ABSTRACT
The passage of time has a very real impact on a group’s ability to engage in and experience mutual aid. Although it might be said that mutual aid is a logical consequence of group life, it cannot be said that it is an inherent condition of group life. It does not simply exist. Only its potential exists (Shulman 1999). Neither does mutual aid simply happen. It takes both time and effort on the part of every participant for a group to become a mutual-aid system. As members come to know one another better and as they come to more fully recognize the commonality of their needs and goals, they also become increasingly open to one another as potential resources. As they begin to see the many ways in which they can be helpful to one another, they come to recognize and appreciate the strength and capacity of
their potential for mutual aid, and they become increasingly better at functioning as a mutual-aid system (Garland et al. 1978; Hartford 1978; Middleman and Wood 1990a; Newstetter 1935; Northen and Kurland 2001; Schiller 1995; Schwartz 1963; Shulman 1999; Toseland and Rivas 1995).
