Social Work Theory And Practice

Understanding how theory informs social work practice is an area that students can often find challenging. This book will help students understand how theory impacts and informs social work practice across a range of contexts and with different service user groups. It starts off by briefly setting the context, introducing students to the importance of social work theory and its development over the years, before moving on to look at different types of theory across 17 tightly structured chapters. These cover a range of psychological theories, sociological theories, ethics and moral philosophies, political theories and ideologies, and organisational theories.

Social Work: From Theory to Practice provides a critical introduction to core and emerging theories of social work and teaches students in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand how to apply these theories in their practice to facilitate change. The fourth edition introduces a cultural lens through which to interrogate theory. A new chapter on Aboriginal perspectives explores a range of theories, from emancipatory frameworks and approaches to deep listening and provides insights for students on how to decolonise their practice and responsibly provide socially just outcomes for communities. New discussions on navigating the service system, feminist and anti-oppressive approaches, sustainability and the impact of COVID-19 on social workers and the communities they serve are included throughout the book. Each chapter includes reflections from social workers and case examples with accompanying questions. New end-of-chapter questions help students engage critically with the content.

This second edition includes material on mind, body and spirit social work, mindfulness, and enhanced content on Indigenous social work.

A step-by-step guide to the underpinning theoretical knowledge in social work helping your students to confidently apply theory in practice. - Exercises will help them get to grips with the essentials and reflect on learning. - Case studies from eight fictional social workers located in a busy local authority office will allow them to explore a range of different practice experience, theoretical perspectives and approaches to understanding situations and identifying possible courses of action. - The authors’ own experiences will show the importance of reflection, supervision and continual learning to help them prepare for the reality of practice.

This reference handbook for students and beginning practitioners guides them through the main processes and ideas used in the practice of social work. Starting from intake and assessment, it moves on to intervention and covers the main theories that inform intervention and ends with evaluation and reflection. The approach offers a series of guidelines as reminders of actions that practitioners typically have to undertake and the issues that they need to bear in mind.

Following an overview of the principal frameworks for clinical practice including systems theory, behavioral and cognitive theories, and psychoanalytic theory, the book goes on to present the major social crises and new populations the social worker confronts each day. Theory and Practice in Clinical Social Work includes twenty-four original chapters by leading social work scholars and master clinicians who represent the widest variety of clinical orientations and specializations.

This book, by one of the leading theorists of social work, tackles a subject of crucial importance to students and practitioners alike: how social workers can enable their clients to challenge and transcend the manifold oppressions that disempower them (whether through poverty, disability, mental illness, etc.). It moves from a discussion of social work's purpose and ambitions to an exposition of theory and, from there, to the practice arenas of working with individuals, in groups, within organisations, and within a wider social and political context.