Abstract
This paper explores the remarkable similarities in the themes of the strengths perspective and social work practice with groups, and the ways in which mutual aid groups support the development of resiliency factors in their members. In addition to a discussion on a theoretical level, we present examples from mutual aid groups for children whose parents abuse drugs or alcohol.
The data are drawn from the process recordings of eight groups conducted in grammar schools and the videotape of one group conducted in a community-based mental health clinic. All group members were children from low-income urban communities. The school-based groups included African American and Hispanic boys and girls ages 8 to 10. Each school group had a single adult leader: six of the leaders were white women, one an African American woman, and one a Hispanic man. The mental health clinic group was composed of 5 African American boys ages 8 to 10, and had two adult co-leaders, an African American woman and a white man.