"'Why I am a social worker' describes the rich diversity and nature of the profession of social work through the 25 stories of daily lives and professional journeys chosen to represent the different people, groups and human situations where social workers serve. Many social workers of faith express that they feel 'called' to help people--sometimes a specific population of people such as abused children or people who live in poverty. Often they describe this calling as a way of living out their faith. 'Why I am a social worker' serves as a resource for Christians in social work as they reflect on their sense of calling, and provides direction to guide them in this process. 'Why I am a social worker' employs a narrative, descriptive approach, allowing the relationship between faith and practice to emerge through the professional life stories of social workers who are Christians. As such, it provides a way to explore integration on personal, emotional and practical levels."--Back cover.
Healing Justice offers a framework and practices for change makers who want to transform oppression, trauma, and burnout. Concerned with both the possibilities and limits of mindfulness and yoga for self-care, the book attends to the whole self of the practitioner, including the body, mind-heart, spirit, community, and natural world.
Get your family talking about adoption with the ultimate collection of films to help the whole family to explore their feelings in a fun and safe way. With a film for each week of the year, Addison Cooper has compiled the best movies, new and old, for family-friendly viewing. Among those featured are Finding Dory, Frozen, Paddington, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Kung Fu Panda, Star Wars, Divergent, The Blind Side and I am Sam. Carefully selected, the movies included will help families to comfortably talk about important adoption-related topics. They are accompanied by descriptions of the themes and ideas to get the conversations started. Helping all members of the family to explore both the pain and joy of adoption, they cover a range of issues which can arise such as culture, identity, control, and reunification. With something for everyone - from kids, to teens, to grown-ups - this is a must-have for all adoptive families.
"The Call to Social Work" is a great supplement to courses such as introduction to social work and social welfare, and social work practice. It can also be used in practicum/field courses to give students a better understanding of what various types of social workers do in daily practice. The text provides stories of real social workers with many different backgrounds, and is designed to help students to better understand the profession.
"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.
Social work graduate school is only the beginning of your preparation for professional life in the real world as a clinical social worker. Dr. Danna Bodenheimer serves as a mentor or a supportive supervisor as she shares practice wisdom on topics such as thinking clinically, developing a theoretical orientation, considering practice settings, and coping with money issues. She addresses the importance of supervision and how to use it wisely. A frank discussion on the important and rarely-talked-about issue of loving one's client is followed by a practical look at next steps-post-graduate options and finding your life's work in clinical social work. Altogether, Real World Clinical Social Work will serve to empower you as you find your own voice, your own way, and your own professional identity. What People Are Saying Reading Danna Bodenheimer's Real World Clinical Social Work: Find Your Voice and Find Your Way is like spending a weekend in a wonderful candid conversation with many of our favorite theorists! ....In language that is accessible, oftentimes metaphoric, and yet not at all simplistic, this book also introduces us to some of the clinical experiences of clients and therapists through an interweaving of their stories and theories. Just prior to presenting us with a thoughtful array of "post graduate options" for further learning and development, Bodenheimer explores the dimensions and dilemmas associated with still-controversial subjects like clients' transference and clinicians' countertransference, including feelings of love. Whether just entering the world of a master's-prepared social worker or having spent decades as an agency-based or private practitioner, an educator, or an administrator in the social services, spending time with Real World Clinical Social Work is a real gift to yourself and everyone you serve. Darlyne Bailey, Ph.D, ACSW, LISW Dean, Professor, and MSS Program Director Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research, Bryn Mawr College As students graduate from our MSW program, they often express a mix of excitement and anticipation about beginning social work practice. They almost always wonder, "Am I ready to do this work?" Dr. Bodenheimer's book is a wonderful bridge for new graduates as they move from the support of graduate education and agency supervision to independent practitioners. Using years of teaching and astute practice experience, she provides continued education, support, and clinical insight. While grounded solidly in practice theory, Dr. Bodenheimer guides practitioners to find their own practice wisdom and style that is so essential to the social work profession. No doubt, new social workers will find this an accessible, practical primer...and a life raft for embarking on the profession! Anne Marcus Weiss, LSW, MSW Director of Field Education University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy & Practice Danna Bodenheimer's book is the clinical supervisor you always wanted to have: brilliant yet approachable, professional yet personal, grounded and practical, yet steeped in theory, and challenging you to dig deeper. Jonathan B. Singer, Ph.D., LCSW Associate Professor of Social Work Loyola University Chicago Founder and Host, Social Work Podcast It is nearly impossible to begin a career as a budding clinical social worker without the accompaniment of a variably loud inner voice that says, "You have no idea what you are doing." Dr. Bodenheimer befriends the beginning clinician with this incredibly personable and accessible book and says, "Sure, you do." Dr. Bodenheimer uses herself as a vehicle for connection with the reader, and she speaks directly to that inner voice with compassion, understanding, and guidance. Cara Segal, Ph.D. Smith College School for Social Work, faculty Private Practitioner, Northampton, MA
"Burnout, one of the primary reasons why committed social workers leave the profession, is a grave and pervasive problem with glaring impact. Those entering social work and all related fields, as well as those already deeply involved, must be educated about its toll and prepared to address and prevent the depletion it causes. This book provides valuable insights for all who carry complex and divergent responsibilities. The author addresses burnout and self-care from the perspective of five arenas: the professional, personal, relational, societal, and physical. She integrates research, case studies, questionnaire responses, and her seasoned experience to identify four major root causes of burnout-compassion fatigue, countertransference, vicarious trauma, and moral distress and injury-and defines creative strategies for individual self-care opportunities. This resourceful guide offers clarification, direction, and opportunity for reflection to help students and professionals in social work, related fields, and beyond find balance in their personal and professional lives as well as ease work-related stress to better serve clients-and, in this way, achieve professional equilibrium, success, and personal fulfillment. This is the second, updated edition of the 2015 original"--
Selfless is the story of Kristen Holzapfel's journey to the dark side of social work, her dream to enter a 'selfless profession' that broke her heart, and nearly her body and mind. It is the story of her descent in to anorexia nervosa, her recovery from that terrible time and her struggle with the workplace that forced her back to the front line. Faced with the stress and vicarious trauma that drove her back to hospital and anorexia she had little choice but to give up the career she'd dreamed of since her childhood. This is her story of that time, and of her recovery, told as both a warning and as hope for others dreaming of a 'selfless career'.
One of the most respected texts in the field, The Social Work Interview is the standard guide for students and professionals, providing practical strategies for interviewing a wide range of clients in both routine and exceptional situations.
Written by a social worker with decades of experience, this book examines the dismissive attitude of society, and particularly the media, toward social work. The text argues, however, that the profession itself—including the bureaucratic machinery underpinning its service delivery to clients—is mostly to blame for its public portrayal as a network of stodgy, introverted, and sometimes ineffectual do-gooders. This call to action recommends that social workers begin to use the media to improve their public image, rather than continually shying away from controversy and news coverage.
