Social Work with Groups

Mining the Gold

Sue Henry, Jean East, Cathryne Schmitz, Sue Henry, Jean East, Cathryne Schmitz

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781134900152
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Work
• Index: Social Sciences

Hone your group work skills to make sessions even more meaningful! Social Work with Groups: Mining the Gold examines a wide array of varieties of social group work practice, from corrections through empowerment and international issues. It explores ways to deal with youth violence (following the shootings at Columbine High School), issues of social exclusion, empowerment practice, groups in correctional settings, group work practice with seniors, gender diversity, multicultural groups, teleconferencing groups, and education for social work group practice. Every chapter author who contributed to this timely and important volume reflects the "gold" to be mined in the use of groups in social work. Linda Hutton shares her first-hand experience of working with chronically paranoid schizophrenic clients who are also chemically addicted. Marshall Rubin and Carol J. Hinote explore ways of working creatively with different populations--Rubin confronts the use of structured program designs and Hinote describes the challenge of being a woman worker with a group of mentally ill men. Paul Abels and Sonia Leib Abels examine the use of narratives in social work with groups. Beverly Ryan and Patty Crawford discuss the creation of support groups for elderly people dealing with loss, and Jean East, Susan Manning, and Ruth J. Parsons explore ways for group work to advance the social work empowerment agenda. Social Work with Groups also explores case studies of:

• a school-based project to prevent violence
• a European group work plan to fight social exclusion in a multicultural environment
• a prison-based group work program
• ways to use gender diversity to enrich the group experience Social Work with Groups brings you insightful commentary from the people who are developing cutting-edge programs and expanding the boundaries of group work. No social worker who wants to function most effectively in a group setting should be without it!

PART I:
PLENARY SESSIONS

Chapter 1

Groupwork in Europe: Tools to Combat Social Exclusion in a Multicultural Environment

Nuala Lordan

Mary Wilson

Without contraries is no progression.

William Blake,

“The Marriage of Heaven and Hell”

INTRODUCTION

We are delighted to be with you in Denver, the Mile High City, beginning the process of mining the gold. A quotation from W. B. Yeats aptly encompasses this reality by suggesting that “between extremities, man runs his course” (Yeats, 1933, p. 283).

This chapter focuses on some of our experiences in educating social work students to use groupwork as a tool for combating social exclusion in Europe. We will draw on the experiences of seminar students from very different social and cultural milieus in order to tease out some conceptual truths. We will also explore the many challenges of working in a multicultural and multilingual environment, using some of the techniques that the students found most beneficial to their learning. Finally, we will discuss the applications of the approach in the wider sphere of social action to relate its relevance to other contexts.

EDUCATION AND TRANSFORMATION

Knowledge is not value-free; it tends to reflect the values and attitudes of the giver and the context in which it is promulgated. Neither is the dissemination of knowledge static; it is a dynamic engagement of dialogue and reflection that builds toward thinking in critically analytic ways. This has implications for the reality offered by our universities, where the emphasis is on coherence and conformity, often at the expense of complexity and chaos. Do we foster critical, creative complexity (a simplistic divide) or value coherence, which may harbour conformity? Coherence and complexity need not be at variance; they are mutually reinforcing, two sides of the same coin. But often they are considered to be mutually exclusive. In this respect, our academic institutions may constitute a reality where coherence and conformity are achieved at the expense of complexity and chaos. Instead, an educational forum is required where the learner’s knowledge and experience is valued and received knowledge is exposed to critical scrutiny. Here Blake’s quotation provides an apt summary: “The tigers of wrath are wiser than the horses of instruction” (Erdman, 1988, p. 37).

Using Groups to Transform Education

Groupwork, we believe, can provide such an educational environment. Groups have long been recognised as a major forum for learning. From the initial and tentative social learning made by the individual in the family, the process continues over each person’s lifetime by means of the various groups in which he or she is involved. This definition of groupwork locates it in the broader sphere of socially constructed knowledge or social education and brings with it the possibility of transformation. Practice and pedagogical dimensions are included in this view. Practice wisdom suggests that the outcome of any intervention is predicated on and determined by the perspective from which it is directed. We believe that the knowledge that learning is socially constructed is a fundamental prerequisite for practice intervention, which recognises the individual’s unique model of knowledge building (Gergen, 1985; Goldstein, 1990; Real, 1990). Groupwork offers a way to overcome the theory-practice dissonance, which has contributed to the maintenance of the “culture gap” between the academic and practice areas of the work. In this way, groupwork provides a synthesis to promote a transformative analysis. Thus groupwork challenges traditional pedagogical learning principles by representing “the personal is political” perspective, which locates it at the “coalface” of liberation and feminist approaches to education.

