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About the The Norma C. Lang Invitational

The Norma C. Lang Nondeliberative Invitational was made possible by a gift from three of Norma’s colleagues, Nancy Sullivan, Joanne Sulman, and Anna Nosko as well as from the Toronto Region Group Workers Network to honour Norma Lang and her ground breaking Nondeliberative Practice Theory in 2020. 

The inaugural event will take place at the IASWG 2020 virtual symposium. Norma was one of the original founding members of the  Association for the Advancement of Social Work with Groups (AASWG, now IASWG). She also founded TRGN, the Toronto Region Groupworkers Network, the longest continuously functioning chapter in IASWG,  and spearheaded two symposia in Toronto. Until her final illness in 2012, she attended and presented at almost every symposium,  and published in symposia proceedings, books and social  work journals. Norma Lang’s most significant contribution to social groupwork practice theory is Nondeliberative. Publication about this theory can be found in the special issue of Social Work with Groups (39, 2-3), 2016.  For decades Norma taught nondeliberative practice to MSW students, and to countless practitioners in continuing education courses at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Social Work. 

Proposal for an IASWG Symposium Invitational in Honour of Norma C. Lang and Nondeliberative Practice Theory

September 2019 - Since Norma Lang’s death in 2012, we (Nancy Sullivan, Joanne Sulman and Anna Nosko) have been in discussion with the IASWG executive about establishing an annual Invitational  to honour Norma Lang and her groundbreaking Nondeliberative Practice Theory.  We now are formally requesting that the IASWG Board consider assigning the remaining Invitational Paper to Norma Lang and Nondeliberative. To help make this proposal a reality, we are each pledging $3000CAD to Norma’s Invitational.

For those who are unfamiliar with Norma Lang’s importance to social work with groups and her significant contribution to our organization, Norma was one of the original founding members of the  Association for the Advancement of Social Work with Groups (AASWG, now IASWG). She also founded TRGN, the Toronto Region Groupworkers Network, the longest continuously functioning chapter in IASWG,  and spearheaded two symposia in Toronto.  As a social  groupwork theoretician, she is unique. Until her final illness, she attended and presented at almost every symposium,  and published in symposia proceedings, books and social  work journals. Papell and Rothman (1980) attributed the concept of “the mainstream model in social work with groups”  to Norma (Lang, 1979). In addition,  she was passionate about making groupwork practice theory relevant to all populations and small social forms. She believed, as did Hans Falck, that  “the irreducible state of human life is membership [and that] the task of social work practice is to render professional aid in the management of membership” (Falck, 1988).  She conceptualized the practice of collectivity in social groupwork  to help group workers understand how to modify and utilize social group work practice in atypical group formats (1986). Similarly, Lang’s 2010 textbook, Group Work Practice to Advance Social Competence, presents a specific methodology focused on the acquisition of social competence to enable group membership.

Norma Lang’s most significant contribution to social groupwork practice theory is Nondeliberative.  Although this was Norma’s earliest original practice theory, articulated through her teaching, it was not published until the special issue of Social Work with Groups (39, 2-3) in 2016, four years after Norma died. {This special issue is the de facto textbook on Nondeliberative.) However, for decades she had taught nondeliberative practice to MSW students, and to countless practitioners in continuing education courses at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Social Work.  Norma Lang developed the theory from “her singular ability to reflect upon her observations of practice and to synthesize new meaning from moments that are described in social groupwork literature as activities, nonverbal methods, and program (2016, Guest editorial, Social Work with Groups, 39 [2-3], 93-273).

So what is nondeliberative practice theory?

(Adapted from the Special Issue on Nondeliberative Forms of Practice: Activities and Creative Arts in Social Work with Groups, Guest Eds., Nancy E. Sullivan, Joanne Sulman, & Anna Nosko. (2016), VOL. 39, Nos. 2–3, 93-273)

According to Lang, nondeliberative describes  “the actional, analogic and the artful as interventions in
social groupwork”.  Nondeliberativepractice is the strengths-based power that fuels activities in social groupwork.  How does it work?  The easiest way to explain it is:  “Do, then think.”

