FREE ESSAY ON SELF-HELP GROUPS

SELF-HELP GROUPS

"Self-help groups consist of individuals who share the same problem or concern. Members
provide emotional support to one another, learn ways to cope, discover strategies for
improving their condition, and help others while helping themselves (Wituk, Shepherd,
Slavich, Warren, & Meissen, 2000)."
There are several goals to self-help groups. When polled, sixty-one percent of self-help
groups said that their most important goal was providing emotional and social support to
members. Thirty-two percent said that providing information and education to members was
the most important goal. A few other goals were advocacy, special events, and
fundraising. Some of the supports to members in self-help groups are telephone support,
peer counseling, and buddy systems. With such overwhelming statistics, it's a shame that
most social workers don't know of any self-help groups other than Alcoholics Anonymous
and Narcotics Anonymous. There are hundreds of groups that social workers should be
familiar with so that they could refer clients to them. (Wituk et al., 2000). 
The setting of self-help groups is usually pretty relaxed. Groups are affiliated with
either a national group or a local group. Social workers are not always involved with
self-help groups. The ones that are involved are not always the leaders, but merely
someone that helps the conversation along (Wituk et al, 2000).
Social Workers need to learn what self-help groups there are in their area, so they can
refer their clients to them. Social workers can get a copy of the National Self-Help
Sourcebook to learn about groups in the United States. They should thoroughly check out
these groups to make sure that they are still functioning before they refer clients to
them. Social workers should keep a record of all the self-help groups that they can find
in their area. This list should also be kept up to date. Clients should be referred to
several programs so that they can choose which program they think will fit them best. One
very important thing for social workers to remember is that self-help groups are not
meant to replace professional help. However, groups are often a stable environment that
individuals can get a lot out of (Wituk et al., 2000).
References
Wituk, S., Shepherd, M., Slavich, S., Warren, M., & Meissen, G. (2000). A topography
of self-help groups: An empirical analysis. Social Work, 45, 157-163.
Bibliography
References
Wituk, S., Shepherd, M., Slavich, S., Warren, M., & Meissen, G. (2000). A topography
of self-help groups: An empirical analysis. Social Work, 45, 157-163.