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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Alle-Corliss, Lupe, 1956-

Group work : a practical guide to developing groups in agency settings / by Lupe

Alle-Corliss and Randall Alle-Corliss. p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

eISBN : 978-0-470-46391-8

1. Social group work. 2. Social groups. 3. Social service. I. Alle-Corliss, Randy, 1953- II. Title.

HV45.A45 2009
361.4--dc22

2008044680

To Jessica and Justin—our wonderful children.

We are so proud of the young adults you have come to be.
May you continue to grow spiritually, intellectually, and emotionally.
We appreciate your accepting attitudes as they have allowed us to
persevere in our professional endeavors.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Lupe Alle-Corliss is a bilingual/bicultural licensed clinical social worker with a wealth of experience working in a variety of human service agencies and the coauthor (with Randall Alle-Corliss) of two texts: Human Service Agencies: An Orientation to Fieldwork, Second edition (2006) and Advanced Practice in Human Service Agencies: Issues, Trends, and Treatment Perspectives (1999), both published by Brooks/Cole. She attended the University of Southern California, obtaining a bachelor’s in social gerontology (1978) and a master’s in social work (1980). Professional positions that Lupe has held include medical social worker, minority outreach coordinator, lead clinician, graduate fieldwork supervisor, private practitioner Employee Assistance Provider, managed care provider, outreach/crisis intervention counselor, group leader, and university lecturer. Agencies where Lupe has worked range from a rehabilitation hospital, a family service agency, a county-contracted mental health clinic, a county department of behavioral health, a psychiatry department at Kaiser Permanente, and private practice. For the past 23 years, Lupe has also served as an instructor in the Human Services Program at California State University, Fullerton. She has been a faculty liaison and professor in the Graduate School of Social Work at California State University, San Bernardino, and was involved in developing curriculum for the new MSW program at California State University, Fullerton. She has also taught at the University of Southern California. Currently Lupe is the department administrator of a mental health clinic in the Department of Psychiatry for Kaiser Permanente in Ontario, California. In addition, Lupe continues to teach as a part-time lecturer and remains active in clinical work in psychiatry and private practice. She frequently provides in-services on a variety of topics to diverse audiences and agencies.

Randall Alle-Corliss, formerly Randall Mark Corliss, is a licensed clinical social worker with a broad range of professional experience. He has worked in a variety of community agencies and with many different client populations. At California State University, Fullerton, he earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology. After he graduated, he began taking courses in the Human Services at California State University, Fullerton, where he received considerable training and experience in facilitating groups. After working several years as a community worker in a county- and state-funded mental health center, Randy entered the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Southern California, concentrating in mental health. The professional positions Randy has held include community worker, clinical therapist/psychiatric social worker, community outreach coordinator, outreach/crisis intervention counselor, group counselor, licensed clinical social worker, graduate fieldwork supervisor, university lecturer, and fieldwork instructor. For several years, Randy also served the human services department and the community as the fieldwork coordinator. He has worked for the last 18 years in the Department of Psychiatry at Kaiser Permanente, both as a licensed clinical social worker seeing adult clients and more recently as the department administrator in the Department of Psychiatry at Kaiser Permanente in Fontana, California. At the 1995 National Organization of Human Service Educators annual conference, he was a featured speaker on men’s issues and men’s groups. In addition to helping clients therapeutically, Randy is committed to human service education. For the last 24 years, he has taught undergraduate courses at California State University, Fullerton. For two of those years he taught full time. More recently, he has divided his time among managing the Department of Psychiatry for Kaiser Permanente, part-time teaching, and direct clinical practice.

PREFACE

Group work has become a preferred treatment modality in many human service agencies. This emerging trend reflects the current emphasis on providing needed therapeutic services to clients in the most cost-effective and efficient manner possible. In an era when funding is shrinking and there exists the ever-present threat of budget cuts, many organizations are faced with the dilemma of offering quality and timely treatment while simultaneously limiting the high cost of care. The challenges resulting from these pressures are great for both agency administrators and human service professionals alike, although each is affected in different ways. Human service practitioners, specifically, must develop sound clinical and specialized group skills as well as learn how to navigate their way successfully within a variety of agency settings if they hope to be effective.

This text is a practical guide to developing groups in agency settings. The idea for this text resulted from several class presentations on group work to undergraduate- and graduate-level human service and social work programs. The emphasis of our presentations was on the agency perspective of group work. Both students and professors welcomed our ideas and indicated a desire for more information on this specific facet of group practice. This interest, coupled with our own direct experience in agencies where the demands for group work have also increased, led us to explore the need for a specific text in this area. Certainly, excellent textbooks on group work are plentiful. However, a gap in the area of agency group work does seem to exist. This gap influenced us to explore ways in which we might add to the existing literature on group work.

