Introduction

Abstract

Groupwork occupies a variable position within social work. For some practitioners it represents a method of working effectively with a wide range of client groups and symbolises a new approach to demands which overburden social work teams. Its use may reflect a search for an economic use of resources or an antidote to doubts about the effectiveness of casework. Its attractiveness may lie also in the value position it can enhance, namely the conviction that people can be understood and helped only when they are considered alongside the systems and networks in which they function. Thus groupwork may be seen as enhancing the movement away from seeing clients as the passive recipients of services and as people with needs. For other practitioners, however, groupwork remains a peripheral or extra-curricula activity on the fringe of social work, something difficult to incorporate into overstretched workloads or to integrate with the traditional approach to the organisation of social work services.