ABSTRACT
Shifting the setting from the workplace to the community, again groups play a prominent role. They may include volunteer, civic or church groups that meet the needs of different sections of the community, and in different ways. The phenomenal rise in popularity of various forms of self-help group can be included here. In this regard, Napier and Gershenfeld (2004: 62) referred to ‘an explosion of self-help groups: groups organized to help members deal with grieving, illness, divorce, low self-esteem, being a woman, being a man, and numerous other concerns’. They estimated some half a million variants in the USA alone, with a collective membership of approximately six million people.
