Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This volume broadens the knowledge and skill base of practitioners doing group social work with adolescents and fosters a creative, innovative, and self-reflective approach. A rich introduction to the field, enlivened by numerous illustrations from actual group sessions, the book provides principles and guidelines for work in a wide range of settings.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Part I. The Adolescent in Context
• Chapter 1. Adolescent Development, Risk, and Opportunity (p. 3)
• A Brief Reflection on Working with Adolescents in Groups (p. 3)
• The Developmental Context (p. 4)
• Risk and Opportunity at the Turn of the 21st Century (p. 13)
• Conclusion (p. 16)
• Chapter 2. Between Adolescent and Group Worker: Uncertainty, Fluidity, and Learning from the Inside Out (p. 18)
• Group Workers Who Work with Kids Get No Respect (p. 19)
• How It Feels to Work with Kids in Groups (p. 19)
• Assuming a Stance of Uncertainty (p. 20)
• Labeling, Deviance, and Control (p. 21)
• Traditional Diagnosis and Adolescent Culture (p. 22)
• Looking with Planned Emptiness (p. 23)
• On Being Fluid and Grounded (p. 24)
• Welcoming the Whole Person to Participate (p. 24)
• A Sense of Humor and a Playful Spirit (p. 25)
• Access to One's Own Childhood Memories (p. 27)
• Collegial Support and Taking Care of Oneself (p. 29)
• Conclusion (p. 30)
• Appendix 2.1. Risk- and Protective-Factor Inventory (p. 31)
• Part II. Guidelines for Group Building
• Chapter 3. Strengths-Based Group Work with Adolescents (p. 35)
• The Price of Neglect (p. 35)
• Strengths-Based Group Work with Adolescents (p. 36)
• Tapping into What One Has to Offer (p. 38)
• Research on Strengths-Based Practice (p. 38)
• A Framework for Strengths-Based Group Work with Children and Adolescents (p. 41)
• Conclusion (p. 57)
• Appendix 3.1. What Is Going On in There? (p. 59)
• Chapter 4. Planning in Group Work: Where We Begin (p. 60)
• Need (p. 61)
• Purpose (p. 66)
• Composition (p. 70)
• Structure (p. 75)
• Content (p. 81)
• Pregroup Contact (p. 83)
• Social and Agency Context (p. 85)
• Conclusion (p. 87)
• Appendix 4.1. Guidelines and Cautionary Notes for Use of the Planning Model (p. 87)
• Appendix 4.2. Assessing Planning (p. 88)
• Chapter 5. Good Beginnings in Group Work: Socializing Adolescents into the Group Culture (p. 90)
• Exciting Challenge or Baffling Ordeal? (p. 91)
• Discovering Group Purpose (p. 95)
• Searching for Common Ground (p. 98)
• Awareness of the Normative Crisis (p. 103)
• The Promotion of Playfulness (p. 105)
• Establishing Group Rituals (p. 107)
• Conclusion (p. 110)
• Appendix 5.1. The Beginning Stage of Group Development (p. 111)
• Chapter 6. What's Going On in There?: Alliance Formation with Parents Whose Adolescent Children Join Groups (p. 113)
• Pregroup Contact with Parents (p. 114)
• The Ongoing Relationship with Parents (p. 121)
• The Ending Transition with Parents (p. 127)
• Conclusion (p. 129)
• Chapter 7. Groups on the Go: Spontaneously Formed School-Based Mutual Aid Groups for Adolescents in Distress (p. 130)
• School Connectedness (p. 130)
• Groups on the Go (p. 131)
• On Institutional Culture, Advocacy, and Social Work with Adolescents (p. 131)
• On Traffic Jams and Car Pooling in the Express Lane (p. 133)
• Guidelines for Groups on the Go (p. 134)
• The Dance Group (p. 137)
• The Death of a Friend (p. 140)
• Conclusion (p. 142)
• Appendix 7.1. Defining Terms (p. 142)
• Chapter 8. The Use of Problem Solving in Group Work (p. 145)
• Promoting Reflection, Critical Thinking, and Mutual Aid (p. 145)
• A Pragmatic Model for Problem Solving in the Group (p. 146)
• Practice Illustrations (p. 147)
• Conclusion (p. 160)
