Some reflections on group work.

While the year has run away with me and studies and work have been a priority, I have had the privilege of doing group and case work at university this year. I am a not so social, social worker in training and the thought of being in a group of unknown people sends me in either of two directions. Keeping to myself at the fringes or actually diving in and directing, giving many opinions and trying to outperform others. This year I found a very good middle road and a path that came to be as a result of being part of a very diverse and interesting university group of students that was flung together at the beginning of the year by absolute chance. No random selection procedure, no choosing to be with your friends or acquaintances - just pure chance.

The first few meetings were characterised by a calm formality as befitting people who were still getting to know each other, then came the offers of coffee and tea time treats and after 8 months of meeting each other once or twice a month, the real beauty of belonging to a semi-professional group of like minded people, sharing, confiding and helping with projects, personal issues and general encouragement to continue despite the hectic timetable of family, work and studies.

At our final assessment we were able to reflect together on what had been the highlights of the busy timetable, where people had travelled 700km to attend the compulsory sessions, where people had poured all the leave that they had from work into attending these compulsory sessions, where somebody who had been seriously ill, made a speedy recovery with the assistance of fellow students and the message was the same. Acceptance of others who may be different in values, belief and even behaviour, mutual encouragement and co-operation play a huge role in interpersonal relations and the building of personal character.

Thanks guys for a truly enriching experience.