Sociology

A human being can be well described as a social being. During the transition of his life from childhood to adulthood, he faces many challenges in life. This is normally evident during his adolescent stage. At this stage of life, a persons growth is characterized by physical needs as well as emotional needs. The improper censuring and catering for these needs for the adolescence has adverse effects in their lives as it could easily lead to drug and alcohol abuse (Drumm, 2006).

Since I am interning at a substance drug and alcohol abuse-counseling place, and lately we have been having a lot of adolescents coming in with drug problems. The agency currently does not have groups for adolescents, they just have them for adults, but I do not feel that it is appropriate for these adolescents since they have social needs for affection, recognition, sense of belonging, as well as self-esteem and self-actualization (Koontz  Weihrich, 2006). This can be effectively achieved through the formation of adolescence social groups. In this group, the adolescents are given an opportunity to be in an open relationship where they can air their views freely. This in turn will help the workers to identify and achieve their core objectives.

Benefits of Groups Intervention with This Population
There are several benefits, which the adolescence can benefit from if drug abuse group would be set up in this community. This includes

Social group workers base their objectives in meeting the needs and wants of the adolescents in the community instead of the diagnosis, they are well able to enhance openness since there is no criticism and this helps the community since the beginning of this kind of group should start with the understanding the felt needs (Malekoff, 2007).

Welcoming and accepting the whole person and not the broken part of him will help the adolescent to know that the groups have not come up to criticize these teenagers but to accept them the way they are (Baker  Myles, 2003).

Accepting all forms of verbal speeches and not only the people who speak in a polite manner and this will encourage them to engage them into these groups in regardless of their linguistic differences (Baker  Myles, 2003).

Delegating authorities to group members as this enables to achieve the desired results since you have made the adolescents to become part of the group. Hence, they have a sense of belonging for the group. This also creates mutual understanding and enhances the growth of the group (Malekoff, 2007).

Developing alliance with parents as the group should teach the adolescents that parents as well as teachers are not their enemies and shows the need for working collaboratively with them, and thus creating cohesion within the members of the community (Baker  Myles, 2003).

Key values of using group approach in dealing with adolescent
Active participation of groups in the society enables the young people to recognize their full potential personally. Although this can only be achieved if the social group creates

Strong value base This supports active participation in the matters relating to the community. This is because the adolescent is in a position of recognizing the relationship between the adolescents and the society.

Attitudinal set that Allows the group members define their situations of their own circumstance freely as this will help in promoting the responsibility to the society by each and every adolescent, and
Conceptual base that uses all verbal skills as well as the non-verbal skills which enables the members to think in a critical way as it allows brainstorming, and thus creating improved quality life (Malekoff, 2007). A group can achieve this by developing a structured program that will encourage the use of diverse languages including slang, which is mostly used by the adolescent group, as this will serve to demonstrate the powers of communicating matters relating to drug and alcohol abuse in the adolescent group.

The Key Challenges in Group Intervention in the Agency Context
Since drug abuse mainly results from people who need cohesion, which can be achieved through the social group setting (Drumm, 2006), the social work groups face many challenges while trying to achieve this. These challenges could include

Assessing the extent of the norms, the roles as well as the status hierarchies that could help the members feel socially integrated, while at the same time helping the group to achieve its goals.
Facilitating the norms and setting up the roles as well as status hierarchies, which give structures in order to eliminate disorganized, chaotic, and unsafe or even anxiety producing interactions (Koontz  Weihrich, 2006).

Facilitating norms, roles and the status hierarchys in-group that that could facilitate the members ability to exercise their own judgment and free will in order to accomplish the set goals as the organization has to determine the extent of freedom and independence within the range of acceptable code of ethics.
Determining the most acceptable behavior that would result to working in a cohesive manner the group, as the group should work in accordance to the code of ethics.

Balancing the group needs as well as the communities needs while determining the attractive norms, roles as well as the status hierarchies for its members.

Determining and assessing the most rewarding method that will benefit each member of the group as well as the group as a whole.

Key Challenges in Group Intervention in the Community Context
Social groups are also affected by the community, and also the society that sponsors the group. This may be affected in a number of ways including

United States being a country that has diverse cultures. The minority group might form an interest alliance campaign on lack of community services for minorities in the locality.

Community may protest against the social group since members are accorded power according to the basis of their social standing in the community, and their position in the agency that funded and supports the group (Koontz  Weihrich, 2006).

Since culture is influenced by the environment of where the social group is situated, social groups tend to share the traditions and heritage of this society and the interaction with them determines how they will involve the social group. If the community does not interact with the drug abusers, neither will they interact with the social group.

Considering the community values as well as their traditions before deciding on an action plan. The image of the group may be judged by the presence of powerful individual in the group and base their argument within the context of value of the dominant community members within the locality.

If the mission of the social group is in conflict with the communitys value, it is unlikely to receive support and therefore it should rely on conflict strategies in order to achieve its objectives. This could include being vision focused instead of being solution focused, and being aware that the processes of change are the processes of development and arise from continuous interaction of diagnostic process. This diagnostic process may include some or all of the following

Creating of awareness of the drug and alcohol abuse and information of how it emerged.
Implementing a future design process by developing visions and a plan of approaching the challenge (Northen  Kurland, 2001).

Changing attitudes toward the problem of lack of cooperation from the community.
 Spreading new knowledge to the community on the importance of refraining from drug and alcohol abuse as well as negotiating with the community dominants, and
Implementation process to be done afterwards for not only the negotiated solutions but also reinforcing goals as well as the social groups targets and (Stacey  Graffin, 2008).

Key Challenges in Group Intervention in the Client Context
These can be experienced in the early stages of group formation as the clients are expected to identify themselves. These challenges could include
Identification whereby the status awareness can lead to indifferences among members themselves as well as their leader.

Low feeling of safety as well as anxiety,
Tension or conflict development due to gender, ethnic, culture as well as linguistic differences in the group (Parsloe, 2002)

The worker should therefore help the group to resolve conflict by helping the adolescents develop norms that emphasize the importance of respecting each other and finding a common ground of relating with each other in a cohesive manner.

The Types of Group Approach Proposed
I would propose the Time limited group and mutual aid groups since they are long term groups in terms of duration of service, the knowledge gained by the adolescents is through personal experience. The type of leader chosen is from among them, the focus of meeting is mutual support of everyone, hence making each and everybody feels as part of the group, and makes decision-making, the members of the group decide evaluations (Northen  Kurland, 2001).

Planning Proposal for Moving Forward
The group workers should first of all assess the degree of drug abuse as well as other abuse and adolescence problems, and examine the level of the risk factors in the community. The group should then assess the communitys readiness for cooperation with the social group in order to educate the adolescents first before commencing on prevention measures. The group should hold a meeting with leaders of youth organization in the community, as this would aid the group in gaining coordination plans and ideas for short term as well as long-term plans.

The administrator and the staff should have a program indicating on how to carry out their strategic plan, how to develop their skills in handling adolescents. The strategic plan could also involve fund raising projects paying visits to other social groups, as this give them a wider knowledge of how to manage an adolescent social group.

A common ground of relating with each other in a cohesive manner for the client should be sought after. This can be achieved by first carrying out a needs assessment for these clients and educating them according to their needs, and at the same time encouraging them on the benefits of working as a group with common purpose and objectives.