Collaboration is a term that is broadly applied to similar ideas and practices utilized globally in the business world, the arts, the sciences, politics and in the field of social work. It is often viewed as a fundamental component of social work practice and there is an extensive body of literature on the uses of collaboration – and examples of it – between social workers and professionals in other fields (e.g., social work and health care, social work and education). As I noted in the call for papers for this special edition of Social Work with Groups, political, social, and cultural divisiveness on a global scale increasingly hampers our ability to work together on collective problem exploration with collaborative spirit and good will. Given the present obstacles that many practitioners face in building truly collaborative processes with clients, coworkers, and institutional structures, I have become increasingly interested in a central question – how can we develop and refine practices and working relationships that reflect an effective, contemporary collaborative approach to social work with groups?
This special edition of the journal attempts to address that question from various perspectives and through the lens of various modalities. I think you will find that the authors represented do a stellar job of presenting both the challenges to collaboration and the often stunning and meaningful results of collaboration in action.
From Iftekhar Alam, Ajeet Kumar Pankaj, and Aazaad Sohail, we learn of the positive impact on the fight for land rights and claims for social justice among the Dalits caste in India through “collective struggle, informal collaboration, and social mobilization.”
Kamal Sehrawy shares his experiences in collaborating with public-school children and teachers and, utilizing group work skills learned while an undergraduate student, describes their collective journey toward development of collaboratively devised theater pieces with mutual aid at their core.
Tee Tyler reports on a study undertaken with faculty and undergraduate social work students at Texas Christian University to better understand each other’s perspectives and build dialogue between the two academic populations, a collaboration to support greater understanding in the college classroom.
Wendy Grab explores the power of recreational music-making groups to “increase wellbeing across multiple life domains with diverse populations” in a collaboration with the Cincinnati Music and Wellness Coalition.
Raveena Kousar, Shafiq Ahmed, and Subhasis Bhadra provide a compelling account of the importance of collaborations among professionals, organizations, and communities in protecting and nurturing children living in the border conflict areas of Jammu and Kashmir.
Mauricio Tafur Salgado, a professor and socially engaged theater maker at New York University, offers a conversation with Rocio Tafur-Salgado, Co-Founder and Co-Director of enFAMILIA Inc. in Homestead, Florida, on “intimacy as a phase of group process” and the impact of intimacy on collaboration in both undergraduate theater training and community-based social work with marginalized clients. I complete the offerings with my own observations on the collaboration of social group work and the arts by identifying some skills and concepts that have served me in my social group work and community arts work practice, teaching, and administrating over the past twenty-five years.
This special issue of the journal aims to expand our understanding of the role that collaboration can play in social group work practice, and I think the offerings here are a wonderful start to that endeavor. One important thing I’ve learned in the fifty-plus years that I have been involved in collaborations is that collaboration is a practice, and like any other practice it demands study, nurturing, and respect. I challenge and encourage you to find your own definition and practice of collaboration. It’s an exciting and ongoing adventure in community building.