This purpose of this webinar is to provide social workers, who are relatively new to group facilitation, with some ways to think about their groups regardless of the issue bringing people together. The first half of the session will look at the key considerations for group facilitation relevant for both face-to-face and online service delivery. The concept of mutual aid in groups, the role of purpose, the stages groups move through, the development of norms and the concept of universality will be reviewed. The second half of the webinar will focus specifically on the benefits and challenges of moving our groups to an online platform. While social work has used technology in the past for group work purposes, the ability to use Zoom as a means of providing group work services is relatively new. Its use has escalated due to COVID-19 and our resultant need to socially distance. This means of delivering group services may continue to remain a viable option, even after the pandemic restrictions are lifted. Ideas for creating connection, for establishing group norms within the virtual environment, and general lessons learned from facilitating groups via Zoom, will be shared.
Webinar Key Objectives:
- To explore the concept of mutual aid in groups
- To review basic group processes
- To explore the benefits and challenges of facilitating online groups via Zoom
- To provide resources for social workers facilitating groups
