History of the Standards for Social Work Practice with Groups: A Partial View

Abstract

This article provides a historical and first-person narrative about the development of the IASWG Standards for Social Work with Groups by someone intimately involved in their germination and development. Beginning with review of early roots of standards for social work with groups, this article presents a journey through the formation of the Committee for the Advancement of Social Work with Groups in 1979, framing ideas that found their way into the first edition of the AASWG Standards of 1998, and the process of developing the second, current edition. It provides a rare look into how a professional organization struggled to create a seminal document.

Keywords:

• AASWG
• history
• IASWG
• standards
• narrative
• social work with groups

Notes

1. Editor-in-Chief's note: The IASWG logo was changed in 2012 shortly after the organization's name was changed from the Association for the Advancement of Social Work with Groups (AASWG) to the International Association for Social Work with Groups (IASWG).