Social Work: Definition, History, and Importance

Task groups and treatment groups are very distinct terms, which describe two different organised units meant to meet some defined objectives. In psychology, a treatment group is a group meant to support, develop, and educate members in a bid to meet their social and emotional needs (Carr et al., 2018). A task group, on the other hand, describes an organisation of individuals who solve organisational problems by formulating effective solutions and making important decisions, as suggested by Carr et al. (2018). Unlike treatment groups, task groups do not strive to meet the needs of the members. A support group for alcoholics and drugs addicts is one of the many treatment groups in contemporary society that a social worker should facilitate. The sole purpose of this group is to help members to recover from stressful life events and develop positivity in life. 

A social worker working with a support group for alcoholics and drugs addicts would facilitate the effectiveness of the group by providing counselling services to the group members. Therefore, the social worker should take an active role as the support group’s counsellor. Moreover, the counsellor should also uphold the group's norms to promote cohesiveness within the support group. According to Carr et al. (2018), group norms describe informal codes of conduct and guidelines, which provide conformity and order to the operations of the group. As a counsellor, shaping the norms of the group would include rewarding members who conform to the norms and educating those who deviate about the importance of conformity in their journey towards recovery from alcohol and drug abuse. A social worker within the group needs to understand group roles within the support group. Group roles describe the set of responsibilities assigned to each member of the group. There should be a member of the clergy within the support group to help members grow spiritually. As a group leader, the role of the member of the clergy might be the most challenging since his/her role should be monitored continually to ensure he/she does not infringe the freedoms of worship of members from diverse religious backgrounds. 

Reference  

Carr, H., Rigdon, K., Price, M., Fortner, H., & Herring, A. (2018). Coping Strategies for Recovering Alcoholics and Addicts to Prevent Relapse.