This study examined how group work can provide a culturally-competent, gender and agesensitive model of social work practice with girls of colour. I developed and implemented a school-based girls' group program specifically designed to outreach to girls of colour between thirteen and eighteen years of age. Results from the program demonstrated that through purposeful efforts to develop collaborative, non-hierarchical relationships, adult facilitators played a significant role in creating an environment in which girls could speak about issues that were important to them, including those related to race and culture. During the group sessions, girls learned about each other and themselves, identified similarities in their experiences as immigrants to Canada, and created a sense of group belonging. Similarity in non-dominant cultural status and gender among participants and facilitators appeared to have contributed to the group's cohesiveness and countered structural barriers to addressing race and culture. This study highlighted the value of a group model of practice to provide girls of colour with their own space to freely explore individual experiences and a vehicle for community organizing.

This study examined how group work can provide a culturally-competent, gender and agesensitive model of social work practice with girls of colour. I developed and implemented a school-based girls' group program specifically designed to outreach to girls of colour between thirteen and eighteen years of age. Results from the program demonstrated that through purposeful efforts to develop collaborative, non-hierarchical relationships, adult facilitators played a significant role in creating an environment in which girls could speak about issues that were important to them, including those related to race and culture. During the group sessions, girls learned about each other and themselves, identified similarities in their experiences as immigrants to Canada, and created a sense of group belonging. Similarity in non-dominant cultural status and gender among participants and facilitators appeared to have contributed to the group's cohesiveness and countered structural barriers to addressing race and culture. This study highlighted the value of a group model of practice to provide girls of colour with their own space to freely explore individual experiences and a vehicle for community organizing. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

The thesis is a qualitative study from critical theory perspectives to enhance understanding of how systemically mainstream organizations marginalize social work practice with ethno-racial minorities. It also explores strategic implications for systemic change based on field research findings. Ten social workers from Edmonton – the provincial capital city of Alberta, Canada - participated in investigative dialogues for the thesis field research. These research participants’ workplace stories lend themselves to explore three questions: what does marginalization of practice with ethno-racial minorities look like in mainstream organizational settings; what is there to understand about it as a systemic issue and what the research findings imply for change strategies. A critical analysis of dialogic data thematically identifies everyday work issues that describe how practice with ethno-racial minorities is kept at the operational and service-delivery fringe of individual workplaces. These thematic findings point to broader issues of the mainstream human service organization sector. These broader issues further highlight how the practice marginalization of concern in this thesis is a systemically constructed issue. These broader issues are mainstream benevolence, social work as an employment regime, multicultural service delivery as a thrill and clientization of ethno-racial minorities. In consideration of these sector-wide issues, implied change strategies reveal three thematic directions for systemic transformational change: (i) continued dialoguing involving concerned social workers and ethno-racial minority community leaders, (ii) community social work to build and foster coalitionary activist work and organizations, and (iii) participatory research involving a community sharing concern of the practice marginalization issue so as to build a strong knowledge-base to support and empower broad-base activist endeavour to effect change about mainstream human service organizations. / Social Work / D. Phil. (Social Work)

The thesis is a qualitative study from critical theory perspectives to enhance understanding of how systemically mainstream organizations marginalize social work practice with ethno-racial minorities. It also explores strategic implications for systemic change based on field research findings. Ten social workers from Edmonton – the provincial capital city of Alberta, Canada - participated in investigative dialogues for the thesis field research. These research participants’ workplace stories lend themselves to explore three questions: what does marginalization of practice with ethno-racial minorities look like in mainstream organizational settings; what is there to understand about it as a systemic issue and what the research findings imply for change strategies. A critical analysis of dialogic data thematically identifies everyday work issues that describe how practice with ethno-racial minorities is kept at the operational and service-delivery fringe of individual workplaces. These thematic findings point to broader issues of the mainstream human service organization sector. These broader issues further highlight how the practice marginalization of concern in this thesis is a systemically constructed issue. These broader issues are mainstream benevolence, social work as an employment regime, multicultural service delivery as a thrill and clientization of ethno-racial minorities. In consideration of these sector-wide issues, implied change strategies reveal three thematic directions for systemic transformational change: (i) continued dialoguing involving concerned social workers and ethno-racial minority community leaders, (ii) community social work to build and foster coalitionary activist work and organizations, and (iii) participatory research involving a community sharing concern of the practice marginalization issue so as to build a strong knowledge-base to support and empower broad-base activist endeavour to effect change about mainstream human service organizations. / Social Work / D. Phil. (Social Work)