Successful group practice cannot be realized without an understanding of the agency systems in which they exist. Knowledge of group skills alone is often insufficient; the many facets of agency life also must be taken into consideration. Understanding certain agency dimensions—such as the agency structure, policies and history, the current staff makeup and possible political issues at hand, the formal and informal lines of command, client demographics, and the existing needs of both the clients and the agency itself—are all equally as important and vital for a helper to examine.

This text attempts to address these various dimensions by providing the beginning human service professional with a practical guide from which to gain the knowledge, skills, and awareness of the many intricacies of working in groups within diverse agency systems.

Recognizing the value of strategic planning is a requisite for a helper to succeed in developing and maintaining a quality group practice. The goal of providing effective group treatment is enhanced when helpers learn how to strategically and positively maximize the use of available resources within themselves, their agencies, and the surrounding community. A dual emphasis on clinical group skills and the understanding of agency systems is therefore deemed the most conducive to meeting the objectives of rapid access and low-cost care. Furthermore, in a time when the struggle for economic survival is a priority for most agencies, it becomes imperative that the ethical mandate of providing quality care also remain a high priority.

This text is organized in a manner that facilitates learning and allows for direct translation into practice. The book is divided into four parts: (1) Introduction, (2) Developing Group Skills, (3) Developing Agency Skills, and (4) Applying Group and Agency Skills. As noted, the first two parts focus on introducing group work and in the development of group work skills. Part III focuses on enhancing overall knowledge of agency systems and learning how to engage in group practice within an agency setting. Part IV integrates both knowledge and skills by focusing on skill application. The last chapter takes a developmental lifespan approach by discussing group work in each major stage of life. In separate sections, we discuss working with children, adolescents, adults, and older adults. We also briefly address the medically ill. In each of these sections, we research a variety of age-related topics and present relevant issues and statistics. Common treatment considerations are examined with emphasis on the benefits of group work. A group proposal, overall objectives, and outline of sessions are offered, detailing session-by-session goals and activities. It is hoped that by providing this broad view of age-related topics, the reader will recognize the value of group work. A CD-ROM has been included that will provide additional information on many other issues relevant to working with individuals throughout the lifespan. An array of topics and corresponding “Group Profiles” are addressed in depth in this accompanying CD-ROM.

Perhaps the most beneficial aspect of this text is its practicality. Because the material is presented in a clear, concise, and relevant manner, the reader can easily apply various concepts, ideas, and skills into practice. Furthermore, application can be immediate, and thus it is more likely to benefit both clients and helpers alike.

Given the broad range of agencies that employ a group modality, we advocate use of this text by any helping professional working in some type of human service agency. We believe that learning about group work within agency systems will be an asset for anyone who hopes to work in the helping professions. Students, beginning human service practitioners, and advanced professionals (such as case managers, chemical dependency counselors, family therapists, human service workers, marriage, family, and child counselors, mental health specialists, psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, psychologists, school counselors, and social workers) will benefit from the additional training in this book.

Acknowledgments

Special thanks and gratitude goes to our very dear friend and editor, Lisa Gebo. We have previously described her as a “kind and gentle soul,” yet she is much more than that. Lisa is a courageous and caring person who strives to persevere despite life’s obstacles. We admire her strength, resolve, and zest for life and are indebted to her for believing in our ideas and encouraging our writing endeavors.

We thank the many other staff at John Wiley & Sons for their various roles in the production of this text, including Rachel Livsey, Senior Editor, Susan Moran, Senior Production Editor, Sweta Gupta, Editorial Program Coordinator, Stevie Belchak, Editorial Assistant, Rose Sullivan, Senior Production Manager, Debra Manette, Copy Editor, and all the others who worked behind the scenes in helping make this text a reality.

Our gratitude must also go to our friends and colleagues who have encouraged us through the years and have been supportive of this project. Although there are many more, we would like to thank Margie Atkisson, Irene Bacus, Victoria Delgadillo, Debbie Sirignano, Susan Stewart, Christine Williams, and Jeannette Wilson here.

Special mention must be given to the many group members we have had the pleasure of working with in the capacity of group leaders. These clients have taught us the most about group practice and it is because of them that we have gained the knowledge and skills we impart in the many pages that follow. In a similar fashion, our students over the past 25 years have taught us about the many facets of learning, and we owe them for their special contributions. We thank Dr. Susan Larsen for her special contributions to various chapters within the text and Dr. Gerald Corey and Marianne Schneider Corey for their positive reinforcement, enduring support, and enthusiasm.

