Consultation and group process with indigenous neighborhood workers

This paper describes a group experience with neighborhood workers in a black, ghetto community action program, with a white psychiatrist as group leader. It focuses on the definition of the task of consultation, derivation of mutually agreed upon goals, evolution of the group, and issues dealt with during the experience. Excerpts are presented to illustrate what the neighborhood workers themselves found relevant from the sessions. Finally, the meetings are discussed from the point of view of white professional consultation to a black community agency, and aspects of group dynamics are considered.