 Dear learners, I welcome you all to this class on social group work settings. This is a part of the course which is named as Social Work Practice with Individuals and Groups. This is one of the courses of Bachelor of Social Work 2nd semester and I am Dr. Midushmita Dwarah, Assistant Professor of Social Work, Hurjagumar Viya School of Social Sciences of KK Hendrick State Open University. I welcome you all to this class, today we will be discussing about the method of social work that is group work. So first let us understand what is the meaning of social work. When we say the word social work, it is a profession where we social workers help people to help themselves, that is empowering the individuals to help themselves is one of the main objectives of social work. So here social work is a profession, it is unlike social service or philanthropy or any kind of philanthropic activities only and it requires skills and professional expertise to practice social work, that is why we need to undergo training and professional courses are required to train social workers. Social work as we have understood it is a profession, it covers different domains and settings of society at large. So first let us see what are the methods of social work. These are some of the methods of social work. Social work methods can be divided into two categories, the primary methods and the secondary methods. The primary methods consist of social case work, social group work, community organization and the secondary methods include social action, social welfare administration, social work research. So what is a method? A method can be defined as an orderly way of procedures in which there are different skills techniques that needs to be applied to attain a particular aim. Social work profession has certain methods and these methods include as I told you the primary and secondary methods, they are inclusive of various techniques and skills that needs to be applied at different levels. So in your first semester you have studied the papers on basic foundations of social work and the ideological foundations of social work. We have understood how professionalization of social work started in the West and in India. And now let us understand what is the meaning of case work in a very short manner and then move on to the next method of social work that is group work. So case work is one of the primary methods of social work. Briefly I will be discussing what is the method of case work here. Mary Richmond in 1922 defined case work as that which consists of those processes which develop personality of an individual through adjustment consciously affected individual by individual between human beings and their social environment. Therefore the word case work itself means that we are focusing on the individual's problem and we are directly dealing with the individual. Social case work method tries to resolve individual issues mainly by restoring, maintaining or improving the person's social functioning by using knowledge of human behavior, communication skills, relationship tools and available resources. Case work method is used by social workers to help people across age, gender and various sections of the society. So in case work we focus on the individual's problem. The case worker who is a trained social worker uses various techniques like counseling, psychotherapy and other techniques to deal with the individual's problem and trying to modify the human behavior through social adjustments. After giving you all a brief understanding of the method of case work, let us move on to the next primary method of social work that is group work. The word group work itself suggests that it is a culmination of members around seven to ten members who are brought to come together by a group worker in order to achieve certain objectives. The main purpose of group work as you can see here is that for individuals a group work session is important because it helps to development of effective communication skills and coping skills among the individuals. Development of problem solving techniques. So when individuals with similar problems come across each other and they are united in the form of a group, they feel more confident and dependent on each other to share the emotional problems. That is why group work is important for every individual who has similar problems and are brought together to resolve those problems. And purpose of group work for the entire group is that people in a group are mutually helpful for each other, which is a good thing because it forms a great support system for each other and it empowers through helping others. It empowers each members of the group work to help each other. Many individuals have similar needs or goals, but hardly they have the chance to communicate or to vent up their emotional feelings. So therefore a group work session helps people to express their feelings to communicate and then to decide on the next course of action that should be taken. Let us see what this concept of group work actually is. It is another significant method of social work and the purpose is to enhance social functioning of an individual. For example, a person who has problems in communicating. A person who is not able to express his or her feelings or feelings of anxiety and depression, a group work session will help the person to ventilate those feelings and to have emotional bonding with the other members of the society or of the group. That is known as social functioning. How are individual functions at the societal level or at the group level? Group work is accomplished through groups which have the power to enhance problem solving capacity, prevent the development of serious social problems and restore and maintain social functioning of members. How? How does it prevent the development of serious social problems is that people who have tendencies of maybe you know suicidal tendencies because of depression or anxiety or people who have high addictive problems then coming together as a group as I told you is a support system and they are able to express their feelings and discuss what can be done about de-addicting or you know do away with their negative feelings. Therefore group work is a kind