Rebuilding CommunitiesEdition 1

Rebuilding Communities: Challenges for Group Work is a collection of research and information presented at the 18th Annual Symposium of the Association for the Advancement of Social Work with Groups. Social workers, students, educators, and practitioners will examine how group work can improve multicultural relations within the community. Through your use of the valuable suggestions in this book, you will discover new ways to help the poor in your community help themselves, while giving them a sense of power and self-esteem to help them battle racism, sexism, and shrinking economic opportunities. Through Rebuilding Communities, you will also discover a formula for global group work that will help you make a difference by applying your hometown skills to the global community. This valuable book discusses the need for you to combine energy with humility, offer assistance with the ability to listen, to intervene when necessary, and to comprehend diversity for successful and beneficial group programs. This informative guide brings to light the skills and values needed for effective group work and how combining knowledge-base and practice-base will assist you in making a positive impact on your community. With this important book, you will find a rich source of current thinking about group work practice in relation to women, violence, health problems, child welfare, and other areas, as well as group work theory to help you find the best way to help the various people of your community. Rebuilding Communities will provide you with specific ways to improve your group work skills and positively affect the individuals in your community, such as:

• learning that your role of caring and advocacy as a group worker must be a complete and lifelong commitment and that you must be prepared to use your skills throughout your everyday life to make a difference
• using the World Wide Web to form groups whose members can support one another through the anger, joy, pain, and challenges of life
• learning how group work can help calm the stormy transitions that adolescent immigrants face by helping them relate to other children who are in similar circumstances
• examining how parents of pediatric urology patients find solace through groups where they can address such sensitive issues as the future of sexual functioning and fertility for their children
• discovering how marathon group sessions in South Africa are helping to provide basic services to the disadvantaged with programs to facilitate interracial contact and understanding among women and programs for adolescents boys in foster careRebuilding Communities offers you a deeper understanding of the total positive effect that group work can have on various sectors of your community to help you provide better services to those in need. This unique book focuses your attention on the importance of group work to community development and even provides you with a glimpse into the future of group work. With Rebuilding Communities you will discover a multifaceted approach to solving problems that communities face to help you choose the best options for your own community and give the best possible services to the people you assist.