Introducing a New Service: A Pilot Group Work Programme with some Adolescent Outpatients.

“That's all very well in theory…” is a not infrequent comment made by social workers faced with the formidable “realities” of practice. In planning a new service some of the realities a social worker will be considering include the goals of the agency and the extent to which they are realized, the distribution of power and the processes of decision-making within the organization. These realities are the facts of life of an agency, and as such are prime determinants of what is possible, how, when and with whom. The expertise and deployment of staff, as well as the simple but important aspects of physical space and equipment, location, and day-to-day working arrangements, will also have to be taken into account. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]