Staying in the Mess: Teaching Students and Practitioners to Work Effectively in the Swamp of Important Problems

ABSTRACT

In his book, Educating the Reflective Practitioner (1986), Donald Schon refers to the “… swamp of important problems” (p. 3) as his metaphor to describe the problems of greatest human concern. This “swamp,” as he calls it, is the place where most group workers and group work students choose to be despite the fact that it means dealing with the most difficult and messy of life's problems, when the only certainty in the beginning is that the result will be hard to predict. In this article the authors identify and discuss some of the characteristics of students and practitioners who choose to descend into that swamp in their practice. They also identify the issues involved in helping students and practitioners to understand the importance of “staying in the mess” long enough to help group members achieve real, effective problem solving.

KEYWORDS:

• Group work
• problem solving
• social work with groups
• group leadership
• staying in the mess