Redefining Self-Help
Policy and Practice

by Frank Riessman and David Carroll
Jossey Bass: 1995
Order from Amazon.com for 29.95
"In a society plagued by failing service systems, this remarkable book reminds us of the nature of genuine help and the community sources from which it flows."
--John McKnight, Director of Community Studies,
Center for Urban Affairs, Northwestern University

Redefining Self-Help shows how those in the educational, health care, and human service fields can infuse a sense of power by focusing on the vitality of individuals--individuals who gain their strength from a community of people who share common experiences. Smokers and diabetics, for example, have banded together to help themselves. Highlighting the success of thousands of self-help groups, the authors offer professionals and nonprofessionals a new paradigm, one that views people with problems as resources.

Using illustrative examples from hundreds of self-help groups such as Mended Hearts, Alcoholics Anonymous, Stroke Clubs and Recovery, Inc., the authors demonstrate how educational, health care and human service organizations can be transformed by tapping into the power of self-help organizations. Riessman and Carrol offer up-to-date information on the activities of self-help organizations around the country, otulining the organization model and principles that have contributed to their success. Furthermore, the authors explore the implications of the enormous increase of professionals working with self-help groups and make practical suggestions for improving performance when working with these organizations.



CONTENTS

1. What is Self-Help?
2. The Professional-Self Help Dialectic
3. The Special Significance of the Alcoholics Anonymous Model
4. Self-Help and the New Health Agenda
5. Self-Help and Mental Health with Susan Baird Kanaan
6. Toward a New Education Paradigm with Audrey Gartner
7. Restructuring Help
8. Social Change: The Personal Becomes Political
9. Present Limitations and Future Directions

Praise for Redefining Self-Help:

"This book is a masterpiece! Frank Riessman and David Carroll have not only described and explained the self-help movement, but they have shown how and why it works."
--Robert L. DuPont, President, Institute for Behavior and Health, Inc. and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Georgetown University School of Medicine

"In Redefining Self-Help Frank Riessman and David Carroll not only offer us a comprehensive and accessible description of the history, issues and the challenges of the self-help movement in the health, mental health, and educational fields, but they also reveal the hope this movement offers for real social change."
--Bonnie Benard, Prevention Specialist, Far West Laboratory for Educational Research and Development

"This book is an eye-opener. While acknowledging the problems, Riessman offers a thought-provoking and ringing defense of the contribution of self-help can offer those concerned with social change. The chapters on education and mental health alone are worth the price."
--Stanley Aronowitz, Professor and Director, Center for Cultural Studies, City University of New York Graduate Center

"Riessman and Carroll have brilliantly analyzed the power and dimensions of the self-help movement in America. Redefining Self-Help is must reading for anyone interested in forecasting social change in the coming decades."
--Charles B. Inlander, President, People's Medical Society

"If I had space for just one word to summarize this book I would choose 'balanced.' It contains flashes of brilliance; it inspires generosity and compassion; but most of all, this is a judicious work, informed by wisdom. The book will be useful both to members of self-help groups and to the many professionals who work with them."
--Ernest Kurtz, Center for Self-Help Research, University of Michigan, author of Not-God: A History of Alcoholics Anonymous and The Spirituality of Imperfection.

"Redefining Self-Help is an enormous shot in the arm for those of us in the self-help movement who question whetehr policymakers will ever 'get it.' It offers an accurate portrayal of both the strengths and the challenges involved in self-care, self-help groups, peer counseling, and coalition building. Riessman and Carroll have issued a call to action: the time is ripe for expanding self-help methods to heal our chronic social ills."
--Frances E. Jemmott, UCLA Department of Psychology, and California Coordinator, Black Women's Health Project.