Social team work is integral to the effective functioning of social service agencies and by extension provides a practice that becomes invaluable to every social worker (UWI Open Campus, 2014). Social workers, through teamwork, are able to assist individual members by harnessing the collective strengths of other members in the process of helping and supporting all concerned. This article will attempt to highlight the importance and some advantages and disadvantages of group work, along with group dynamics, with a direct focus on the Committee for the Elevation of the Insanely Ill (CUMI), which is a rehabilitation agency of the mental health. CUMI collaborates with the regional psychiatric department, community clinics, mental health workers and other healthcare professionals who provide the foundation for mental health care. This facility is located in Montego Bay, Jamaica and provides a rehabilitation day center program focused on restructuring individual lives through daily activities including group work, which aims to help these individuals learn how to manage their lives. mental health challenges (CUMI, n.d.). A group is a "set of individuals who have regular contact and frequent interactions, mutual influence, common feelings of camaraderie, and who work together to achieve a common set of goals" (Business Dictionary.com). There are two types of groups within of the social work profession, i.e. working groups and treatment groups, and are classified according to their purpose. According to Toseland and Rivas (2005), cited by UWI Open Campus (2014, p. 98), a work group is “one in which the primary purpose is to achieve a goal that is neither intrinsically nor immediately connected to the needs of the me. ..... middle of paper ...... ally Ill (CUMI). Retrieved from http://www.cumimobay.org/Kongvongxay, M. & Chatillion, R. (2013). of Tuckman's group. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/perspectum/5-stages-of-group-development-norms-tuckman-16474067Kokemuller, N. (2013). classroom situation |. Education - Seattle PI. Retrieved July 12, 2014, from http://education.seattlepi.com/advantages-disadvantages-group-work-classroom-situation-1333.htmlToseland, RW & Rivas, RF (2005). An Introduction to Group Work Practice, 5/e. Chapter 3. Understanding Group Dynamics. Retrieved from http://centreofthepsyclone.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/group-work-practice.pdfUWI Open Campus. . (2014). Fundamental Principles and Practices of Social Work 1. Unit 3. Retrieved from http://courses.open.uwi.edu/mod/resource/view.php?id=63242