In this, my first editorial, my focus is on introducing myself so that you have some understanding of how I might guide the journal for the foreseeable future.
As I am writing this, our fall academic term has just begun. I am a Full Professor in the School of Social Work at Laurentian University where I started my academic career in 2001 (https://laurentian.ca/faculty/dcoholic).
A little about me
This fall, I am teaching a social work with groups course as well as a theory for practice course. Recently, I had a book on social work with groups published - Social Group Work: A Strengths-Based Approach (https://northrose.ca/system/books/social-group-work-a-strengths-based-approach), which we are using for our groups course. In my teaching, I emphasize critical thinking, critical reflection, creativity, and strong integration between knowledge and practice.
In Canada, social work programs are grounded in anti-oppression, anti-racist, and anti-colonial perspectives. I am Canadian but my parents immigrated here from Eastern Europe, my father arriving as a refugee in the late 1950s. I currently live in a small city in northeastern Ontario, Canada, but I’ve also lived, worked, and studied in large cities such as Toronto (Canada) and Sydney (Australia).
Having grown up in a small town in northeastern Ontario, I understand the challenges of living and working in underserved areas where communities are separated by large geographical distances, and people must often travel considerable distances to access appropriate and necessary services.
I am also a clinical practitioner with many years of experience; currently, I work privately with young people, families, adults, and couples. Thus, I bring a combination of academic and practice skills to my new role with the journal, with specific expertise in qualitative research and creative strengths-based approaches.
My early career as a social worker was in the field of trauma, specifically working with childhood sexual assault and abuse survivors, and women in abusive intimate relationships. As a researcher, I have been studying for over 15 years, the benefits of an arts-based mindfulness group program for well-being and resilience. Thus, there is lots of overlap between what I teach, practice, and research.
Most of our research has been with children and youth suffering mental health challenges due to trauma, family dysfunction, and loss (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Diana-Coholic-2). But some of my graduate students have studied our group program with teenage mothers, elementary school teachers, women leaving abusive intimate relationships, university students, and most recently, adolescent girls living in Iran. The arts-based mindfulness group program has benefitted all these different populations who found the program engaging, enjoyable, and useful. Due to community demand, we continue to offer our group program at the university to small groups of children and youth, where I train and supervise undergraduate and graduate student co-facilitators.
Arts-based methods are effective at helping people express themselves and in developing insight and skills. Through my work, I have learned about the important experience of fun and how people can learn important skills and capacities through this process; growth doesn’t always have to be painful or difficult. The power of the group has been evident throughout our research activities for all the populations that have been involved. Currently, we are studying our group program in elementary and high schools.
This research is messy as real-world research often is; there are lots of moving parts that a researcher has little control over but it is important to test interventions in the real-world where they are going to be delivered. To date, school-based mental health professionals have been working with teachers to deliver the program to whole classrooms.
Interestingly, but perhaps not all that surprisingly, our emerging analysis is pointing to the benefits of encouraging group work in the classroom as a good number of the young people noted that not only do they enjoy it and learn from other’s experiences, but it has helped them develop understanding and empathy for their peers.
I think this latter development is incredibly relevant and important within today’s context where students are still dealing with, and recovering from, the effects of the COVID pandemic on their education and learning, and development of social skills and friendships, emotion regulation, and more.
It will not surprise you that I am a strong advocate for group work. I’m certain those of you who have worked with groups have also experienced the power of social work practice with groups. Many of the children and youth we have worked with over the years in my research program have told us directly that they are not interested in 1:1 counseling but want more spaces where they can come together with peers to interact, have fun, and support and learn from each other. This makes sense as peer relationships are vital for young people and so many children and youth are currently struggling with relationships and social isolation, especially young people who are marginalized. I often wonder why, at least in my community, we don’t have more of these types of services and supports for young people.
Passing the Baton
The outgoing Editor-in-Chief, Andrew Malekoff, has been leading and guiding the journal for more than three decades. What an incredible accomplishment! The social work with groups community and beyond has certainly benefited from the commitment Andy has made to this journal, and his considerable legacy must be admired.
Although I have never had the pleasure of meeting Andy in person, as someone who has published in Social Work with Groups, I have always appreciated his presence and responsiveness as an Editor. These leadership skills bring a high level of quality and functioning to any academic journal, and I aspire to act the same.
I have also appreciated his efforts at promoting emerging writers and creating opportunities for them to publish in the journal. A student who was training with me published a short paper in the journal in response to one of these calls, and I can attest to how thrilling and affirming this was for them.
After writing for years, it’s easy to forget the joy we probably all felt when our first papers or chapters were accepted for publication. I have also appreciated how Andy wrote about current issues and shared his thoughts related to group work in his editorials. I intend to follow his practice with my own editorials.
Throughout 2023, Andy has generously been mentoring and guiding me, helping me to prepare for taking over. He certainly has left the journal in great shape with many papers already slated for publication in 2024.
I will certainly do my best to continue the tradition of being responsive and supportive, while also maintaining high academic standards for published work.
Group work remains highly relevant and important, and I’m honored to be able to support the sharing of knowledge regarding this distinctive and vital social work practice. I look forward to working with this community.