Mutual Aid Groups, Vulnerable and Resilient Populations, and the Life Cycle

The contributors to this volume examine the role of mutual aid groups and social workers in helping members of oppressed, vulnerable, and resilient populations regain control over their lives. The chapters reveal the ways in which mutual aid processes help individuals overcome social and emotional trauma in contemporary society by reducing isolation, universalizing individual problems, and mitigating stigma. Using the life cycle as a framework the editors establish a theoretical model for practice and demonstrate how social workers as group leaders can foster the healing and empowering process of mutual aid. The contributors also consider the fundamentals of the mutual aid process, the institutional benefits of group service, and specific clinical examples of mutual aid groups. Each chapter offers detailed case materials that illustrate both group work skills and developmental issues for a variety of populations and settings, including HIV-positive and AIDS patients, the homeless, and perpetrators and victims of sexual abuse and family violence.

New chapters in this completely revised and updated third edition illustrate the power of mutual aid processes in dealing with children traumatized by the events of September 11, adult survivors of sexual abuse, parents with developmentally challenged children, people with AIDS in substance recovery, and mentally ill older adults.

1. The Life Model, Oppression, Vulnerability and Resilience, Mutual Aid, and the Mediating Function, by Alex Gitterman & Lawrence Shulman
2. Group Work Method, by Lawrence Shulman
3. Group Formation: Tasks, Methods and Skills, by Alex Gitterman
4. Healing Hearts: A Bereavement Group for Children, by Carolyn Knight
5. When the World No Longer Feels Safe: Helping Children through Mutual Aid, by Maxine Lynn and Danielle Nisivoccia
6. Pre-teens in Double Jeopardy: Supporting Developmental Growth Through a Natural Friendship Group, by Carol Irizarry and Yetta H. Appel
7. Listen to Us!: Young Adolescents in Urban Schools, by Lois Levinsky and Kathleen McAleer
8. Sharing the Hurt: Adolescents in a Residential Setting, by Alice Schaeefer Nadelman
9. No One is Alone: Groups During the Aids Pandemic, by George S. Getzel
10. Persons with AIDS in Substance Abusing Recovery: Managing the Interaction Between the Two, by Lawrence Shulman
11. Sharing Secrets: The Power of Women's Groups for Sexual Abuse Survivors, by Linda Yael Schiller and Bonnie Zimmer
12. From Victim to Survivor: Group Work with Men and Women Who were Sexually Abused, by Carolyn Knight
13. Uncovering Kindness and Respect: Men Who Have Practiced Violence in Intimate Relationships, by Dale Trimble
14. No Place to Go: Homeless Women and Children, by Judith A.B. Lee
15. Families Journey Towards Equilibrium: Children with Developmental Disabilities, by Judith Bloch, Joan Weinstein and Martin Seitz
16. Finding Our Way Back: Parenting Skills for Addictive Parent, by Beatrice R. Plasse
17. Healing Hurts: A Short-term Group for Separated, Widowed, and Divorced Single Parents, by Lawrence Shulman
18. Dealing with the Death of a Group Member: Visually Impaired Elderly in the Community, by Alberta L. Orr
19. The Group as a Source of Hope: Institutionalized Older Persons, by Toby Berman-Rossi
20. Accumulated Risk: Mutual Aid Groups for Elderly Persons with a Mental illness, by Timothy B. Kelly
21. Mutual Aid: A Buffer Against Risk, by Judith A.B. Lee and Carol R. Swenson
22. Contemporary Group Work Practice, by Varsha Pandya