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Book Review: Consultation in Social Work

the much-needed further research in this area must still try to determine on an idiosyncratic basis the best way to relate these various helping models to the needs of individual service consumers. The book suggests two critical research needs. First, the different organizational models utilized by self-help groups need to be explored more thoroughly. A better understanding of these structures may lead not only to knowledge about why some self-help groups are more or less successful over time, but also to possible modification of formal service organizations, making them more responsive to client need. Second, the ways in which current social policies facilitate or hinder the development of self-help groups needs to be examined. For example, demands for fiscal accountability has severely limited the success of self-help groups in securing financial support from public and voluntary funding bodies. Similiarly, professional certification requirements and statutory regulations regarding professional activities may inhibit development of the necessary partnership between formal service providers and self-help groups. Gartner and Riessman's book is a first step in providing the groundwork for the attainment of these future objectives. Moreover, it serves an important function in drawing the attention of more professional social workers to the growing significance of the self-help phenomenon. One only wishes that they had been able to carry their analysis a little further and to support their theoretical formulations by firmer research data. It is to be hoped that the authors also view this work as a first effort and that they will use the National Self-Help Clearinghouse they recently established in New York to help build the knowledge base needed by society in this field.