Group Work: Skills and Strategies for Effective Interventions PDF
Preview Group Work: Skills and Strategies for Effective Interventions
GROUP WORK The new edition of Group Work adds a focus on diversity and the use of self in group work, an area too often neglected in professional training but essential to meeting current competence standards set by the Council on Social Work Education. As in previous editions, students and professors will find thoughtful analyses of complicated value dilemmas and specific techniques for use in a diverse range of settings, including confrontations and situations where humor is appropriate. Complete with more games and exercises, an updated discussion of values and ethics, and an expanded skills section, Group Work also contains excerpts and discussions of case studies that can be applied to students’ own experiences and will serve as a valuable reference for years to come. Sondra Brandler, DSW, associate professor and former director of the BASW program at the College of Staten Island, City University of New York. Formerly executive director of the Jay Senior Citizens Center, she is the author of various articles on aging, pedagogy, and social work with groups and has worked in many settings, primarily in the field of aging. Camille P. Roman, LCSW, is in private practice in New York City and is a clinical consultant to Calvary Hospital and Hospice in New York City. For many years she was an adjunct associate professor at the Hunter College School of Social Work of the City University of New York and has also worked as clinical supervisor and director of training at the South Beach Psychiatric Center, Bensonhurst Clinic. 2 GROUP WORK Skills and Strategies for Effective Interventions 3rd Edition Sondra Brandler and Camille P. Roman 3 Third edition published 2016 by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 and by Routledge 27 Church Road, Hove, East Sussex, BN3 2FA Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2016 Sondra Brandler and Camille P. Roman The right of Sondra Brandler and Camille P. Roman to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. First edition published by Haworth Press 1991 Second edition published by Routledge 1999 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Brandler, Sondra. Group work: skills and strategies for effective interventions/by Sondra Brandler and Camille P. Roman.—3rd Edition. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Social group work. I. Roman, Camille P. II. Title. HV45.B69 2015 361.4—dc23 2014049092 ISBN: 978-1-138-79057-5 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-138-79058-2 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-76411-5 (ebk) Typeset in Classic Garamond and Myriad by Florence Production Ltd, Stoodleigh, Devon, UK 4 None of our parents is alive today to see this edition of our book come to fruition, but in a strange way, each has contributed to this text by instilling in us sensitivity to others, the capacity for joy and humor, tenderness and appreciation of simplicity, strength and courage to confront challenges and pain, and the ability to listen compassionately. These qualities, we believe, are essential in helping others to reach their potential, and we are grateful for their examples: Joe (Noito) and Josephine Ralph and Bernice 5 CONTENTS Preface 1 Introduction 2 Value Dilemmas in Group Practice 3 Manifest and Latent Content 4 In the Beginning 5 In the Middle 6 Endings 7 Group Planning 8 The Use of Programming in Groups 9 Confronting Acting-Out Behavior and Powerful Latent Themes 10 Using Humor in Groups 11 Diversity and the Use of Self 12 Special Practice Issues Appendix: Glossary of Group Games and Exercises Bibliography Index 6 PREFACE Our group work text is now in its third edition but our basic premises and format remain the same as in earlier editions, reflecting a philosophical point of view that demands an eclectic approach to groups, borrowing heavily from various models, and fully within social group work tradition. We know that the group is a powerful instrument, that group members have the capacity to help each other, and that a worker, to be effective, must respect difference and individuality while reinforcing shared concerns and common bonds. In general, as with both of our previous editions, the importance of the creative use and exploration of self is central to the text. In our third edition, we have focused our attention more specifically on understanding how diversity among the populations we serve has an impact on the process of achieving group goals. To this end, we have included an entirely new chapter in this edition solely dealing with diversity and the use of self, recognizing the special challenges to the worker in serving groups in which the members are diverse. We have also introduced new vignettes and analyses in several chapters of the text which address emerging populations dealing particularly with oppression. Throughout the book, we have focused on the questions and comments raised by students in the course of our teaching and have tried to discuss these matters by including whatever they expressed interest in or found helpful in the earlier editions in an expanded form in this edition. As a result of the students’ and our colleagues’ feedback over the years, we have also expanded sections in our skills and programming glossary. Additionally, we have updated our references with the recognition that older and classical entries may have continuing value to the current understandings of today’s students and with the awareness that more recent materials enrich and inform our knowledge base. Considerable controversy still exists in the field as to the distinction between therapy groups and traditional group work. Without getting into an elaborate discussion of these issues, we would like to share our thinking about them once more. Whether a group has gathered to provide tenant rights or to work on resolving feelings after a loss, the worker needs to be actively and skillfully involved to assure that members work cooperatively and effectively toward meeting their goals. As we continue to view it, every group, regardless of purpose and content, has therapeutic value and demands clinical skills. We have tried to present a range of experiences in this