The Potential of Group Work to Promote Mutual Aid and Empowerment - Essay Example

Analyse the potential of group work to promote mutual aid and empowerment First Analyse the potential of group work to promote mutual aid and empowerment Mutual aid is group work where there group member is not only a recipient of help but also providers of service in enabling the group to meet its common goals and achieving its common strategy. Empowerment is both a process and a goal. It is a process that involves ongoing development of the clients which begins with the individual, continues through to the group and eventually results in a larger social change. It is a goal that is achieved when the clients attain the desired psychological state and when society becomes relatively more equal in terms of opportunities and the distribution and allocation of resources. Empowerment is a complex process that does not just happen at an individual level but also occurs in a group, organisational or other setting (Woodall, Raine, South & Warwick-Booth, 2010,  p 9). This is based on the fact that members have experiences, opinions and information that can be of benefit to other members in the group, assisting the others helps the helper, some types of intervention such as confrontation are better received when they come from a peer rather than a professional provider. Mutual aid is a factor of social support that helps cushion or provide a buffer for individuals from potentially harmful or unfavourable physiological conditions. Though social support may include professional help from a trained individual, mutual aid is more of a bi-directional support from people who are peers and who are able to relate to each other’s condition and experiences. Mutual aid groups usually have three objectives – as a solution for the problems that the members of the groups are experiencing, as a springboard for action in resolving these issues and as an alternative way of dealing with these social and personal situations (Hammond & Taylor, 1998, p15). Mutual aid is empowering to the group members as they not only get involved in the sharing and participating in all the activities, they all learn a lot from each other and thus are all better equipped to deal with their situations. The sometimes spiritual nature of the group makes the members more comfortable with themselves and each other and that is quite empowering and liberating (Mutual aid and self-help programmes, 2012). Unlike in a situation where there is a professional leader of the group the mutual aid group all gets to lead and learn and are thus empowered. The fact that the group are all at the same level and all dealing with similar situations it empowers the group members to be able to discuss in a free and conducive environment where sharing is encouraged and where there is no feeling of insecurity due to their not being as knowledgeable about the conditions of others. Mutual aid in group situations has also been known to be empowering to the group members since rather than getting one beneficial helping relationship, each of the members get to develop multiple healing relationships with all the synergetic benefits that the group membership provides. Mutual aid groups are also empowering in that all the members feel equal and therefore confident in their ability not only to contribute in the group activities but also in their capacity for being a useful member of the group from whom they all have the opportunity to learn. Another way in which mutual aid group membership is empowering is that there is no imposition of values, views, interests and needs of a social worker or other professional – all the members respect each other’s views and experiences. Mutual aid groups also encourage co-operation as opposed to competition as a way of empowering each other. Mutual aid is empowering in that it does away with patient-therapist dependency and encourages a sense of ownership of their destiny and the process in the group members. It also encourages dynamic interchanges that emphasize recognition of their commonalities and differences as individuals and as a group. Mutual aid has been proven to be a fairly successful method to empower individuals as has been seen from the successes of the Anonymous Groups such as AA, NA, WA and other such groupings (Pretto & Pavesi, 2012, p 947-951). It is because of the successes of those groups and the way there are structured, their interactions and the accountability relationships they develop enhance and encourage that more and more such groups keep getting formed in many parts of the world. Social workers can use group work to promote mutual aid and empowerment by employing many techniques to ensure that the group is able to function and beneficial to all the members. One such technique is by allowing inclusion and respect. It is important for all members to feel that their voice is validated, that their views are honoured and that every member feels there is faith and belief in their capability for constructive contribution. The social workers need to create an atmosphere in which people can support each other and assist each other with individual goals in personal improvement. The social workers need to foster empathy in all the group members. Social workers can also promote mutual aid through effective management of all the stages of the group’s establishment, development and growth. Another aspect of mutual aid groups is that people live in communities that all have different cultural ideas, influences and impacts. Being in a group socially allows for the absorption, observation and study of culturally sensitive influences that have a bearing on the behaviour of group members. Thus a group is able to use the cultural and social fabric and rubric in society to the advantage of each of the members present and participating (Falconer, 2006, p 7). Working in groups leads to the incorporation of numerous therapeutic factors including cohesion, universality, respect, self revelation and information sharing. There also emerges a new set of social support and dynamics of mutual aid among all the members. This strengthens the benefits of being in the group for individual members in a big way (Audet, 2003, par. 6). It is important that the social worker ensures that each of the group members understands, experience and benefit from each stage of the group evolution. The social worker also needs to be adept at facing and exploring conflict both within the group and also within members’ internal make-up. The social worker needs to understand the group dynamics and be sensitive to the nature of relationships that are formed and pursued in the group as it develops. The social worker also needs to facilitate an agreement process within the group that allows each member to be aware and able to define his or her own role in the group as well as promoting cohesion and providing the group with a common sense of determination and unity of purpose. Another thing that the social worker can do to promote mutual aid as well as empowerment in the