A valuable guide to working with groups for a variety of purposes in the human services. Its distinctive strength is the focus on 'thinking group' and on theory informed reflective practice. Grounded throughout in the rich experiences of 'group insiders', the book is both engaging and informative. Definitely a recommended resource for practitioners, students and educators. Ros Thorpe, Professor of Social Work and Community Welfare, James Cook University Group facilitation is a core skill for social workers, community workers, youth workers, health workers and psychologists. Inside Group Work offers a guide to group work theory and practice in a variety of human service settings. Drawing on thought-provoking contributions from experienced group leaders and participants, Fiona McDermott outlines the various ways in which group work can be used. Focusing particularly on psychoeducation groups, psychotherapy groups, mutual aid groups and social action groups, she explains that the purpose of the group should determine the form it takes. The key facilitation skills of listening, observing, intervening and responding under pressure are outlined. But McDermott argues these skills by themselves are not sufficient. Rather, facilitators need to 'think group' in order to be most effective. McDermott also explains the various stages groups go through, and looks at ways in which group facilitators can handle typical problems. She explores issues of power and leadership, and also the influence of gender, sexuality, ethnicity and age.

Successful implementation and completion of team activities requires instructors and students alike to confront challenges not present in individual work. To maximize learning, group projects need a solid lesson plan that helps students understand the benefits of group work, develop ground rules and assign responsibilities, value everyone’s contributions, and resolve potential conflicts. Teacher, curriculum designer, and “teacherpreneur” Patrice Palmer offers thirteen easily implemented, robust group-work activities formatted to foster the development of life skills. Designed with secondary and postsecondary students in mind, Palmer’s workbook takes students through the team-building process, from getting to know one another to a final evaluation of the group’s work and success. Written in a user-friendly format, Successful Group Work: 13 Activities to Teach Teamwork Skills allows teachers to choose activities that best meet their students’ needs. Make group work a powerful addition to your teaching repertoire. You may be surprised how your students rise to meet a new challenge!

As teachers today work in ever more challenging contexts, groupwork remains a particularly effective pedagogical strategy. Based on years of research and teaching experience, the new edition of this popular book features significant updates on the successful use of cooperative learning to build equitable classrooms. Designing Groupwork, Third Edition incorporates current research findings with new material on what makes for a groupworthy task, and shows how groupwork contributes to growth and development in the language of instruction. Responding to new curriculum standards and assessments across all grade levels and subject areas, this edition shows teachers how to organize their classroom so that all students participate actively. This valuable and sensible resource is essential reading for educators at both the elementary and secondary levels, for teachers in training, and for anyone working in the field of education.

Thorough, hands-on guidance for conducting group work in nonprofit, public, and for-profit agency settings. Because it improves access, is cost-effective, and can be modified to conform to evidence-based practice, group work has become the treatment approach of choice in a broad range of human service agencies. Written in an approachable manner that allows for direct translation of concepts into practice, Group Work: A Practical Guide to Developing Groups in Agency Settings provides a dual emphasis on clinical group skills along with a thorough understanding of agency systems that is necessary to meet the demands of today's practice settings. Written by two experts in the field, this book offers: Practical, detailed, ready-to-use group treatment plans, including group objectives, weekly session guidelines, discussion topics, activities, relevant research, and other essential tools Coverage of the three major types of agencies—nonprofit, public, and for-profit—supported by research and evidence-based treatments that reflect practitioners' actual experiences A unique agency perspective that includes coverage of agency structure, policies, history, staff, politics, informal and formal norms, and diverse client populations Group Work also contains a resourceful CD-ROM with over fifty different Group Profiles that can be customized to suit clients' unique styles and needs. Addressing a wide variety of psychological issues frequently encountered in therapy work with groups,¿the Group Profiles cover a range of clients across the lifespan—children, adolescents, adults, older adults, and the medically ill. Topics covered in these Group Profiles include anxiety, depression, divorce adjustment, substance abuse, foster care, trauma, chronic pain, anger management, hospice, weight management/obesity prevention, teen pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, and many more. Clear, concise, and current, Group Work: A Practical Guide to Developing Groups in Agency Settings is a useful resource from which professionals will gain the knowledge, skills, and awareness of the many intricacies involved in working with diverse groups within different agency settings. Its easy-to-follow presentation will enable all mental health professionals to successfully apply a variety of concepts, ideas, and skills into their group work practice. Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

