Meeting Practice Needs: Conceptualizing the Open-Ended Group

Open-ended groups are an important part of the everyday practice of social workers. In many settings, clients join groups in progress and attend as many sessions as their needs warrant. Professionals lead openended groups in general and psychiatric hospitals, social services departments, mental health centers and family service agencies, drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers, residential treatment facilities, nursing and maternity homes, and prisons. Further, many self-help endeavors such as Alcoholics Anonymous, Parents Anonymous, and Recovery, Inc. take place in open-ended groups. The professional literature and conversations with practitioners attest to the number and variety of open-ended groups. 1 Patterns of implementation and attendance vary from waiting-room groups with almost a complete turnover every session to groups that endure for years with occasional revisions in composition. The important theme of changing membership does, however, serve to link these groups together conceptually.