group is by breaking up of taboos as well as stereotypes and other impediments to free and uninhibited sharing within the group. The idea would be for group members to be comfortable and not feel that any of their views or experiences or contributions would be viewed as deviant, abnormal or strange. Encouragement and development of problem solving skills are another way in which the social worker can promote empowerment in the group membership. By ensuring that every group member is able to contribute and be part of the solution as it were the social worker can ensure that the group members are empowered. The validation and valuing of each members contribution and their ability to promote the ideals of the group is also another way in which the social worker can ensure that the group members are empowered both individually and collectively. The social worker also needs to encourage an atmosphere where they can foster the feeling that the suffering the group members go through is universal and that they are not alone in whatever it is they are suffering from. These are some of the ways in which the social worker can ensure that the group work promotes mutual aid and empowerment for all members of the group. The group approach to social work has strength in that the team or group leader can still adopt it to good effect even in an unsupportive group. Even in a fairly hierarchical group, it is possible to get some are for communal practice. Though the leader needs to be sensitive to certain even non-spoken nuances that affect the group dynamics, it all leads to a more synergistic fertilization of ideas that is mutually beneficial and useful to all members (Gray, Parker & Immins, 2008, p. 35). Social workers need to realize that support groups that help people who are coping with personal or social situations or conditions in their lives are in many cases better dealt with in support groups where they can learn from each others experience and support each other as well as gaining and giving emotional support and understanding (Hammond, 2013, par. 2). Anti-oppressive practices are those practices that seek to de-stigmatise and ensure the non-discrimination of people in any given society. Anti-oppressive practices ensure that people are not discriminated against on the basis of sex, age, race, sexual orientation and any other such types of diversity. Anti-oppressive practices seek to ensure that members of a group do not feel marginalized or looked down upon. In many societies certain social groups, such as the elderly, the disabled, women, immigrants, ethnic minorities and others have to put up with conditions that hinder their full enjoyment of rights and privileges that all other members of society to enjoy. These challenges that they face have to be countered with anti-oppressive practices that enhance the quality of life of those social groups that would otherwise be oppressed (Drumm, 2006, p. 16-20). Anti-oppressive social work usually focuses o oppressed members of the population who have normally been marginalized and excluded from the main or popular spheres of public or economic life. They are usually not connected to the social services and face a lot of social mistrust and loss of confidence, faith and identification with normal social and political institutions. Social workers need to incorporate ways of including them in their work and destigmatize them (Strier, 2006, p.3). By ensuring that anti-oppressive practice is implemented the social worker ensures that there is a level playing field for all members of the group. It ensures that equality of the members is assured by showing how all the group members are all in the same boat and stressing how much they have in common rather than emphasizing their differences. Anti-oppressive practices also ensure that the members of a group are able to embrace their diversity and see it more as a unifying force than something that divides them or encourages or enhances their differences. The implementing of these practices usually also goes hand in hand with awareness raising that ensures that the marginalised members of the society are more knowledgeable about their rights and responsibilities that in many cases protected by law. One of the features of ant-oppressive practices is one of inclusion and ensuring that the marginalised and discriminated populations are always included in communications and all effort is made to capture their feelings, nuances and feedback (Children’s Aid Society of Brant, 2006, p. 11). These practices are also enhanced by looking at the larger ethical issues that give rise to oppressive and discriminatory practices. The intention of these practices is examined to look at how such harmful and hateful measures can result not only for the individual or personal perspective but also from the wide societal impact and how this affects the general well being of the society at large. The outcome of this is to have a more supportive and collaborative attitude not only between the group members but also among the group and the wider society. References Audet, S. (2003). Factors in the development of mutual aid in groups supporting integration. Available at; http://www.aqpc.qc.ca/UserFiles/File/pedagogie_collegiale/Audet-Vol_21-4.pdf Childrens Aid Society of Brant. (2006). Position paper on diversity and anti-oppressive practice in the childrens aid society of Brant. Available at; http://www.casbrant.ca/files/upload/Position_Paper_Final_Copy_July_18_2008.pdf Drumm, K, 2006, “The Essential Power of Group work”, Social Work With Groups, 29 (2/3), 17- 31. Falconer, M. K. (2006). Mutual Self-Help Parent Support Groups in the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect. Retrieved May 9, 2013, from http://www.ounce.org/pdfs/mutual_self-help_parent_support_groups_2005-2006.pdf Gray, I., Parker, J., & Immins, T. (2008). Leading communities of practice in social work: Groupwork or management? Available at; http://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/13404/1/gpwk18wardgray.pdf Hammond, K. (2013). In Types of Social Work Groups. Retrieved May 10, 2013, from http://www.ehow.com/info_8701111_types-social-work-groups.html Hammond, D., & Taylor, M. (1998). In mutual aid and self-help Coping strategies for excluded communities. Available at; http://hls.uwe.ac.uk/research/data/sites/1/docs/solar/mutualaid&self-help.pdf Mutual aid and self-help programmes. (2012). Available at; http://www.myrecoverymychoice.co.uk/mutual_aid_for_heroin_recovery.asp Pretto, A., & Pavesi, N, 2012, August, “Empowerment in the Self-help/Mutual Aid Groups: The Case Study of Alcoholics Anonymous in Italy”, Journal of US-China Public Administration, 9 (8), 943-952. Strier, R. (2006). Anti-Oppressive Research in Social Work: A Preliminary Definition. British Journal of Social Work. Available at; http://www.brynmawr.edu/socialwork/GSSW/schram/roniantioppressive.pdf Woodall, J., Raine, G., South, J., & Warwick-Booth, L. (2010). Position paper on diversity and anti-oppressive practice in the childrens aid society of Brant. Read More