of rescue for those who are under great emotional trauma. Group work is applied to assist individuals to enhance their social functioning in a group setting so that they are able to check their social behavior, the individuals and to cope more effectively with the social environment. The social environment will differ for person to person. A person staying in a particular geographical area will the social life will differ from that of another person and therefore their social environment, how it affects the psyche of an individual can be discussed and worked upon through the use of group work as a method of social work. Group work with children, patients with similar health issues or life threatening diseases, then vulnerable groups, then the aged or the elderly, the youth in a community and many more. These are examples of where group work is very effective working together with a group of children, together with a group of patients who have similar health issues, again a great support system and then life threatening diseases, suppose a doctor had said that you are in your last stage of your cancer and then how the person will feel and then a group worker can help the person to connect the patient to other similar patients who have similar diseases and therefore the person can feel that the problem is not only his or her, but also is shared by many people. Therefore, in such situations group work is very important. Objectives of group work, Konopka has stated the following objectives of group work where he said that individualization, the word individualization means that it helps the person to bring his best self out, it helps the individual to free himself while being helped to interact with the other people. Therefore, maintaining your individual identity, your individual interest and your individual personality is important here. Therefore, in a group, though you are in a group situation, when a group work is done, your own identity and individualization is always maintained. That is one of the great benefit of group work, which helps you to distinguish yourself from the other members of the group. Then, development of a sense of belonging. As I told you, this is a great emotional support, a support system is made through the practice of group work and therefore the persons, the individuals in the group feel a sense of belongingness to the group. Then the third one is a basic development of the capacity to participate. As I told you, some introvert people or people who are not able to discuss their problems, they try to open up and interact in the social group that they have been put in. That means they are developing a capacity to participate in discussions, in showing their emotions, in how putting forth their opinions and also in working towards their problems. Therefore, the basic capacity to participate is enhanced through the process of group work. Increase in the capacity to contribute to decisions on the grounds of rational thinking through group deliberation. So group deliberation means group deliberation will include various processes like group discussion, brainstorming and various other techniques where use of rational thinking through discussion and debate in the group, they will enhance their capacity to make decisions for themselves and it will always be based on rational thinking and logical decision making. That is one group work is made for to help the person in making the decisions for oneself and for the group that increase respect for differences among others. In a group work, usually it is not only the family members or people belonging to your same geographical location or caste or community or religion. Here in group work, as it is a professional practice, there will be members from different caste, creed, then different geographical areas, maybe sometimes different genders, then different problems and they will be brought together. So it increases or enhances the amount of respect or, you know, the tolerance, the cultural tolerance of different people. Increase respect for differences among people. That means you will respect the person or accept the person without judging the other members of the group that he or she is coming from this background or that background. And therefore it creates a lot of tolerance, social tolerance among the group members. Then development of warm and accepting social climate. That is, as I told you, similar to the previous one, it will help you to develop affection for each of the other members of the group and also to help you accepting social reality of the social environment. It can be different, it can be cultural differences. It can be different changes in, you know, the social setup that is around you. So it helps in understanding and accepting the social climate. So after discussing the objectives of group work, let us go into the next slide that is significance of group work. As we know that the modern day living is characterized by a sense of alienation and isolation where one feels lonely most of the time. And in the this can be frustrating experience for the individuals. And therefore it helps group work helps in bringing about a sense of belongingness when a person is attached to a particular group. These are usually therapeutic groups. It can be short term or long term. But when a person is attached to a particular group, it brings about a sense of belongingness and it can be a solution to the sense of isolation and alienation that people go through at the present times. Social group work feels this vacuum by providing not only pleasure of association, but also giving an opportunity to the members to utilize and enhance their capabilities to develop themselves. As I told you in the previous discussion that people enhance their decision making power, their skills to communicate and therefore there are many benefits when a person is under group therapy in dealing with the emotional issues that the individual is going through. Today the importance of group work as an effective method of social work intervention is being increasingly realized and therefore professionals from other fields as well are using similar techniques of group work such as in psychology, psychiatry, management, apart