  • The paradigm in nondeliberative practice is ‘do, then think’.  In contrast, the paradigm used in deliberative practice is ‘think, then do’, as in  counselling or therapy groups.
  • Nondeliberative practice uses play, art, games, action, music, dance, drama, roleplay, rehearsal, intuitive thinking, and other activities.
  • The reason to be aware of nondeliberative  is so that we can use activities in groupwork more purposefully. Or, if we already use activity for a purpose, say in art therapy, music therapy, role-playing, adventure therapy etc., we can have a better understanding of  why it has such helping-power,  and how it works.
  • Almost all of the activities that are done in a group can unlock modes of communication, be it drawing a picture and discussing it, dancing, going camping or an adventure trip, boxing, singing, role-playing. The activities are endless, and the worker keeps in mind that they are used to unlock communication.
  •  From the perspective of nondeliberative practice, deliberative and nondeliberative interventions  work together in the helping process. For example: Nondeliberative activities can produce the intuitive awareness, the “aha” experience, the completion of a gestalt. Reflecting on that experience out loud with others can give shape and voice to the insight that will validate the experience as a real-time, take-home solution.
  • In  other words, an activity-based approach triggers analogic experiences for group members.  By combining verbal and nonverbal components, the groupworker helps the group turn-on experiential forms of problem-solving to discover solutions for both individual and group issues.

Why is nondeliberative practice theory so critical for social work with groups, especially now?

  • In 1978, concerns about the future of social work with groups jump-started the AASWG. This concern was prophetic:  “direct practice” that was supposed to include social work with groups has ultimately displaced or replaced much of social groupwork’s core methodology.  
  • Fast-forward to 2019, Larry Shulman came out of retirement to present at this year’s symposium. He is very worried about the future of social work with groups:  “Evidence-based practice models have impacted the teaching and practice of groupwork. While adding important contributions to understanding interventions,   they have also had …negative impact on maintaining our unique social work role” in social groupwork.    His presentation discussed ways to apply evidence-based practice while maintaining the core mutual aid model, including using advocacy, to avoid practicing  “a restrictive one-model approach”.  

What does the future of social work with groups have to do with nondeliberative?                       

  • Like social groupwork, nondeliberative is pure social work theory, not appropriated from other disciplines.
  • Social groupwork needs leverage within the profession and increased visibility among allied helping professions (e.g., even as more jurisdictions adopt Association of Social Work Boards certification,  ASWB does not appear to contain significant content related to social work with groups).
  • Nondeliberative theory provides an opportunity to raise the profile of social work with groups because it describes and explains the therapeutic power, not only of activity based social groupwork, but in relation to all activity-based therapies such as art, music, dance, adventure, drama, game,  group visualization/meditation therapy, and others.
  • Nondeliberative is a platform for social work practice theory development,  one that can look to integrate other aspects of groupwork theory,  as well as new developments in neuroscience. Norma Lang was very interested in exploring the neuroscience connections with nondeliberative. Kenny Turck’s presentation on the Dirt Group Paradigm at the June symposium is an example of the melding of activity-based children’s mental health practice and neuroplasticity – a practice crying out for nondeliberative exploration.

For all these reasons, we request the support of IASWG for The Norma C. Lang/Nondeliberative Invitational that both honours an international builder of the organization and focuses on Norma Lang’s foundational Nondeliberative practice theory for social work with groups. We believe that this Invitational will ensure continuing access to Norma’s work for a broad community, and reflect and advance IASWG’s pursuit of a global connection.

Thanks for your consideration and best regards to everyone,

Nancy Sullivan, Joanne Sulman, and Anna Nosko

References

  • Falck, Hans. (1988). Social Work: The Membership Perspective. New York:  Springer.
  • Lang, Norma C. (2016). Nondeliberative Forms of Practice in Social Work: Artful, Actional, Analogic.  Social Work with Groups, 39 (2–3), 97-117.
  • Lang, Norma C. (1979). A comparative examination of therapeutic uses of groups in social work and adjacent human services professions. Parts 1 & II, Social Work with Groups, 2, (2-3).
  • Lang, Norma C. and Joanne Sulman. (1986). Collectivity in social group work: Concept and practice. Social Work with Groups,9 (4), 1-125.
  • Lang, Norma C. (2010), Group Work Practice to Advance Social Competence. New York: Columbia University Press.
  • Nondeliberative Forms of Practice: Activities and Creative Arts in Social Work with Groups (2016). Ed., Andrew Malekoff; Guest  Eds., Nancy E. Sullivan, Joanne Sulman, & Anna Nosko. Social Work with Groups, 39 (2–3), 93-273.
  • Papell, Catherine P. and Beulah Rothman. (1980). Relating the mainstream model of social work with groups to group psychotherapy and the structured group approach. Social Work with Groups, 3(2), 5-23.
  • Sullivan, N.E., Mesbur, E.S., Mitchell, L., Moffat, P., & Muskat, B. (2013). Remembering Norma (In memory of Norma C. Lang, 1927-2012). Social Work with Groups, 36 (1), 5-12.