Rural social workers occupy a number of statuses, such as professional social worker, organizational employee, rural community denizen, and private citizen/family member. Different groups may assign different priorities to the tasks that workers perform. Different audiences or groups may be at odds about definitions that are used in everyday life. The fact that cycles of peak activity vary from group to group can work to the worker's advantage or can cause even greater strains. Types of intensive, short-term therapy may be theoretically sound but situationally inappropriate. In a rural setting a worker is likely to be seen as a social worker 24 hours a day. One tool for reducing role strain is the rural-based professional group, where helping professionals band together to form support groups that are not only able to address community problems dynamically, but are also able to assist one another in ventilating frustrations and in searching for answers to practice dilemmas. Rural workers are also experimenting with old and new technologies to develop ways of moving information rather than people. Because of their relative freedom from bureaucratic constraints, techniques developed by rural workers may serve as the basis for assisting urban and suburban workers in the future. (BRR)