One of the most effective ways of dealing with social problems is getting rid of the cause of the problem, not just finding a remedy for the result. Social Action in Group Work provides a useful overview of the history, philosophy, theory, and practice of social group work and action in the promotion of societal change. It shows practitioners how to use their skills effectively to achieve social change. This helpful book incorporates ideas developed in social movements, identifies their contributions to social group work practice, and illustrates effective practice in case experience with specific examples. It provides a much-needed understanding of the need for and process of social action, along with new ideas for theory building, teaching, and practice in group work. Numerous case examples from a variety of different settings become models that will be extremely useful for social work students, educators, professionals, and those who work directly with groups.This invigorating book is divided into three sections, each with a unique focus, and tied together by overlapping concepts, theories, and models. The first section, Ideas of Social Action, examines the history of social action in group work and proposes an integrated global framework for social work organization, education and practice. Advocacy and Empowerment, the middle section, is replete with case examples. The third section, Principles and Practice, explores the application of social group work in a variety of situations, including inter-ethnic conflict and a group of homeless men and women. Together, the sections make a strong stand for a more sensitive, empowerment oriented practice and for more advocacy by the worker and group. Everyone involved or interested in the process of social change through social action with groups will find Social Action in Group Work a wealth of practical information.

While understanding theory and research is vital, future group counselors and therapists must also know how to apply that theory and how to use research findings. This new workbook helps teach just that, through interesting, practical, real-life exercises that involve all of the types of groups a counselor might lead - task/work, psycho-educational, counseling, and psychotherapy. Through its exercises, readers encounter school-age adolescents, mental health outpatients, parents, community members, and others with whom a group worker might work. Prompts and activities encourage them to reflect on class presentations and experiential activities; and help them better absorb the lessons of their core book. Coverage includes how groups work and how to facilitate them, how to put theories into practice and multicultural sensitivity and awareness. For professionals in the field of psychotherapy and group counseling.

In Failures in Group Work, author Robert K. Conyne presents a model for effective group leadership and suggests that significant failures, when handled effectively, can be understood in terms of this model. This volume provides detailed descriptions of actual failure events in group leadership. Conyne includes two cases for each of the major types of group work such as task groups, psychoeducational groups, counseling groups, and psychotherapy groups. There is no other group work book like this one that approaches succeeding as a group leader by examining what is not working and moving from there. Richly written, personal case studies are used to examine the inner workings and common mistakes of task group leaders, counseling group leaders, and psychotherapy group leaders. The author takes the reader into the world of practical experience from which powerful learning lessons are cultivated, drawn from his decades of experience. Failures in Group Work can be used as a core textbook for courses in group counseling, group therapy, group process, social work with groups, and other group-oriented courses.

This highly successful book on groupwork practice, first published in 1979, has become a standard introductory text on most social work training courses. It is very popular with social workers, whatever their agency setting, and is also used by health visitors, youth workers and the voluntary sector. This new enlarged and revised third edition includes two new additional chapters. The first of these addresses the issue of groupwork in day and residential centres where special kinds of group skills are required in addition to those already well established for fieldwork groups. The second new chapter attempts to understand the significance of race and gender in groupwork and to begin to develop a framework for anti-discriminatory practice. All key sections from previous editions have been retained and updated, while those on group composition, open groups, co-working and consultation have been extended and revised to give more comprehensive coverage. The bibliography has also been developed to include the most recent additions to the groupwork literature, including many articles from the journal Groupwork for which Allan Brown is co-editor.

Find out how matching research-based principles of collaborative learning with practical action can make all group work productive group work, with all students engaged.