Grossman Leeman.

When I was sitting where you are now facing the prospect of entering into a group work

course, I remember feeling extremely resistant, a little bit angry that I had to take it,

but mostly, I was pretty terrified. It was a requirement for me as it is for you. And

all I kept thinking was, that groups we're probably going to be a place where I would

feel most incompetent, most vulnerable, I'd never know what to say. And I was also afraid

that the group members would really not like me, and they would sense how unprepared I

was to actually help them.

So for the next 14 weeks, I'm going to guide you through an introduction to social work

with groups, so that when you come out the other end of this course, if you had any of

the same concerns that I just expressed that I had as a student, you're going to hopefully

feel a whole lot better.

What I'm going to teach you over the next 14 weeks is that groups aren't mysterious,

they're not rocket science. What we're really there to do is to help people connect with

each other, to form relationships that are meaningful. Maybe to work on relationships

so that the ones in their lives outside of the group improve a bit, or they learn how

to make better choices in the ways in which they choose friends, or relate to people.

That's kind of a groups about.

Group is about helping people connect with other people. Once you understand that and

some skills, it takes some of the guesswork and some of the terror out of group work.

My hope is that by the end of this course, if you don't fall in love with the group work

the way that I did through study and experience, you'll at least form an appreciation for it.

You won't be too anxious or to resistant when you're told by a supervisor, I'm going to

have you facilitative a group starting in two weeks.

You might actually be excited. And you might be in a place where you can think, I'm going

to be open to what this is about, and what this can teach me about myself, and about

life, and about being someone who helps people for a living.