My Nonprofit Reviews

I am happy to support GroupWorks because of the long-term positive impact it has had in my development as a professional. Although I am not working directly with Dr. Leslie Quinn or Groupworks any more, what I learned from my supervision has continued to inform my practice with young people. Hereā€™s what I wrote about my experience in 2006:
Since the fall of 2001, when our school (and our city) experienced so much turmoil, several of our most vulnerable students have received counseling services in conjunction with Adventures in Teaching and Counseling. These fortunate students have been in a co-facilitated group with myself and Dr. Leslie Quinn. Three of our original group members have remained since sixth grade, the other three have gone on to different high schools. Over the past years we have successfully added and enfolded new members to the original already existing group (all 6 members are now in high school). All members of our original group were mandated for counseling - these children had, in addition to the extraordinary stressor of proximity to the World Trade Center tragedy, learning problems and serious family issues. In the first year of our group, we regularly saw outrageous acting out behaviors, uncontrolled impulses, an inability to express emotions and a dearth of social skills.

It is in retrospect that we best see the strides that all the students have made: better school attendance, better grades, increased classroom attention spans, decreased disruptive behaviors in school, qualitative changes in peer connections, and improved self-images. As a most striking example, Craig(not his real name), an original group member, is not only able to stay in his seat and refrain from aggressively breaking wind towards the group, but he is able to express his feelings in words, using good natured humor instead of mean-spirited physical and verbal retaliation. He has gone from being the victim of cruel scapegoating (which due to his lack of social skills, he seemed to invite) to a popular school leader and athlete. He still struggles with learning problems, but is a willing participant in working on managing his disabilities, rather than feeling resigned to being ā€œinferior.ā€

Great strides have not only been made by the group members. When Dr. Quinn joined the group in 2001, I was floundering in my first experience with counseling. As a novice, I had little confidence, and with this particularly difficult group, I despaired that Iā€™d ever be able to effect any positive change. By working with Dr. Quinn and receiving supervision from her as well as Dr. Chuah-Feinson, I have become an effective group leader, who is confident and proud of the advances our group has made.

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