing of a client after sharing experiences. They might even
start to learn to appreciate and to cope with their problems after realising that the other group
members went through worst situations than them. Group work however lacks privacy in practice thus
contradicting the confidentiality principle. However it is important to note that besides group work we
also have other modes of practice which contributes towards social work practice that is, Case work and
community work amongst others.

The essay will start by defining key terms which are social work and group work. According to Henry and
Philport( 1957) social work is a practice based profession which aims to assist the challenged members
of the society by offering them with care, support and counselling.Also, social group work is a method
through which individuals in groups in social agency settings are helped by worker who guides their
interaction in programme activities so that they may relate themselves to others and experience growth
opportunities in accordance with their needs and capacities.” (Trecker – 1955). “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 and community problems.”
(Konopka-1963). Social Group Work is used for the purpose of reducing or eliminating roadblocks to
social interaction and accomplishing desirable social goals (Skidmore – 1988).

To add, group work can be defined as a method of social work which develops the ability of individuals
through group activities. It is a different way of helping individuals through group based activities and
enhancing - knowledge, understanding and skill. Social group work is concerned with the social
development of individuals. Practice of group work requires a deep knowledge about how humans
interact in groups. “Social group work is a psycho-social process which is concerned no less than with
developing leadership ability and cooperation than with building on the interests of the group for a
social purpose.” (Hamilton – 1949.

To proceed, group work is of great significance in tge social work practice as it gives clients confidence to
strive for resilience after realising that they are not the only people with that challenge. By interaction
one ought to feel relieved as they may start to bring about what they would have been going through as
well as sharing ideas on how they would cope to problems during the hard experiences. Skidmore
(1988),implies that social group work is important as it is used for the purpose of reducing or eliminating
roadblocks to social interaction and accomplishing desirable social goals. Thereby, it can be noted that
group work method is essential in the feild of social work as it allows individuals with the same problem
to mix and mingle, thus giving them room to share their lifetime experiences as well as strategies they
would use when alone as solutions to help solve problems. Therefore, such practices would show the
greater significance of group work in social work practice as it helps other clients to boost confidence
and courage to reach positive ultimate goals with the social group worker monitoring them.
Furthermore, group work is very prudent to the succesful upbringing of social work. In that it promotes
the mastery of skills and serve as a vehicle for fostering human relationships through use of media such
as play,discussion,arts and craft,music,dance,outings and parties.(Skidmore 1998) For instance,a group
of clients might be victims of rape cases,thus through going to parties or any outings the trauma of
fearing man or identfying them as monsters might surely come to an end. It is also prudent to note
that,throug role plays the group members probably learn how to build human relationships again and
also get a chance to have real friends,as one says" no man is an iland" In adsition to the above,because
of the trauma one would be experiencing it will be hard for her to socialise with others thus she might
turn out to be an outcust in the community,but through use of group work one can master the courage
to give the world another chance. In as much as this,group work is very prudent in social work practice
as it enables individuals to overcome their fears through use of the media. On the otherhand,it is also
crucial to note that,some of the outings which can be done such as partying at public places might bring
back flashbacks of bad memories which might torture the victims. However,this fact is not valid enough
to criticize the importance of group work in social work.

In addition, group work is vital to the effectiveness of social work in general. It has long been
acknowledged that social workers are much more effective in their jobs if they have experience in their
training and education with interacting with others at a group level.In essence, the practice of social
work is relational, which is to say that that it is based on relationships between individuals not just
between social workers and the people they work for, but between social workers themselves. For social
workers, group work can be particularly useful in providing mutual support in a profession that is, at the
best times, highly stressful.

As regards social work practice itself, group work allows people to come together and gain strength
through sharing common experiences of, for instance, drug abuse, criminality, and challenging home
environments.In such contexts, groups can allow participants to feel safe and accepted in short, to feel
that they matter. Inevitably, this tends to have a very positive effect on those from troubled
backgrounds, who at no point in their lives have ever felt this way.Far from supplanting the traditional
one-to-one approach, group work actually augments it, adding a significant new dimension to the
practice of social work.

In addition to being a good use of school social workersʼ time, groups offer many advantages over work
with individual clients. When members give and receive support and help from each other, this mutual
aid empowers clients to feel useful while learning to accept help and support from others. Cohesiveness,
the group bond, gives members a sense of belonging and identity as a group member. Groups offer
members a number of potential peer relationships beyond the relationship with the worker. Members
can learn that they are not alone in dealing with problems , and they can gain hope through observing
others resolve their concerns. Groups offer members a place where they can learn new knowledge and
practice new behaviors and skills.
Group work conceptualisation seeks to target underlying needs of individual group members and
enables group work intervention to be more specific and relevant to the group members’ needs. It is the
process of forming and clarifying ideas about the conditions/issues faced by the potential group
members.There is the need to identify possible key causes (causal factors) that are contributing to the
current situation the group member is in. Group work facilitators may need to identify various causal
factors and the resultant outcomes to the various group members in order to address their diverse
needs. The outcome factors can be used to shape the group goals. Intervention strategies would be
formulated to address the causal factors through the group work.The use of theories guides an
understanding on the issues faced by the group members, which in turn leads to the design of the group
work, and how intervention and evaluation would be conducted. Theories is then used to guide the
strategies and learning activities throughout the group work process. A group work targeting on issues
of grief and loss faced by the group members, for example, may refer to Kubler-Ross’ theory on the
‘Stages of grief and loss’ to help shape how the group work will be conducted.