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It is probably true to say that every method discussed so far could be used when working with groups. Much of the early literature on groupwork arose from group analytic methods, however there is growing interest in the effectiveness of cognitive therapy with groups. Some writers view family therapy as groupwork (Zastrow, 1985). However, because family therapy uses such different methods, despite many concepts being the same, it is probably better not to consider it as groupwork. Community work also uses groupwork as a major form of intervention (see Twelvetrees, 1991). Having said that, it might be assumed that groupwork involves using any method of intervention, but with more than two people. Groupwork is more than this, and this chapter will explore some of the theories which support groupwork as a separate, and some argue, more effective method of intervention, as well as looking at different stages of groupwork intervention. It introduces some of the types and purposes of groups, comments on the tasks for the worker, discusses how to handle particular difficulties, and recommends literature which is most accessible to students and workers.

Care management as a strategy for organising and coordinating services at the level of the individual user has to concentrate on the minutiae of interactions between helper and helped. In this, interviewing and counselling play a pivotal role, but before we consider these in some detail we need to look at other processes involved in care management, especially in the development and provision of the care plan or package of care. These include advocacy and user-involvement both of which require new approaches which build on established social work values. Additionally, the capacity to negotiate, with agencies, organisations and individual users and carers, is essential to ensure that appropriate services are made available. Some of the necessary skills and strategies for commissioning services are similar to those employed in community work and community social work outlined in Chapter 11. While it might seem strange to separate skills in community care from community work, to do so highlights that the policies of community care do not necessarily depend upon understandings of community work. It could be argued that notions of working with communities, of empowering individuals and groups, runs counter to the philosophy of community care which focuses on individuals with need, and recommends that these needs are met by individualised packages of care.

In this chapter we explore some of the questions left by the earlier methods of practice. In reflecting on task-centred casework it is worth remembering that there are situations which are difficult to change, as well as people whose behaviour leaves even experienced workers puzzled and floundering. Assessment and intervention in such cases usually cannot be brief and straightforward. Methods of helping clients to be freer from their emotional problems have to be found because some people need to understand themselves and why they feel powerless to change. There are other clients for whom self-knowledge could be damaging or where such insight would seem to make no difference.

Task-centred practice, also known as brief therapy, short-term or contract work has had a significant impact on both social work practice and the organisation of services. As the various names suggest, it is focused work which is time-limited and offers approaches to problem-solving which take into account the needs of individuals to bring about change in their situations, and the requirements of agencies that work is targeted and effective. As we will see in the account of the development of the method, its introduction challenged some of the principles of casework. In doing this it recognised that the person with the problems also had the means to resolve them, and that social work intervention should become more of a partnership. In this way task-centred casework can be seen to be at the beginning of attempts to empower users of social work services. It offers an optimistic approach which moves the focus away from the person as the problem, to practical and positive ways of dealing with difficult situations.

The previous two chapters have concentrated on the processes of care management, and in doing so have sought to identify the practices which are incorporated into those processes. We have frequently identified that, while care management might reflect a new policy approach and involve a new social work discourse, many of the processes involve practices which have been core to social work for some decades. Those practices draw upon sets of skills which are basic to the approaches outlined in the following chapters of this book, namely communication skills. Communication occurs in many ways in social work and in this chapter we focus on interviewing and counselling as two aspects of communication which are common to many social work interactions.

Working with children and families is a high priority for social services departments, and was reinforced by the introduction of the Children Act of 1989. Many direct referrals are for practical help or are part of statutory work aimed at protecting and controlling this client group (see Jones, 1983). Sometimes such referrals turn up difficulties rooted in unsatisfactory family relationships. Additionally, when undertaking assessments for community care it is apparent that in many cases workers will have to consider family relationships, and the dynamics of these relationships influence the outcomes of such assessments. It is not suggested that workers undertaking the assessments involve themselves in family work, but that they should have an understanding of the frameworks for considering family dynamics, and these may inform their assessments. Care managers, however, or provider agencies who are offering support and oversight of care packages which involve family members in caring for older people or those with mental health problems, may well have to become involved in some family work using their understanding of family dynamics and specialist interventions. Probation officers working with offenders of all ages frequently have to assess both the influence of the family on patterns of offending, and the impact of the offending on family dynamics.

In social work there has always been a tension between practice and theory. At times students and practitioners have protested that it was necessary to forget theory once in practice placements, that it reduced spontaneity in caring for people. Theory implied distance and objectivity which contrasted with feelings and the living reality of social work encounters. As such it was seen to be a stumbling-block to developing individual style, and the most that could be hoped for was that students would admit that they might subconsciously be using theory which they had absorbed during training. In recent years students have become less antagonistic to theoretical ideas, naming and trying to integrate what can at first glance appear to be a smorgasbord of apparently contradictory explanations of behaviour. There is an irony that this acceptance occurs at a time when changes introduced are based on assumptions that social work is a set of functions, and that practitioners need to be trained merely to perform these functions. Education in theories which might underpin decision-making, or which might inform what action to take, is seen as unnecessary. This approach, known as the competence-based approach, was heralded by the introduction of requirements for social work education and training in the Diploma in Social Work Studies, but is reflected in policy implementation which is now controlling much social work activity.

Why is it that behaviour therapy programmes (formerly known as behaviour modification), which usually aim to change overt behaviours, are couched in difficult language? Given the simplicity of the basic tenet of this approach, that behaviour is learned and unlearned, we have to grapple with words such as modelling, observation, learning, imitation, social learning and vicarious learning — all of which appear to mean the same thing! Educators such as Sheldon and Hudson, whose work is referred to here, have helped to make the concepts relevant and accessible to social work. Learning theory, on which behavioural principles are based, is a vast, well-researched field. Also, behaviourism has influenced social work practice in a number of ways. In working with people with learning difficulties the principles of ‘normalisation’ or age appropriate behaviour involve the basic principles of learning theory. Programmes working with offenders, especially those who are dependent upon substances such as drugs or alcohol, involve cognitive behaviour therapy, as do those working with people experiencing depression. In some ways, there are similarities between behavioural approaches and the task-centred practice, in that both focus on a particular problem, follow specific procedures and impose time limits. Finally, when we discuss groupwork, we will see that aspects of learning theory operate in group situations.

The new Diploma in Social Work (DipSW) requires practice teachers and academic tutors to foster student empowerment while at the same time ensuring practice competence. A model for achieving these aims is that of adult learning. This paper traces the development of adult learning research and offers suggestions for effective teaching methods. It argues that the principles of adult learning could provide a unified framework for professional training and that, moreover, this educational approach could be used to benefit social work practice itself.

This chapter outlines why it is useful for social workers at all levels to know something of the discipline called management. The assertion made in the introduction that all social workers are managers will be explained and the development of the role of care manager traced. Finally, the issue of whether or not managers should have a background in social work is analysed. (It might be useful for readers to be thinking as they read the material how the agencies in which they work or are on placement operate and in what ways this affects the tasks they undertake.)

In this chapter I want to explore the notion of planning. Rather than go into the background of social policies and how these affect an organisation’s plans as a whole, I shall be emphasising ‘bottom-up’ rather than ‘top-down’ processes. For readers who are interested in how local government is financed, how the probation service links with central government, what is involved in joint financing between health authorities and the social services, how the voluntary sector is funded and so on it is worth consulting the policy literature; that by Webb and Wistow (1987) is a good basic guide, although it has to be said that the situation is changing all the time. The new system of local government finance in 1990 and plans for the health service are examples of how constant updating and study on the part of social workers is required.