Helping Widows: Group Discussions as a Therapeutic Technique

This paper examines the nature and difficulties involved in the group discussion technique as applied to widows, concentrating on those details which might be useful in helping a social agency to decide on the advisability of organizing such groups and on some pitfalls to be avoided. It is based on tape recordings of group sessions at the Widows Consultation Center, made with the knowledge of the participants, and interviews with the group leaders and caseworkers, supplemented by a followup survey of the first year's clients. The Widows Consultation Center was established in Manhattan in 1969 as a pilot social service project to learn more about the problems of widows and how community agencies can deal with them. Individual casework, social activities, and specialized legal and financial consultants are available, along with widows discussion groups. In smaller communities it is unlikely that a specialized agency for widows would be warranted, but it is very possible that women's centers or agencies dealing with family problems or problems of the aged could develop group therapy