Flash Groups/Group Work in Practice Members at Local “Y”

Abstract

Over the past five years, I have been attending the local YMCA (Y) where I swim five mornings a        week.  Two years ago, I wrote a paper entitled the Ladies Water Aerobics Swim Group. This               group had a profound impact upon me. Indeed, at the recent IASWG symposium in New York, I    was approached by one participant who had read the paper which had been published in        Groupwork and attended the presentation I gave at the symposium in North Carolina in 2015.                 Based on this and many other positive responses I had received regarding the first paper, I                 decided to write a second paper, which discussed the two groups I belonged to at the (Y). Both     these groups have had numerous social and therapeutic benefits for myself.  Although, they are     not “formal groups,” the group work literature, talks about the unique qualities, forces of       healing, social interdependence, “we-ness,” affiliative bonds, importance in our lives, and         bringing about individual and social change in our lives. These two groups have had            numerous positive outcomes for me personally and other members of the groups.

Keywords:  Social Interdependence, Importance of groups, informal groups, social groups, forces of healing, therapeutic benefits of groups, “we-ness.”