Using Groups to Help People » (2ND)

Whitaker, Dorothy Stock (Univ of York)

This new edition of Using Groups to Help People has been written with the interests, needs, and concerns of group therapists and group workers in mind. It is designed to help practitioners to plan and conduct therapeutic groups of diverse kinds, and it presents frameworks to assist practitioners to understand and judge how to respond to the unique situations which arise during group sessions. It deals with such issues as:

• choosing groups formats and structures to match the needs and capabilities if different populations of people


• observing and listening to groups, and making sense of what one sees and hears.


• problem situations, and how they can be turned into opportunities why, how and when to intervene in a group


• events which can occur in therapeutic groups which cannot occur in individual psychotherapy, and implications for the therapist uses and misuses of theory when planning and conducting groups


• planning and conducting research on one's own groups and those of colleagues.

This practical and readable book will prove valuable to all those involved in making use of small face-to-face groups to benefit their members. It takes into account new developments in the field during the past fifteen years, including new writing and the author's further experiences and thinking during this time.

Booknews

This guide for practitioners discusses the special helping properties of groups in therapy. Whitaker (emeritus, social work, U. of York, UK) presents suggestions for thinking about the purpose of a group, planning for and conducting the group, learning from experience, and conducting research. A sampling of topics includes small face-to-face groups, groups for different populations, developmental stages in a group, intervening in a group, and the connections between theory and practice. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)