Barge Cruising: an Experiment in Group Work
| Author | John Harding |
| Date | 01 September 1971 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455057101700306 |
| Published date | 01 September 1971 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
85
BARGE
CRUISING:
AN
EXPERIMENT
IN
GROUP WORK
John
Harding
Nottingham
OVER
recent
years
probation
officers
have
shown
increasing
initiative
in
pro-
viding
recreational
opportunities
for
juvenile
and
young
adults
under
super-
vision.
Summer
camps,
office-centred
playgroups,
canoeing
and
hoslelling
have
become
established
features
of
many
probation
departments,
perhaps
reflecting
the
caseworker’s
awareness
of
the
limitations
imposed
by
the
one-to-one
office
interview
and
the
need
to
impinge
more
actively
on
the
probationers’
environ-
ment.
This
article
examines
the
need
for
adolescent
probationers
to
share
in
group
experiences
where
they
can
display
skills,
initiative
and
responsibility
in
ways
which
contradict
the
expectations
others
have
of
them.
It
describes
an
experi-
ment
of
taking
two
separate
groups
of
working
youths,
aged
between
fifteen
and
twenty
two,
on
a
week’s
canal
barge
cruise
in
the
summers
of
1969
and
1970.
On
the
first
occasion
two
officers
made
arrangements
to
accompany
nine
probationers
on
a
cruise
from
Rugby
to
Oxford
and
back,
as
it
was
felt
they
might
benefit
from
an
adventurous
undertaking
which
through
the
shared
group
experience
might
stretch
their
capacity
to
sustain
relationships
in
a
fairly
confined
situation
and
offer
opportunities
to
take
responsibility.
A
balance
of
personalities
within
the
group
seemed
desirable
so
that
those
considered
especi-
ally
vulnerable
could
be
matched
by
clients
whose
responsc
to
stress
or
challenge
was
more
consistent.
Unfortunately,
on
the
first
cruise,
many
of
those
who
had
accepted
the
offer
withdrew
for
a
variety
of
reasons:
family
pressures,
fear
of
involvement,
loss
of
confidence,
further
convictions,
lack
of
money,
etc.
Diagnostically,
as
much
was
learnt
about
those
who
withdrew
as
those
who
participated.
The
>final
group,
with
replacements,
centred
on
the sixteen-
seven~leen age
range
rather
than
eighteen
to
twenty
as
originally
planned.
This
was
later
seen
to
have
some
effect
on
the
balance
of
maturity
and
experience
within
the
group.
Three
preparatory
group
meetings
were
held
in
the
weeks
preceding
the
cruise
so
that
members
could
be
introduced
to
each
other,
information
passed
and
doubts
raised.
Each
participant
paid
£7.50
towards
the
cost
of
the
trip.
As
working
young
men,
it
was
anticipated
that
the
group
might
show
a
greater
investment
in
the
cruise
if
part
of
the
cost
was
borne
by
themselves.
Parents,
in
general,
supported
thi
view
and
identified
with
the
spirit
of
the
enterprise.
An
itinerary
had
been
planned
for
the
journey
so
that
mooring
points
were
located
in
villages
which
provided
maximum
facilities.
Every
member
of
the
party
was
assigned
duties
on
a
rota
basis
which
involved
cooking
and
a
share
of
the
steering
and
lock
handling.
The
rota
system
worked
well
for
the
major
part
of
the
cruise
but
broke
down
on
the
last
two
days
when
two
of
the
party
absconded.
By
the
end
of
the
first
three
days
most
of
the
lads
were
sufficiently
competent
to
take
the
barge,
seventy
foot
in
length,
through
difficult
situations
such
as
shallow,
muddy
water
and
close-fitting
locks.
During
that
time
the
group
had
begun
to
take
some
pattern
in
terms
of
forming
small
sub-groups
and
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