Announcements
2018 Board Election Results: IASWG is very pleased to share that many of our 2018 current members voted in the recent board election. We want to express congratulations to our new Board President, Barbara Muskat, and our two new Board Co-Vice Presidents, Ginette Berteau and Reineth Prinsloo. We also welcome three new Board Members-at-large, Linda Ducca, Roseprimevere Jacques and Poppy Masinga. Many thanks to our members who participated in the nomination and election process!
Le dossier du travail social de groupe, dans le cadre du projet en partenariat avec l'OTSTCFQ est maintenant disponible en ligne! Allez y jeter un oeil pour voir tout le travail que le comité du Chapitre francophone y a fait pour mettre en valeur l'intervention de groupe en travail social.
The International Association for Social Work with Groups is pleased to announce the creation of the Martin Birnbaum Special Projects Fund. The Martin Birnbaum Special Projects Fund will be used to provide funding support for IASWG chapters seeking to produce a special project, as well as for any IASWG event such as an IASWG Group Work Camp being held globally. The Martin Birnbaum Special Projects Fund was created with the generous support of Martin Birnbaum, Professor Emeritus of Social Work and Group Studies at Yeshiva University, and lifetime member of the IASWG Board of Directors.
New Book! Group Work Stories Celebrating Diversity - Inspired by a dialogue on diversity initiated by the IASWG Board of Directors, Andrew Malekoff, IASWG Board member and revered editor of Social Work with Groups, recently published a book entitled Group Work Stories Celebrating Diversity. (It is also published as a special 40th anniversary issue of Social Work with Groups.). The book includes many entries addressing diversity written by IASWG social group work practitioners, students, and academics. Read a recent review of the book by Shantih Clemans, well-respected academic and longtime IASWG member.
NEW TIP! Le groupe d’une seule rencontre en travail social de groupe
Special Interest Groups held in July at the SWSD2018 Conference, in Dublin, Ireland - Groupwork in Social Work Education, Practice and Research: Being and Joining Together
Thank you for wonderful 2018 symposium in South Africa!
Join us in Lithuania for the Group Work Camp (October 12 – 14th, 2018).
The Time for Group Work
The climate is changing. In many parts of the world, respect for people who are different from ourselves has diminished and communities feel fractured. Dialogue is too often replaced by bombings and vitriol; hate-filled populism blasts reasoned, respectful understanding.
It is not difficult to see why many people feel alienated; they themselves are disrespected and disempowered by increasing inequality, job insecurity and a sense that the important decisions are no longer within their influence.
We need to find ways to become inclusive, to celebrate our differences and to generate a powerful sense of togetherness. There has never been a more urgent time to bring communities together towards a mutual understanding and a respect, not just for humanity, but for the planet as a whole.
Social groupwork can create security where there is uncertainty, a feeling of belonging where there is alienation, and a vehicle for positive communal action where there is a sense of helplessness. It has been used to unite and give voice to people in the aftermath of conditions that seemed beyond repair. Through social groupwork, nations, communities and individuals can repair. This is the hopeful message that IASWG and its members offer to the world.
IASWG stands against oppression and disenfranchisement. As social groupworkers, we stand for and advocate for creating spaces for respectful dialogue to expand our worldviews and perspectives in community with each other.
Contact us. Let us know how you are using group work to repair the world. Ask us how we can help you in this process.
It’s time for group work.