We also thank the many staff at the various agencies where we have had the privilege of working for providing us with such rich learning environments. Our experience in counseling, mental health, and group work could not have been possible without the support and encouragement of certain supervisors and managers who believed in our abilities and fostered our growth; they include Bruce Hume, Leo Juarez, Glen Roberts, David Rodriquez, and most recently, Larry Oliver.

Our daughter, Jessica, and son, Justin, also deserve recognition for their unconditional love, patience, and sense of humor. We thank them for their ability to endure our intensity at times as we researched and prepared the manuscript and engaged in rigorous revisions. Their love and support of higher education is a special gift they have given us. We hope to continue to positively influence them in their pursuit of their future career and life goals. Last, thanks to our adorable puppy, Sunny, who came into our lives just as we were finishing this text and helped us realize how special man’s best friend can be.

Part I

Introduction

Chapter 1

Introduction to Group Practice

As helping professionals working in different types of agencies, it is essential to be well versed in both direct and indirect practice. Developing skills in individual, family, group, and community work is essential. Becoming skillful in group work practice is especially important in today’s competitive marketplace. Practitioners who are knowledgeable and experienced in group treatment are better able to meet the challenges of providing services to a variety of clients in a timely and cost-efficient manner. Group counseling is an increasingly popular and accepted form of treatment available in a variety of agency settings. Although group work practice has long been used with specific populations, such as individuals with mental health issues, even in these settings professionals are being challenged to develop new approaches in the prevention and treatment of psychological problems. In fact, the days of providing individual therapy alone are slowly dissipating. Notable authors in the fields of group counseling and group psychotherapy speak to this issue. For example, G. Corey (2004) states: “Group counseling offers real promise in meeting today’s challenges. Group counseling enable practitioners to work with more clients—a decided advantage in these tight financial times—in addition, the group process also has a unique learning advantages” (p. 3).

Group psychotherapy is becoming as effective a treatment for a wide range of psychological problems as individual therapy. The benefits of therapeutic groups are being recognized increasingly in mental health settings, and group treatments are more widely used today than they were in the past. Yalom (2005) agrees, asserting that “a persuasive body of outcome research has demonstrated unequivocally that group therapy is a highly effective form of psychotherapy and that it is at least equal to individual psychotherapy in its power to provide meaningful benefit” (p. 1).

Group therapy is a powerful venue for growth and change. Not only do members receive tremendous understanding, support, and encouragement from others facing similar issues, but they also gain different perspectives, ideas, and viewpoints on those issues. Most group members, although somewhat apprehensive at first, report that the group experience was helpful far beyond their expectations.

Even when group counseling or psychotherapy is the preferred treatment modality, practitioners need to have specialized knowledge of group theory and practice in order to be effective. In addition, practitioners must be creative and spontaneous in applying group theory to real-life practice. In this chapter we begin by examining the various ways in which group work itself is defined. We explore the many different types of classifications, followed by a brief history of group work. Benefits and drawbacks of group work are to be delineated and current trends in the field are to be addressed.

Group Work

Group Work Defined

Definitions of the term group work vary. Often such terms as group practice, group treatment, group counseling, and group therapy are used interchangeably. In 1959, Olmstead authored a text titled The Small Group in which he defines a group as a

plurality of individuals who are in contact with one another, who take one another into account, and who are aware of some significant commonality. An essential feature of a group is that its members have something in common and that they believe what they have in common makes a difference. (pp. 21-22)

Interestingly, despite the evolution of groups in these last 50-odd years, this definition still seems to hold true today. A more current definition proposed by the Association of Specialists in Group Work (ASGW), is similar:

A broad professional practice that refers to the giving of help of the accomplishment of tasks in a group setting. It involves the application of group theory and process by a capable professional practitioner to assist an interdependent collection of people to reach their mutual goals, which may be personal, interpersonal, or task related in nature. (1991, p. 9)

According to Toseland and Rivas (2001), group work is defined as “goal-directed activity with small groups of people aimed at meeting socio-emotional needs and accomplishing tasks. This task is directed to individual members or a group and as a whole within a system of delivery” (p. 12).

Groups can be categorized into two major types, task groups and treatment groups, which can then be further subdivided into more specific categories. We delineate the distinctions between these groups in further detail later in the chapter.

Task groups are developed to achieve a specific set of objectives or tasks; they are “focused on completion of a project or development of a product” (Hepworth, Rooney, & Larsen, 2002, p. 299). According to Hull and Kirst-Ashman (2004), in such groups, “concerted attention is paid to the tasks, and attainment of the desired ends assumes great importance. The objectives help determine how the group operates as well as the roles played by the members” (p. 361).

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