• Appendix 8.1. The Middle Stages of Group Development (p. 160)
• Chapter 9. The Use of "Program" in Group Work: Cultivating a Sense of Competence, Belonging, and Creativity (p. 164)
• Twin Anchors (p. 164)
• Play as Children's and Adolescents' Work (p. 165)
• A Framework for the Use of Activity (p. 166)
• Promoting a Sense of Competence (p. 167)
• Promoting a Sense of Belonging (p. 171)
• Promoting Discovery, Invention, and Creativity (p. 174)
• Extending the Bonds of Belonging Beyond the Group (p. 180)
• Conclusion (p. 183)
• Appendix 9.1. References for Activities in Group Work (p. 184)
• Chapter 10. Leavetaking, Moving On, and Looking Back: The Ending Transition in Group Work (p. 186)
• Group Dynamics in the Separation Stage (p. 187)
• The Worker's Role in the Separation Stage (p. 188)
• Preparing the Group for Separation in a Timely Manner (p. 189)
• Focusing the Expression of Feelings through Review and Recapitulation (p. 191)
• Helping Members Reexperience Their "Groupness" through Shared Activity (p. 195)
• Providing Availability for Support Beyond the Group (p. 199)
• Conclusion (p. 201)
• Appendix 10.1. The Ending Stages of Group Development (p. 202)
• Part III. Contemporary and Age-Old Themes in Group Work: Guidelines, Applications, and Practice Illustrations
• Chapter 11. Prejudice Reduction, Intergroup Relations, and Group Identity: Spontaneous and Planned Interventions to Address Diversity in Group Work (p. 207)
• Practice Principles for Addressing Diversity (p. 207)
• Is Truth Stranger Than Fiction? (p. 209)
• Practice Illustrations (p. 212)
• Conclusion (p. 228)
• Appendix 11.1. Structured Workshops for Group Identity and Prejudice Reduction (p. 229)
• Chapter 12. Violence and Youth I: Dimensions and Interventions in Group Work (p. 233)
• Killed for a Quarter (p. 233)
• Violence and Youth: Dimensions of the Problem (p. 234)
• Practice Principles for Addressing Violence (p. 236)
• Two Practice Illustrations Addressing Violence Close to Home (p. 239)
• Conclusion (p. 248)
• Chapter 13. Violence and Youth II: When World Stage and Group Work Intersect (p. 249)
• The Legacy of the September 11, 2001, Terrorist Attack on America (p. 249)
• When World Stage and Group Work Intersect (p. 252)
• Conclusion (p. 271)
• Appendix 13.1. The Grief Box (p. 272)
• Chapter 14. Adolescent Sexuality and Group Work: Variations on a Theme (p. 275)
• Practice Principles for Addressing Sexuality in Group Work with Adolescents (p. 277)
• Clarifying Values: Practice Illustrations on the Dialectical Process in Open Discussion Groups (p. 278)
• Mutual Aid: The Members as Helpers in Providing Information and Support (p. 288)
• Detours, Anxiety, and Adolescence (p. 289)
• Varying Contexts (p. 291)
• Structured Group Approaches (p. 296)
• Conclusion (p. 299)
• Chapter 15. Group Work as a Counterforce to Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse (p. 300)
• Risk and Protective Factors (p. 301)
• Practice Principles and Common Themes for Group Work Practice (p. 302)
• Practice Illustrations (p. 307)
• Conclusion (p. 312)
• Chapter 16. Loneliness, Social Isolation, Scapegoating, and Group Work: The Adolescent's Struggle to Fit In (p. 313)
• Difference, Loneliness, Social Alienation, and Group Work (p. 313)
• Practice Illustration 1: Difference, Acceptance, and Belonging (p. 315)
• Intermezzo: Poetry (p. 320)
• Scapegoating and Group Work with Adolescents (p. 320)
• Practice Illustration 2: Humanizing the Scapegoat (p. 323)
• Conclusion (p. 326)
• Part IV. Special Challenges for Group Workers
• Chapter 17. On Becoming a Reflective Group Worker (p. 329)
• Getting Down with the Group (p. 329)
• Some Qualifying Comments (p. 335)
• References (p. 339)
• Index (p. 363)

Author notes provided by Syndetics