Days In The Lives Of Social Workers

Days in the Lives of Social Workers is a collection of first-person narratives describing typical days in the lives of 62 social workers in a variety of settings and roles. Appendices list organizations, websites, government resources, social media, blogs, and podcasts related to social work.

Fifty different case workers are profiled, including their job responsibilities and daily interactions, as the work is studied in a readable, organized manner. Positions include hospital social work in the emergency room, criminal justice social work, educational social work, group home manager, substance abuse social work, and private practice in a variety of settings.

MORE DAYS IN THE LIVES OF SOCIAL WORKERS, like its popular predecessor DAYS IN THE LIVES OF SOCIAL WORKERS, illustrates through first-person narratives that there are no "typical" days in social work, but that professionally trained social workers take on a variety of roles. In this volume, there is more of a focus on macro roles than in the first, although this book also includes "micro"-level stories and illustrates ways in which social workers combine macro, mezzo, and micro level work in their everyday practice. Here are some of the social work practice settings and roles you will read about: * working on a national level * program development and management * advocacy and organizing * policy from the inside * training and consultation * research and funding * higher education * specialized roles in the court system * faith and spirituality * domestic violence * therapy and case management * employment and hunger This is social work! Political advocacy, agency management, sex therapy, play therapy, mediation, conducting domestic violence evaluations, writing grants, doing research, providing food for the hungry, and more--these are all roles that social workers can (and do!) play. This easy-to-read, hard-to-put-down book will make a welcome supplement to the theory found in traditional textbooks. Find out how social work managers and practitioners put theory into practice on a day-to-day basis. Organizations, Web sites, and additional readings are listed to assist readers in further exploring areas of social work that are interest.

Spend a day with social workers in 58 different settings, and learn about the many career paths available to you. Did you ever wish you could tag along with a professional in your chosen field, just for a day, observing his or her every move? DAYS IN THE LIVES OF SOCIAL WORKERS allows you to take a firsthand, close-up look at the real- life days of 58 professional social workers as they share their stories. Join them on their journeys, and learn about the rewards and challenges they face. This book is an essential guide for anyone who wants an inside look at the social work profession. Whether you are a social work graduate student or undergraduate student, an experienced professional wishing to make a change in career direction, or just thinking about going into the field, you will learn valuable lessons from the experiences described in DAYS IN THE LIVES OF SOCIAL WORKERS. The 4th edition includes four new chapters, a new appendix on social media and mobile apps, and features a foreword by Elizabeth J. Clark, executive director of the National Association of Social Workers.

"This book, like its predecessors Days in the Lives of Social Workers and More Days in the Lives of Social Workers, highlights the experiences of social workers through first-person narratives. This volume focuses on professional social work in direct and indirect practice with and on behalf of older adults. The contributors to this book are social workers at the BSW, MSW, and doctoral levels. Here are some of the social work practice settings, roles, and topics you will read about: working in communities; hospitals, hospice, and home health; nursing home social work, administration, inspection, and advocacy; addictions, mental illness, and homelessness in older adults; Alzheimer s and Parkinson s diseases; international settings;gerontological research; policy and macro practice; social work student experiences in gerontology; centenarians and their secrets to long life. Gerontological social work is a growing and exciting practice specialty! The stories told by these gerontological social workers will transform your thinking about what this type of work entails. You will gain a better understanding of the issues facing older adults and their social workers, and you may be inspired to pursue this career path. This engaging collection will make a welcome supplement to the theory found in traditional textbooks. Organizations, Web sites, additional readings, and a glossary of terms are included to assist you in further exploring these areas of social work practice. Photographs by social worker/photographer Marianne Gontarz York are featured to expand your visual images of real people as they grow older."--pub. desc.

"Go behind the scenes and be mentored by the best in the business to find out what it's really like, and what it really takes, to become a social worker"--Jacket.

A sideways story is some moment in life when you thought you were doing one thing, but you ended up learning another. A sideways story can also be a poem, or prose, that, because of the way it is written, may not be all that direct in its meaning. What’s nice about both clouds, and art, is that you can look at them and just resonate. That can be good for both the heart and the mind. Many of the moments of this book have grown from experiences the author has had or stories he used in his lectures with students or told in his office with clients. Some of them have grown from essays written for others, for personal or professional reasons. They are moments on a path through the discovery of social work, a journey of beginnings, middles, and ends. With just the right blend of humor and candor, each of these stories contains nuggets of wisdom that you will not find in a traditional textbook. They capture the essence and the art and soul of social work. In a world rushed with the illusion of technique and rank empiricism, it is the author’s hope that some of the things here might make some moment in your thinking or feeling grow as a social worker. If they provoke a smile, or a tear, or a critical question, it’s worth it. Everyone makes a different journey in a life of social work. These stories are one social worker’s travelogue along the way.