text that both touch on a variety of settings and populations and, despite their differences, address some very similar issues in improving communication and in facilitating change. Once again, we would like to thank the many individuals who contributed to this book. In a general way, we owe our greatest thanks to our colleagues, clients, and students, whose struggles in working in groups resulted in our learning and our ability, in turn, to teach others. Workers risked sharing their most intimate and often difficult processes to allow us to share these with you, the reader. We offer an array of real-life process vignettes that, although abbreviated or edited, appear essentially as they occurred. Nothing has been fabricated. Of course, all identities have been disguised to preserve confidentiality. Much appreciation goes to those whose records are included here (listed alphabetically): Anne Abbott, Dwayne Britton, Mark Bronnenberg, James Cacopardo, Lin Campbell, Lizette Corman, Tina Del Purgatorio, Barbara Fanning, Joseph Garrambone, Michael Gast, Winston George, Susan Goodman, Joan Granucci-Lesser, Ann Lemerise, Jacqueline Levine, Kevin Mahony, Carol Manning, Jun Matsuyoshi, Erik Mercer, Lynn Polasky, Karen Remey, Mort Scharfman, Andrew Schoenfeld, Barbara Segreto, Jody Shatkin, Scott Smith, Naomi Soulet, Rebecca Steinfeld, Bruce Sussman, Dorothy Van De Stouwe, and Julie Walsh. We are fortunate to have many others who contributed material that, though not included, enriched our thinking; we thank them as well. We continue to be grateful for the support and encouragement of our colleagues. Our special thanks to Dr. George Getzel and Dr. Robert Salmon, both formerly at The Hunter College School of Social Work, who, throughout our professional lives, have made themselves available for consultation and provided friendship, guidance, and laughter. We miss the company and the exchange of ideas provided to us by Dr. Roselle Kurland, whose untimely death cut short a prominent career of important contributions to our profession. Thanks also to Dr. Lacey Sloan of the College of Staten Island who encouraged the pursuit of a third edition of this book to meet the needs of both undergraduate and future MSW students. No endeavor like this could be accomplished without the consistent and loving support of our friends and 7 families. The dedication of our book is to our parents, for it is their spirit which has motivated our choice of profession and sustains us even though they are no longer with us in body. Our life partners, Jacob and James, continue to be our most ardent supporters; there are no words that adequately express our feelings of love and gratitude. 8 1 INTRODUCTION Unless the person feels that he belongs somewhere, unless his life has some meaning and direction, he would feel like a particle of dust and be overcome by his individual insignificance. He would not be able to relate himself to any system which would give meaning and direction to his life, he would be filled with doubt and his doubt eventually would paralyze his ability to act—that is to live. Erich Fromm Escape from Freedom (1941) People are, by their very nature, relational beings. From one’s earliest contacts reaching out beyond mother to the extended family and to the other children in the sandbox, one seeks the approval, the support, the feedback, the companionship, and the communion with others. It seems ironic, therefore, that it took practical considerations—the need for providing services simultaneously to many, the wave of European immigrants in the early 1900s, and the numbers of soldiers returning shell-shocked from the world wars (Konopka, 1963)—to provide the impetus for treating people in groups. Working with groups is a natural place from which to begin understanding individuals. This book views group work both as an enormously useful tool in treating pathology and as a means of reaching people struggling with the normal life issues of growing up, getting along with others, sharing, working, dealing with partners, adjusting to economic and health changes, and growing older and facing death. Settings for group practice are consequently as varied as the needs and difficulties faced by people. Throughout this book we address concerns of work with various populations and agencies while emphasizing that, although themes and needs may differ, certain fundamental approaches and principles remain the same. Every interaction between people contains multiple levels of meaning; communications must be understood symbolically as well as literally. We suggest that both latent and manifest content always exist. There are thoughts never expressed—some of which are not yet known to the person thinking them—thoughts only alluded to and expressed in seemingly unrelated ways, and thoughts expressed freely and openly. One responsibility of the group worker is to help unravel what is actually meant from what is said, thereby assisting the freer expression of feelings and the ability to hear others. In this sense, the group worker is a cross between a detective and a puzzle solver. We also contend that the group situation, even more so than the one-to-one, stirs transference and countertransference issues, the likes of which shall be explored later. Both ideas, that latent and manifest content always exist and that transference and countertransference are reflected in all human contacts, are central to our understanding of group process and fundamental to the way we approach the analyses that follow. The history of group work development has been traced and discussed at length by others, and our purpose here is not to state again what has been presented elsewhere more than adequately (Konopka, 1963). Rather, we would share with you thoughts about why groups develop, what needs they serve, and why they are effective. Humans are social animals, concerned primarily with survival and secondarily with a need to belong with others of their kind. Belonging to a group actually seems to assist in meeting the primary need of survival. Early humans provided a host of evidence to testify to the necessity for group-tribe survival. As in some other species, the individual’s survival is often dependent on the group. Isolation is a condition humans do not choose. If forced to