Knock down cultural walls to build a foundation for successful social group work! Crossing Boundaries and Developing Alliances Through Group Work examines how changing technological, economic, and social conditions require social workers to create alliances to better serve their clients. The book addresses how the basic principles and techniques of group work can transcend geographical and cultural boundaries when dealing with issues such as HIV/AIDS, parenting, adoption, and sex offenses. A distinguished panel of practitioners, researchers, and educators details the strategies used to establish cultural and linguistic border crossings that help reduce the limits social workers face. Crossing Boundaries and Developing Alliances Through Group Work addresses the multicultural dimension of social work and the benefits of a junction between research and intervention, including how the convergence with other fields of knowledge (music, drama, the arts, etc.) can contribute to a more effective intervention methodology. The book examines partnerships between research teams and agencies, field placements, collaborations between schools and practice settings, building a learning community, service education, the arrival of new technologies (teleconferencing, the Internet), reasserting group work fundamentals, and how mixing and matching methodologies can produce a more effective intervention strategy. Topics examined in Crossing Boundaries and Developing Alliances Through Group Work include: working with AIDS patients in early recovery from substance abuse integrating group work with mutual aid to treat male sex offenders using teleconferencing groups with families involved in organ donation conducting group interventions with mentally ill parents working with families dealing with failed adoptions developing a mediating group for birth parent self-assessment and much more! Crossing Boundaries and Developing Alliances Through Group Work is an essential tool for dealing with cross-cultural conflicts. It's equally valuable as a professional guide for clinicians and therapists, policy developers, supervisors, and administrators, and as a textbook or supplemental text in courses dealing with clinical, international, and intercultural group work, advanced group work, support groups, and mental health services.

Table of Contents:
About the Editors Contributors Acknowledgments Introduction. Beyond Our Frontiers: The Development of Alliances Through Group Work (Jocelyn Lindsay, Daniel Turcotte, and Estelle Hopmeyer) Chapter 1. Towards an International Development of Group Work: Establishing Cultural and Linguistic Border Crossings Introduction Internationalizing Group Work Arriving at the Group Work Frontier The Cross-National Encounter From the Inter to the Trans-Cultural Chapter 2. Crossing Boundaries: Group Work with Persons with AIDS in Early Recovery from Substance Abuse Literature Review The Work The Authority Theme The Intimacy Theme: Helping Yourself by Helping Others Conclusion Chapter 3. Where Has Real Group Work Gone? Reasserting the Fundamentals What Has Happened to Group Work? How Should We Respond? Chapter 4. Group Field Consulting: Building a Learning Community Introduction Development of Supervision and Field Instruction in Social Work The Group Field-Consulting Model Conclusions Appendix: Field-Consulting Methodology and Outcomes Chapter 5. Night of the Tortured Souls: Integration of Group Therapy and Mutual Aid for Treated Male Sex Offenders Integrating Continued Therapy with Supervised Mutual Aid A Philosophy of Treating and Supporting the Treated Group Practice in Integrating Therapy and Mutual Aid with Treated Sex Offenders Conclusion Chapter 6. Pushing the Boundary and Coming Full Circle: A Contemporary Role for Social Group Work in Service Education Literature Review The Field Placement Effects of the Group Work Intervention Future Directions Appendix: Levels of Transcendence Identified in Group Interaction Chapter 7. The Use of Teleconferencing Focus Groups with Families Involved in Organ Donation: Dealing with Sensitive Topics Why Teleconferencing Focus Groups Dealing with Sensitive Topics Reactivity in the Screener Questionnaire Motivation of the Participants Moderators’ Self-Disclosure and Credibility Group Members’ Self-Disclosure Normalisation of Emotions Legitimization of Participant’s Comments Building on Preparation and Beginning the Focus Group Conclusion Chapter 8. Using Groups for Research and Action: The Asian Mothers’ Support Project The North Campus Outreach Project A Program and A Process for Change Programming Survey and Program Data Results Synergy Through Groups Summary Chapter 9. Families for Reunification: A Mediating Group Model for Birth Parent Self-Assessment Partners in Plan Program Development Program Design Analysis Conclusion Appendix: Families for ReunificationPartners in the Plan, Final Assessment Chapter 10. Efficacy of Group Interventions with Seriously Mentally Ill Parents: A Literature Review Introduction Definition of a Group The Population Seriously Mentally Ill Parents and Group Intervention Implications Conclusion Chapter 11. Post-Legal Adoption Treatment Groups: Intervening with Families Who Experience Failed Adoptions Introduction Adoption Disruption/Dissolution: Definitions and Overview Demographics of the Population Studied The Importance of Post-Legal Adoption Intervention Group Services Program Design Curriculum Outcome and Follow-Up Conclusions Index Reference Notes Included