AN INTERVIEW WITH PROFESSOR LINDA KURTZ

Linda Farris Kurtz received her undergraduate degree from Washburn University of Topeka Kansas, her MSW from the University of Pittsburgh, and her Doctorate in Public Administration from the University of Georgia. She worked in the field of mental health for over fifteen years, starting at Topeka State Hospital in 1958 while a Sophomore in college. She began teaching at the University of Georgia in 1978. Presently she is a Professor of Social Work at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, ML She is the author of "Self-Help and Support Groups: A Handbook for Practitioners. " Published by Sage in February 1997. She lives in Ann Arbor Michigan with her husband, Ernest Kurtz.

Q. What was it that prompted you to write your latest book Self-Help and Support Groups: A Handbook for Practitioners?

A: There was no text book on the subject and I thought one was needed. Since I had taught courses on self-help and support groups I had a great deal of relevant material on the subject.

Q: What was the primary focus of the text?

A: One of the main purposes of my book was to inform human service practitioners, educators, and students about the theories, concepts, and research related to self-help and support groups. Another purpose was to impart practical advice and directions for working with these groups - guidance solidly based on theory and research.

Q: What is the primary difference between self-help and support groups as described in your book, and why did you address both types of groups together?

A: Most people (mental health practitioners included) think of self-help and support groups as one and the same; treating the two in one volume clarifies comparisons and contrasts between them. Second, the similarities between the two mean that research and theory on the one are often applicable to the other. Self-help groups aim at effecting change and seldom have professional facilitators. Support groups meet for the purpose of giving emotional support and information to persons with a common problem and are often facilitated by professionals and linked to a social agency or larger formal organization.

Q: Would Recovery Inc. qualify as a self-help group, or as a support group?

A: As I outlined in the chapter of my book that features your organization, Recovery Inc. is primarily a self-help group, although members also receive support form each other. More specifically, Recovery, Inc. falls into the self-help category that Schubert and Borkman (1991) labeled the "affiliated" type because Group Leaders are authorized annually and regulated by your national organization.

Q: I understand that self-help and support groups are quite different from each other, but that most practitioners and mental health consumers don't recognize that fact.

A: True. I want to dispel misunderstanding and inaccurate assumptions about how self-help and support groups function, whom they attract, and how they help participants achieve goals.

Q: I know you teach courses on self-help and support groups at the University of Chicago as well as at Eastern Michigan University. How common is this subject matter in the academic curriculum?

A: Actually, I believe it's fairly uncommon to see self-help and support groups covered in general psychology curriculums. The self-help movement grew rapidly in the 1970's but it is still not a focus on college campuses.

Q: What kind of feedback have you gotten from your courses on self-help and support groups?

A: When I work with social workers and nurses who are taking my courses as part of their continuing education I discover that this is the first time they've ever had anyone "teach" them about groups.

Q: You mean to say that most students aren't exposed to information about self-help and/or support groups in their studies?

A: Yes, at least not in the practical sense. My courses define what self-help and support groups are today, and how mental health professionals can best utilize them.

Q: Has this subject been addressed in the past?

A: "Group Work" used to be widely taught in social work curriculums, but then it died out. Group work is now again making somewhat of a comeback, and this is one place where studies on self-help and support groups can be incorporated into the curriculum. In fact, some of the students who signed up for my course at the University of Chicago came looking for a "Group Work" course. At first they thought they weren't getting what they wanted, but then they found out that the information they received about how to successfully work with self-help and support groups was closely related to Group Work and very important on a practical level.

Q: Is it uncommon for self-help and support groups to be a part of most social work programs?

A: Yes. Information on self-help support groups is commonly taught only to students who will be working with people who have problems with substance abuse (info on AA and NA is frequently given out) but it is not presented to students in other social work programs.

Q: How do you feel students benefit from your courses on self-help and support groups?

A: Students are most excited about the practical information I offer in my courses. For instance, I provide them with pointers on how to deal with problems that arise in group meetings, and how to determine if group leaderships is strong and effective. I quickly learned that my students were not especially interested in theories and research, so I made sure that those portions of the course were clearly applicable to the strategies and methods portion so that the course did not seem disconnected.

Q: Why do you include information about Recovery Inc.'s Self-Help Method in your course?

A: For the same reason I featured you in my new book. Recovery has been around for 60 years and there have been many studies done on your organization. You're an excellent reallife example for my students. And because you have more than 700 groups meeting weekly throughout the country, including a group in Ann Arbor, I can send my students to your meetings to observe, learn and do field research.

Q: Is there a field-study component to your courses?

