A Quarter Century of Classics(1978-2004) presents the most compelling articles published in Social Work with Groups since the journal's inception in 1978. Culled from more than 100 issues, the book captures the heart and spirit of group work and offers teachers and practitioners a solid foundation for group work theory and practice. This best-of-the-best collection includes seminal articles on group developmental theory, the use of activities in group work, group work with vulnerable populations, differentiating group work from case work in a group, and social action methods.

Launching Palgrave's new interdisciplinary Professional Keywords series, this reader-friendly reference guide distils the vast field of groupwork study and practice into digestible, yet authoritative, chunks. With over 60 alphabetized entries, it is the perfect introduction to groupwork for health and social care practice.

What do you have to know, today, to be an effective group worker and what are the different group work approaches? With 110 articles and entries, this book provides a comprehensive overview of social work with groups from its initial development to its astounding range of diverse practice today with many populations in different places. The articles have been written by social workers trained in the group approach from the United States, Canada, England, Australia, Spain and Japan, and all involved are well known group workers, acknowledged as experts in the area. The book covers all aspects of social work with groups: including its history, values, major models, approaches and methods, education, research, journals, phases of development, working with specific populations and ages, plus many more. Each article includes references which can be a major resource for future exploration in the particular subject area. Both editors have many years of productive work in group work practice and other areas and are board members of The Association for the Advancement of Social Work with Groups. The Encyclopedia of Social Work with Groups will be of interest to students, practitioners, social work faculty, novice and experienced group workers.

This ebook is a selective guide designed to help scholars and students of social work find reliable sources of information by directing them to the best available scholarly materials in whatever form or format they appear from books, chapters, and journal articles to online archives, electronic data sets, and blogs. Written by a leading international authority on the subject, the ebook provides bibliographic information supported by direct recommendations about which sources to consult and editorial commentary to make it clear how the cited sources are interrelated related. A reader will discover, for instance, the most reliable introductions and overviews to the topic, and the most important publications on various areas of scholarly interest within this topic. In social work, as in other disciplines, researchers at all levels are drowning in potentially useful scholarly information, and this guide has been created as a tool for cutting through that material to find the exact source you need. This ebook is a static version of an article from Oxford Bibliographies Online: Social Work, a dynamic, continuously updated, online resource designed to provide authoritative guidance through scholarship and other materials relevant to the study and practice of social work. Oxford Bibliographies Online covers most subject disciplines within the social science and humanities, for more information visit www.aboutobo.com.

Spotlighting the skills of social group work, this handbook offers practical guidance and theoretical knowledge, enabling the reader to facilitate groups of varying types with increased clarity, purpose, and confidence. The reader is helped to understand what skill to employ, when, and why. New or veteran group facilitators are reminded to empower group members to both employ their strengths and engage in mutual aid – the fundamental value and methodology that underlies social group work. Specific skills help group members to coalesce as a cohesive group and optimize their capacity to reach their goals whether exploring therapeutic answers or accomplishing work tasks. This book illustrates that there are “basics” to the method of human service work with groups that can help you to feel more at ease with and more effective at working with people in groups. The group work method is delineated for you, outlining: (1) skills of working with groups (ways of thinking or doing to make things happen), (2) practice principles (the moral reasoning that underlies what you choose to think and do in your practice), and (3) theoretical underpinnings for those choices (why your choices will achieve desirable ends). Anecdotal material and skills in action provide explicit examples of what skills look like in real time. Social work students and academics as well as students and professionals working in the fields of youth work, counseling, mental health/clinical social work, and related health subjects will find this book of interest.

Group work is a popular and widely used social work method. Focusing particularly on the central role of mutual aid in effective group work, this text presents the theoretical base, outlines core principles, and introduces the skills for translating those theories and principles into practice. A Mutual-Aid Model for Social Work with Groups will help readers to catalyze the strengths of group members such that they become better problem solvers in all areas of life from the playroom to the boardroom. Increased coverage of evaluation and evidence-based practice speaks to the field’s growing concern with monitoring process and assessing progress. The book also includes: worker-based obstacles to mutual aid, their impact, and their antidotes pre-group planning including new discussion on curriculum groups group building by prioritizing certain goals and norms in the new group the significance of time and place on mutual aid and the role of the group worker maintaining mutual aid during so-called individual problem solving an expanded discussion of anti-oppression and anti-oppressive practice unlocking a group’s potential to make difference and conflict useful special considerations in working with time-limited, open-ended, and very large groups. Case examples are used throughout to help bridge the gap between theory and practice, and exercises for class or field, help learners to immediately apply conceptual material to their practice. All resources required to carry out the exercises are contained in over 20 appendices at the end of the book. Key points at the end of each chapter recap the major concepts presented, and a roster of recommended reading for each chapter points the reader to further resources on each topic. Designed to support ethical and successful practice, this textbook is an essential addition to the library of any social work student or human service practitioner working with groups.

Social work is being constantly shaped by external forces such as new information technology, managerialism, increased public accountability and programme risk management. Although an appreciation of how these forces impact on direct service is required, an exclusive focus on them can prevent social workers from genuinely embracing current practice opportunities. Existentialism – a philosophy that emphasises our existence in the world as free and responsible agents helping to shape our own experiences through the choices we make – has influenced the development of social work almost from its origins. This ground-breaking text highlights social work's existential heritage and the existential threats and challenges to current social work practice, and explores how existential philosophy can help direct service social workers find purpose and meaning in their daily practice in a radically uncertain and alienated twenty first century world. This is a fascinating read from one of the leading scholars in existentialist social work, and an essential guide for today's student and practitioner in the application of existential social work practice.