Another participant liked the group work aspect of the course, and felt it was an eye opener for the well-to-do to meet other kinds of people. However, she found the "encounter group" very difficult because she was used to working alone, especially after her recent completion of university. One day she nearly quit in tears, feeling the group to be very critical of each other and experiencing lots of conflict. Other women had more positive experiences to recall:

We got along very well. I found it very difficult the first six weeks I guess because we worked in groups of five, then you'd switch. ... You expected the second group to work like the first and of course it didn't. And there were people who ... were intimidated by enthusiasm or they felt you were trying to take control. ... And of course these women, because they were in the home, were used to running their own show and all of a sudden we had to work together on someone else's timetable. ... Getting to work as a team was the hardest part.

The whole magic of it was being in such tight quarters with fifteen women. In the workforce you never have that intensity because you have your own office or you're at your own desk. You don't have to rely on each other that much. We had to rely on each other totally. The whole concept was so intense. It was a very emotional experience for most of us.

It certainly was group oriented. I'm more of a group person. If you're part of a team you can bounce ideas off of one another. It stimulated you, you get going. ... I'm not a leader. I found that out. I liked the group very much ... There was one individual in the group that I was intimidated by and I will say it now, was a very competent women ... She just had a wonderful sense of humor but it can be rather caustic and she has little patience with people who don't learn really fast. ... That particularly came up on the computers. She was really well versed before she went in.

I'm not like that [people who like to work by themselves]. I like people. I guess that's why I've always gone toward the helping professions. ... Certainly there were days that had more tension especially if someone was having a problem. I found it more interesting [to have a mix of people in the course]. I felt I learned to appreciate other people's viewpoints. ... There was definitely some of the group that didn't get along as well.

There really were very few people that absolutely positively needed a job at the very last day of the program. ... I think there should have been more of those people in the group and I think their needs should have been addressed more.

Group learning took an unexpected form in the third year of the program, where the group described a lack of facilities and organization which was not the case in the earlier two versions of the program. These participants said they developed a real sense of solidarity because of their need to protest how the course was being run. Interviews I have had with participants and life skills teachers in other re-entry courses have noted that group work which confronts the problems that come up in the course can be one of the best learning experiences in it.

Life Skills
Life skills required intense self- reflection, which could be stressful:

At a critical part of the course I was thinking, I'm going to quit this, I don't need this abuse any more. I looked out the window and I saw a leaf falling off a tree on to the road and a car drove over it. Then I though if I quit this I'll be just like that leaf I'd end up coming home and thinking badly of myself ... I went back with a new invigorated attitude about the course.