Groupwork with young women who have been sexually abused

Abstract

I work as a social worker for a Social Services Department in an Adolescent and Family Resource Team. Over the years we have undertaken much work with young people aged 10–18 who have been, or are believed to have, been sexually abused. In 1994, I co-worked a group for girls who had been sexually abused, had disclosed, and were now at a point where they felt they would benefit from looking at some of the issues that were still causing them distress, in the hope that they may be able to begin to move on from their pain. Over the years, this group has continued to run, with new members each time. We are now about to run our sixth group of this type, using a format that has been developed, tried and tested since that first group six years ago