Introducing Social Work

This practical guide will help students navigate through all core areas of their course by providing them with a comprehensive introduction to contemporary social work. Written by subject experts, including best-selling Transforming Social Work Practice authors, this essential guide will introduce students to key theory and approaches, helping them to develop and build the skills and knowledge that they will need for practice.

In this lively introduction suitable for students at any level, Lena Dominelli explores the extraordinary scope and importance of social work. Using engaging examples from contemporary social work practice, she clearly answers questions about what social work is, how social workers work in a variety of settings and the clients they are likely to deal with. She tackles head on the dilemmas social workers face in their day-to-day work and the challenges of working with limited resources and marginalized social groups such as the elderly, the homeless and abused children. This work will affirm the valuable contribution social workers can make to human wellbeing and demonstrate how the promise and potential of social work can be, and is, realized.

A practical and complete introduction to contemporary social work written by subject experts, including best-selling Transforming Social Work Practice Series authors.

Originally published in 1964, this was an introduction to social casework, that is social work with individuals and families. It was written for students at the beginning of their training and, while intended for the social worker, it would also prove useful to other students of the social sciences and interesting to the ordinary citizen who wanted to know what social work could offer either to people in trouble or to those who adopted it as a career. The book was both authoritative and up-to-date at the time, in a field in which methods of training had evolved quite rapidly. To this its origin bears witness: the preparatory work was done by Miss Florence Mitchell, an experienced social worker and teacher of social casework. The book was shaped in consultation with other practitioners and teachers, including Dr Younghusband and Miss K. M. Lewis of the National Institute whose work had done so much to shape modern methods of training. The first chapter gives a picture of people who need the social worker's help. It is followed by a brief survey of methods, by three chapters of case studies and by a final chapter on social work in the social services. The book thus combines a philosophy with practical guidance.

Help your students make the best starts in their careers as a Social Worker. Covering everything they need to know in their first year and beyond, this very practical book will guide them through their degree and into practice. Packed full of case studies, activities and tools for real-life practice, it will: Help students get to grips with and build the essential knowledge and skills base Support them to develop a range of tools for practice with different service user groups Develop their critical thinking and help them to apply their learning in practice Provide them with a springboard for further learning and development.

′Comprehensive and user-friendly. The book is helpfully constructed around a number of key themes, starting with a good attempt to define social work from historical and international perspectives and moving on to address key issues concerning the practice, knowledge, values and skills required from contemporary social work in the UK. I believe social work students, newly qualified and experienced social workers will find ths a valuable resource, especially when one is confronted by challenges in practice′ - Professional Social Work ′Social Work is a good overview that should refresh learner and tutor alike. Pratice assessors may find this book a useful update for their work with students and also a neat refresher. It is a well-written and up-to-date text, with a good sense of where future challenges lie for the social work profession in the UK. Higham is confident enough to voice the profession′s uncertainties as well as mapping the changing organisational landscape that social workers might populate. [This book] is likely to appear on many social work reading lists. [It has] the potential to provide good learning opportunities for post-qualifying as well as pre-qualifying training′ - Health and Social Care in the Community `The unique aspect of this book which distinguishes it from other competitors is that it is constructed explicitly around the key roles and benchmark statements... this book will offer something new and interesting to the growing field of social work education literature and is likely to be relevant to both students and practitioners in the UK and elsewhere′ - Dr Caroline Skehill, Queens University Belfast What is the role of social work? What does it mean to be a social worker? What are the changes affecting social work training? Social Work: Introducing Professional Practice addresses these questions and provides an understanding of the knowledge, values, and skills requirements of professional social work. The author has played a key role in constructing the subject benchmarks for the social work degree and offers a reflective and thoughtful commentary upon training, education and practice. Written in a lively and readable style, the book captures the essence of the changes sweeping through social work and engages the reader in these debates. Key features of this book include: - Comprehensive content structured around the guidelines for training and practice - Bridges the gap between theory and real-life practice - Student-friendly features such as case-studies, discussion questions, further reading and a glossary This exciting publication will be a core textbook for trainee social workers as they progress through the qualifying social work degree, or as they begin their practice as newly qualified workers seeking to consolidate their learning.

Introduction to Social Work Practice orients the students to the role of the professional social worker. The first chapter delineates the differences between being a good friend and being a good clinician in terms of social/emotional factors, professionalism, and self-disclosure. The second chapter covers techniques for building a trusting working environment that is conducive to processing sensitive issues along with an overview of key therapeutic communication skills. The remaining five chapters detail an easy-to-remember five-step problem-solving model to guide the clinical process: 1. Assessment, 2. Goal, 3. Objectives, 4. Activation, 5. Termination. Key features include: - role-play exercises - brief essay and response questions to build and test key communication skills - discussion points - glossary of terms - diagrams and charts that graphically represent the flow of the helping process. The workbook presumes no prior clinical experience and uses no technical psychological jargon. It teaches fundamental communication skills while emphasizing key social work values, ethics, and issues of multicultural populations and diversity throughout.

Introduction to Social Work takes readers to the root of the social work profession, covering its history, practice settings, and career paths, and framing these topics through an advocacy lens.