A: Yes. I encourage my students to choose a specific self-help and/or support group and observe it over a period of time. They are then able to study the group in-depth and have first-hand knowledge of what happens in a meeting. This helps them to learn how to appreciate what self-help support groups are exactly and also how to link a person to a group, i.e. recognizing their readiness level, lowering barriers to attendance, and preparing them for what will happen during the meeting. Again, this is where the local Recovery meeting has been such a valuable community resource for myself and my students.

Q: Do you think it is important for more professors to integrate information about self-help and support groups into the curriculum at colleges and universities?

A: Yes. Students are surprised by how much there is to learn about this phenomenon. They leave my course very appreciative of the scope and importance of such groups for millions of people. They learn how they can best utilize groups and why their clients should attend them. They begin to realize that the subject is much broader than AA and similar groups and how much they don't know about it.

Q: Do you think it is important for a wider range of professionals to learn about self-help and support groups either in college or as part of their continuing education requirements?

A: Yes. Professionals need to learn more why it's important and beneficial to link people to outside groups. Right now, it's not as attractive for practitioners to incorporate outside groups into the overall care for their clients. I feel that regular referral to independent groups will only happen when managed care organizations require it as part of a patient's follow-up, long term care.

Q: What led you to the idea that professionals, managed care organizations and self-help and for support groups would benefit by working better together?

A: Professionals want to help people get better and stay better. Managed Care organizations want assurance that when they spend a lot of money on an individual, that person will be able to maintain their recovery. Self-help and support groups can go a long way in helping to accomplish this goal. There is no question that if relapses are prevented, managed care organizations, as well as the individual, benefit.

Q: Why do you think that linking people to outside groups is a benefit?

A: For some patients, attending a self-help or support group, in addition, or as a follow-up to the care they receive from a professional would be very positive. The additional support and learning could help to continue what the professional has started as well as helping to minimize relapses.

Q: Do you think it benefits patients to attend Recovery meetings as a continued part of their mental health care? For instance, after they have exhausted all the one-on-one therapy sessions their managed care provider will pay for? Or perhaps, even as a supplement to these visits over the course of a year?

A: I think it benefits a patient who is involved in therapy to also attend Recovery meetings in order to maintain changes and attach behavioral change to insights gained in therapy. Insight alone is not enough, and behaviors or thought patterns are difficult to change. As professionals, I think we often don't recognize how hard and time-consuming it is to change thoughts and habitual behaviors.

Q: What type of people could benefit from reading your book or taking a course on self-help and support groups?

A: I've gotten very positive feedback about my courses from social workers, nursing students, psychology students, and other professionals. They comment that during my course they discovered there was so much that they didn't know about self-help and support groups. They also tell me that they didn't realize they were so uninformed. Many people tell me that they'll never go to a group meeting again without knowing what to look for.

Q: What specifically did they learn that they might have been unaware of before taking your course?

A: Well, for instance, they become much more aware of the dynamics within a group, i.e. What leaders can do to facilitate a support group, specific goals they need to have, or when a group can be considered "safe," i.e. was there constructive mutual sharing in the group or did the leader talk the whole time.

Q: Do you think students who have been exposed to information about self-help/support/mutual aid groups are more likely to utilize them as a resource for clients when they begin practicing?

A: I hope so. There is a great deal of misinformation out there; very few professionals really understand the differences between self-help and support groups. Referrals would be more frequent and more effective if practitioners were exposed to information about what the different groups can best provide, and receive current information about established, safe groups like Recovery, Inc.

Q: Do you feel that it is important for practitioners to continue to be involved even after they link one of their clients to a group?

A: Most definitely. The drop out rate for all self-help groups is high; the clinician's role in helping their clients continue to attend meetings to achieve maximum benefits is very important. For instance using Recovery Inc. as an example, for a patient to get the most benefit out of attending their first Recovery meeting, their practitioner should effectively prepare them for what to expect from the Recovery Method and the meetings. The best way to accomplish this would be for the practitioner to attend a meeting and read some of the Recovery literature before referring clients.

Q: What other benefits do practitioner's receive by being familiar with Recovery techniques?

A: When the clinician clearly understands the Method they can better choose which of their patients will be most comfortable with Recovery Inc., I believe that the people who get the most benefit from Recovery are those who are in a "stage of readiness;" meaning they agree what their specific problems are and that they need to work on them. Recovery is an excellent tool for those who are working toward long term mental health. In Recovery it's not the group that works, it is the Method that works. You need to be able to apply the method to your life and then talk about it at a meeting. The meeting is no magic cure, it just helps people to practice and follow the method.

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