Self-help Groups and Social Capital: New Directions in Welfare Policies?

The paper discusses a national survey on social capital arising from self-help/mutualhelp groups operating in the field of alcohol-related problems and affiliated to a large umbrella organization-well known in the Italian welfare system. Comparison between subjects just beginning the group therapy process and those with long-term participation in self-help groups shows significant differences in many aspects of social capital: participation in the local community; proactivity in the social context; family, friends and neighbourhood connections; tolerance of diversity; value placed on life; and work connections. In general, people with long-term experience of self-help groups seem to achieve better scores in social capital than do younger participants, and compared with a significant sample of the Italian (general) population as well. This result seems to indicate that active engagement in their recovery by people experiencing alcohol-related social exclusion may produce impressive improvements not only in their individual quality of life (more health, more trust, more self-esteem) but also in their community inclusion and civic commitment: more social relationships in the family, neighbourhood and at work, participation in civic and voluntary associations, and in educational programmes, including social work education.