from social work profession have also become appreciative of the different group work techniques that are that should be included in not only the professional practices, but also in while training students. The need for satisfactory group life is a fundamental need of every human being and that is why we know that man is a social animal as it is stated and people need to have a sense of attachment and a sense of belongingness for their sustainment. Now let us move on to this important part where we will be discussing about the group work practice settings. Groups can be conducted in clinical settings, which may be traditional or innovative in approach. For example, like family welfare agencies, hospitals, child guidance clinics, adult psychiatric units, schools and colleges, correctional institutions, institutions for children, women, the aged, the physically challenged and in many non-institutional services such as clubs for children, youth and the women. Developmental settings like unstructured community projects like in the rural areas and the urban areas also group work can be practiced because people should be made a part of their development strategies. For example, as I told you in the unstructured community projects, it can be both in the rural and the urban setting. There will be various developmental projects where the people need to participate after discussion and debate and brainstorming. The important decisions should come out based on logic and reasoning and rational thinking. Therefore, group work helps in enhancing the decision making and planning a particular development project or in contributing to their opinions about the different challenges and resources that can be utilized to the maximum level. Group work practice with specific target groups include usually children, adolescents, women who may be victims of violence and abuse or also the third gender who may be exploited in various ways. Other vulnerable groups of individuals may be men, may be a group of workers and also different categories in the society who can be brought together and they can be termed as specific target groups. Group work is also practiced in different types of homes and services such as it can be mainly of two categories that is residential category and the non-residential category. Group work with the agent is important to enhance social esteem to establish a group bond that they may feel that it has been put out in a different kind of setting out of their family. Therefore, a group bond may replace the warmth of family relationships. Let us go through some of the different settings where group work is applied or where group work is practiced. Psychiatric clinics and hospitals. So, psychiatric clinics will be there is a specialization of social work which is known as medical and psychiatric social work. So, in psychiatric social work, there will be patients from different psychological, you know, disabilities and also there will be in the hospital setting where people come after they have been diagnosed or where they are diagnosed with diseases, life-threatening diseases and clinics where the different psychological assessments or psychological treatment can be done. So, in this particular setting, the role of a group worker would be to bring about patients with similar problems together and then they have to be organized in groups, obviously with their consent and with the consent of the family members. People with similar problems in the psychiatric and hospital settings can be brought together because, as I told you, it is a great emotional support and a support system. Therefore, they can discuss different issues. The patients, family members can also be engaged in group work so that they feel support, a kind of support from each other with patients with similar diseases or patients who are in, you know, maybe in the last stages of their diseases and the family is going through a lot of trauma, including the patient and the other members. Therefore, they are brought together in a group work setting to have certain therapeutic sessions and to deal with their emotional problems. Next, we can discuss about schools, destitute and children's homes. So, this is regarding doing group work with children in the school setting. In the school setting, a social worker plays a very important role because people hear children from different background and children from different issues at home and different economic classes will be together. And when a school teacher, a class teacher or a social worker observes certain, you know, unnatural behavior or certain social deviant behavior among the children, they can be brought together and they can be constituted into different groups of seven to 10 members. Then different group activities like role play regarding and also hobbies and other things can be organized so that through these different activities, recreational activities, creative activities, the children can express themselves and then they can open up to their emotional problems and the other issues that they are facing at the emotional level. Destitute homes and children's homes are usually have children who have come from broken families or who are under some kind of trauma. They do not have a family. They may be orphaned. They may be coming out of different crisis situations. So, children with similar problems are brought together. They are selected in these destitute homes and children home. The setting can be the destitute home or the children's home itself. And then the group worker who is usually employed through an organization or through that particular, through that children's home or any other school will come over there and will organize different group work activities so that students and the children staying in the children's home can feel a kind of, you know, an opportunity to share their well-pent up feelings to the social worker. After discussing, in the first instance itself, they will not be comfortable to discuss their problems. Through different activities, they will be able to slowly, after two, three sessions of group work, they will be able to feel more connected with the group members and they will try to express their emotional problems.