Group Work with Populations At-Risk

Book excerpt: Group Work with Populations a Risk, Fourth Edition is a fundamental resource for practitioners in health and mental health settings and a comprehensive guidebook of group work skills. Geared toward students and professionals gaining a beginning understanding of groups, this volume describes how to work with vulnerable populations. The first chapters, new additions to this edition and written by a new co-editor, provide overarching skills and techniques that apply across group work settings and populations. These skills, along with case examples, provide a template for practice with groups. The vulnerable populations that are addressed include returning war veterans, immigrants, the aging and their caregivers, children and adults who have been abused, and people struggling with substance abuse issues, cancer, and chronic mental illness. New chapters have been added for survivors of sex trafficking, children in need of social skills training, people who experienced intimate partner violence, parents who are homeless, and fathers who are incarcerated. Each chapter (designed to stand alone for easy reference) describes the population and reviews the relevant literature, identifies themes and practice principles, presents case illustrations, provides evaluation guidance, and refers readers to key references and web resources.