Challenging Oppression

Fundamental to this approach is the focus on challenging injustice and oppression at many levels. Groupwork, in this broad sense, operates primarily in the cultural sphere and has a central role to play in the promotion of inclusive strategies. Education through groupwork, we believe, can be central to the process of empowering socially excluded groups. Huff and Johnson (1988) talk in terms of teaching empowerment through modeling it in their relationships with students in the classroom. These encounters can then mirror the relationships between social workers and clients. In both cases, the relationships are unequal. In both groups, facilitators have implicit power over students and clients. It is important that facilitators acknowledge the reality of this power relationship and try to transform it creatively.

This alternative worldview can be promoted by pushing the boundaries outward. We believe that the process of transforming the potentially oppressive impact of unequal power relationships begins with an explicit acknowledgement of how that power is being used and being open to sharing it and changing its outcome. Transferring and transforming power relationships is central to the view of the world with which we wish our students to engage and encounter. Democratic ideals and practices are integral to this approach. Democratic leadership within an antioppressive framework aims to foster an ethos of student involvement and participation, which facilitates the learning-through-action process. This is challenging for all concerned. Both mentors and students are engaged equally in the process of how and what is taught and learned. An antioppressive framework recognises the importance of naming differences as a first step to understanding them. These differences include gender, race, age, ability, culture, religion, and class. By naming and engaging with these differences from the outset, a culture of liberation can be fostered which is predicated on celebrating and validating difference in partnership with the group. This refers to the process of transforming the democratic ideal into its practice wisdom reality.

BACKGROUND OF THE EUROPEAN SEMINAR

The seminar brings together students and teachers from different European states for an intensive programme of two weeks’ duration. Funding is provided by the Socrates initiative under the auspices of the European Union. The Socrates programme is specifically directed at third-level educational institutions throughout the EU to provide a forum for the sharing of knowledge, research, and expertise among member states. Partnerships are developed by interested faculty who define the area of study and create a programme. This is submitted for funding approval to the EU. In this instance, the proposing group included educationalists from Greece, Ireland, Norway, Spain, and from two universities in the United Kingdom.

The aims of these programmes from an EU perspective are to foster social cohesion and create a European identity. These aims are perceived as important in the process of breaking down national barriers and fostering a cooperative spirit of understanding among the intelligentsia and future leaders in the new Europe. By bringing together young people in the educational institutions of member countries to share and to learn from each other, the belief is that future stability of the United States of Europe can be promoted. Many of these young people believe passionately in ideas of equality and inclusion. This vision of a social Europe is a historical and recurrent concern of European relations. As Europe is still at the stage of defining its identity, a desired outcome of the programme is to foster the students’ recognition of their countries’ shared characteristics.

Objectives

Specifically, the purpose of this intensive programme is to enable social work students to explore theoretical models and methods which promote social inclusion. It focuses on the wider use of social groupwork for social action and social change activities as a means of counteracting oppression and social exclusion. As the borders open up between countries through the mobility of labour, it is important that practitioners using the approach learn and work together. The objectives are, first, to assist students in developing an understanding of the manifestation of oppression in their own countries; second, to explore theoretical models to promote social inclusion; and third, to develop innovative responses and explore strategies which lead to inclusion. These objectives are achieved through sharing positive initiatives and examples from each country. By bringing this work together in a transnational teaching and learning forum, it is possible to develop a partnership of relevant theoretical analyses and practice approaches, which are rooted in a trans-European understanding. The approach is based on learning-by-doing strategies. Promoting experiential learning in a multilingual workshop thus provides the basis for developing communication and understanding of the different cultures represented.

Structure

Selection of students to participate in the programme is carried out on a lottery basis from among those who volunteer. Each of the participating colleges is allocated student places, which are based on their overall student numbers. An essential criterion for those who are selected is that they should have some knowledge of English.

The programme has three distinct phases. The first phase takes place at the students’ home institutions, where they are engaged in the preplanning stage. The second phase, which is the major part of the programme, consists of an intensive seminar when all the student groups gather at one location in Europe. Participating colleges take turns ho...