Deocarn Ivan F.
Bello ELA1
Bachelor of Science in Social Work Social Work Practice with the Group
1. Using a chart, briefly and creatively highlight the events in the history of social
work practice in groups. (20 points)
GROUP WORK IN WESTERN
Group Service
Recreation, informal education, friendship and
social action.
Settlement House
Places minister, students or
humanitarian “settled” to interact with
the poor. This is the root of social group
work.
YMCA YWCA 4 H-Club
Young Men Catholic Young Women Catholic Head, Heart, Hands and
Association Association Health
George William (1844), converting Boston (1866), provide housing from US (1902), develop citizenship,
young men to Christian values through girls inexpensive, safe and comfortable leadership responsibility skill of youth
recreational group activities and quarter through summer camps, through experiential learnings programs
socialization. program of education and recreation.
Deocarn Ivan F. Bello ELA1
Bachelor of Science in Social Work Social Work Practice with the Group
Before the Sixties: Socialization Goals
Socio-civic of YMCA and BSP, agencies that use group work for personality development and character-building
through wholesome leisure-time or recreational activities.
Groups were used for the development of the individual through training in social skills and inculcating social values
in many socio-civic agencies.
The Philippine Youth Welfare Coordinating Council used groups for preventive and developmental
goals through leadership and skills training for out-of-school youth (OSY).
The Foster Parents Plan Inc. also began organizing mothers’ groups to promote responsible parenthood,
vocational efficiency, and citizenship training.
The Philippine Mental Health Association (PMHA) had a community outreach program for the
prevention of juvenile delinquency in selected communities in the city of Manila.
The Sixties: Prevention, Treatment, and Development Goals
Agencies were using the group method for both preventive and therapeutic purposes
The Special Child Study Center, Inc. which helped parents to understand, accept, and deal with their
children’s conditions.
The Philippine Mental Health Association (PMHA) with Thelma Lee Mendoza as part of the team,
conducted group therapy sessions, including psycho-drama with emotionally disturbed patients in its Day
Care Center.
In the field of government, group work was also undertaken in the housing and resettlement facilities.
Much of the work involved efforts of social workers in the then Department of Social Welfare (DSW)
helping the tenants deal with common concerns and problems and to help them to integrate into the
surrounding community.
Placement of practicum students was also facilitated in response to the staff limitations of social agencies.
School of Social Work (Philippine Women’s University) and the Philippine Youth Welfare
Coordinating Council, where students worked with youth groups for socialization and developmental
goals.
Department of Social Work (now College of Social Work and Community Development) and the St.
Luke’s Hospital’s field placement program for social work students who worked with poverty-stricken
families on an out-patients basis and with patients in the hospital’s psychiatric ward.
The Seventies: Emphasizing Developmental Goals
During the late 60’s and 70’s, social workers in juvenile and domestic relations courts also used groups to help
provide legal offenders with group experiences aimed at their socialization and/or re-socialization, while those
employed in orphanages provided their wards with group experiences for socialization purposes.
The declaration of Martial Law (1972-1981) provoked a consciousness-raising efforts which were aimed at making
many rural and urban poor citizens realize that many of their problems (lack of basic amenities like water, low-cost
housing, medical facilities, employment opportunities, etc.), were due to deficiencies in their social situations. It
became clear that to change or modify the nature of these situations it was imperative for social workers to help
people organize and use themselves as the major resource. Efforts along this line again invariably engaged social
workers in work with small groups, or what is referred to in the literature as “community group work”.
The Present Scene
Today, most social welfare agencies in the country offer some type of group service. Many of these agencies engage
in group service not just for one but for several purposes, e.g., developmental, socialization/re-socialization, and
treatment or rehabilitation.
Deocarn Ivan F. Bello ELA1
Bachelor of Science in Social Work Social Work Practice with the Group
2. What essential elements can you draw out from the given definitions of group work
as a method? (10 points)
A method of social work which helps individuals enhance their social functioning through
purposeful group experience, and to cope more effectively with personal, group, and community
problems (Pearlman and Murphy).
Group Work is mode of helping the individual to enhance their social functioning through group
experience. Through the group experience the client and worker found advantageous where there
will be effect on the participants and there will be collective problem-solving (M. Hartford). With
the group experience exist the internal force that influence the group which contribute more to
made high possibility of the coping of each individual. The group work also addresses the
collective problem-solving where it found economical to the worker and client. The client may find
strength that he/she is not alone to solve the problem or with the same problem.