experience isolation for long periods of time during developmental years, individuals suffer severe social and psychological impairment. Early studies of primates confirm that separation from the group results in problems in functioning. The need to survive and the need to belong are powerful drives that, because of the human’s uniquely and highly developed brain, can be gratified through many complex routes. The special capacity for learning, which distinguishes humankind from other animals, is stimulated by an environment in which there is a rich group life. From the primary family group to various peer groups, the human infant learns from every facet of the complex society into which he or she is born. Societal and cultural forces influence all aspects of one’s personality development and continue to do so until the moment of one’s death. Identity formation, validation of self, acceptance, support, and effective communication are necessary for 9 human survival. How to meet those needs is learned initially through the primary group (family) and continually reinforced or changed through other significant secondary groups (peer groups). The effectiveness of meeting these needs determines the quality of an individual’s life. Therefore, the group modality becomes an effective secondary societal force in developing the ability to negotiate need gratification more effectively, both within the individual and between the individual and his or her cultural environment. What, then, is a group? Let us conceive for a moment of the group as an entity, a separate living being, a being with its own personality composed of many separate and unique parts, each part contributing to the whole. Similar to the personality of a person, it is multifaceted. It has a total personality all its own and distinct from any other; yet it is composed of various personality characteristics. It includes a dependent part, an obsessive part, an aggressive part, and others. In a group, the separate members (each a complete universe within himself or herself) are representative of the various personality characteristics that compose the total person/group. The process of group interaction reflects the conflicting components within the complex structures that struggle against each other toward some resolution. In this process, there is, one hopes, movement to enhance growth and survival. As the group members interact with, challenge, push, and stretch each other and their leader, they temper and modulate some parts, bolster others, create anew, and cast aside. Ultimately, they foster a healthier “whole.” As the individual’s inner psychic struggle must resolve conflicting feelings before psychic health can be achieved, so, too, the group’s inner psychic struggle, as played out through its members’ interaction, moves toward resolution of conflicting feelings. Thus the group as a whole begins at a primitive level of functioning and ends at a higher level, thereby increasing its chances for survival and improving the quality of that survival. The parallel between the individual and the group helps to conceptualize the “movement” dynamic we talk about when we refer to “group process.” The process is the psychic energy that moves the group, the force of the interaction, the latent dynamic that underlies the manifest content, the “unconscious” of the group. Indeed, as any group worker will testify, that energy is a force with which to be reckoned. The power of an individual’s unconscious drives has challenged and terrified many a worker, but that force multiplied six to ten times is awesome. Any group leader has felt it to be similar to riding a tiger, unable to stay on and afraid to get off. Yet, that force has the greatest capacity for creativeness. It is a million bouncing atoms that need to be harnessed, directed, and channeled in order to create a healthy explosion of life. A group in the midst of creative force resembles no other experience. From each member, strength is gained, ideas stretched, and risks taken and applauded. It is a rich culture in which new and healthy organisms grow and develop. What composes this “rich culture”? How does the group help its members? What are these growth- producing factors? If we are more able to identify and successfully isolate them, perhaps we can help to recreate them. Our purpose is to provide a group environment that enables growth factors to exist and flourish. The growth factors can be reduced to a few major concepts related to mutual aid and support, cohesiveness, catharsis, and mastery. These terms, which will be used repeatedly throughout our later discussion, are briefly defined here. Mutual Aid The mutual aid and support process supports open expression of feeling and sharing of information relevant to the purpose of the group (Shulman, 1979). Sharing ideas and experiences fosters an atmosphere in which many positive changes may occur. First, there is a sense of validation, of belonging, of universality of experience and feeling: he, too, is unable to handle his adolescent son; she, too, feels alone and abandoned. The realization that others experience and feel the same (or similarly) helps reduce the sense of alienation and loss suffered during crisis. Thus, the member not only feels entitled to the full range of emotion but is then helped to move beyond mere feeling to a more objective understanding and, ultimately, a resolution. Sharing feelings provides a reality-testing base where members’ ideas are accepted, confronted, and challenged by others. Through feedback, other group members offer possible alternative responses to various situations. That reciprocity is encouraged and strengthened by the worker. The group is a place for taking “safe risks” in a safe environment and playing out new and different parts of oneself. Most of the behaviors exhibited in the group are reflections of the way one interacts outside of the group. For example, a passive member might not be able to allow himself to express his rage over being abused, whereas another group member is better able to express her rage but less able to be passive. In the group, each can model the alternate pattern for the other. The ability of the group to “hear” different responses acts as an 10
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