Stress, Trauma, and Decision-Making for Social Workers


Book Description

Social workers regularly make high-risk, high-impact decisions: determining that a child has been abused; that an individual may take their own life; or that someone with a history of violence poses harm to another. In the course of this work, social workers are exposed to acute and prolonged workplace trauma and stress that may result in posttraumatic stress, compassion fatigue, and burnout. These effects not only impact practitioners, but also the decisions that social workers make and ultimately the quality of the services that they provide. In this book, Cheryl Regehr explores the intersection between workplace stress, trauma exposure, and professional decision-making in social workers. She weaves together practice experience, research on the impact of stress and trauma on performance and decision-making in other high-risk professions including paramedics and police officers, and the empirical study of competence and decision-making in social work practice. Covering a wide range of research and theory, she surveys practical approaches to reducing stress and trauma exposure, mitigating their effects in social work practice, and improving decision-making. This book is critical reading for all social workers who engage in high-stakes decision-making, from those newly embarking on a career to expert practitioners.




Ethics and Values in Social Work


Book Description

Social work ethics provide practitioners with guidance on how to promote social work values such as respect, social justice, human relationships, service, competence, and integrity. Students entering the profession need to develop a real-world understanding of how to apply these values in practice while also managing the dilemmas that arise when social workers, clients, and others encounter conflicting values and ethical obligations. Ethics and Values in Social Work offers a comprehensive set of teaching and learning materials to help students develop the knowledge, self-awareness, and critical thinking skills required to handle values and ethical issues in all levels of practice--individual, family, group, organization, community, and social policy. BSW and MSW students will particularly appreciate how complex ethical obligations and theories have been translated into plain language. Additionally, the comprehensive set of case examples and exercises provides realistic scenarios to develop critical thinking and problem solving skills across a range of practice situations.




Creating Trauma-Informed Schools


Book Description

Children in all educational levels are vulnerable to abuse, neglect, bullying, violence in their homes and neighborhoods, and other traumatic life events; research shows that upwards of 70% of children in schools report experiencing at least one traumatic event before age 16. Though school social workers are on the front lines of service delivery through their work with children who face social and emotional struggles in the pursuit of education, there are scant resources to assist them in the creation of trauma-informed schools. This book presents an overview of the impact of trauma on children and adolescents, as well as interventions for direct practice and collaboration with teachers, families, and communities. Social work practitioners and students will learn distinct examples of how to implement the ten principles of trauma-informed services in their schools; provide students with trauma-informed care that is grounded in the principles of safety, connection, and emotional regulation; and develop beneficial skills for self-care in their work.




The Sage Handbook of Decision Making, Assessment and Risk in Social Work


Book Description

The SAGE Handbook on Decision Making, Assessment and Risk in Social Work provides a comprehensive overview of key strands of research and theoretical concepts in this increasingly important field. With 49 chapters and four section summaries, this Handbook describes the ‘state of the art’; discuss key debates and issues; and gives pointers on future directions for practice, research, teaching, management of services, and development of theoretical understandings. A key aim of this Handbook is to support the development of sound, applied knowledge and values to underpin reasoned professional judgement and decision making by social workers in practice and those in management and regulatory roles. With contributions from a global interdisciplinary body of leading and emerging scholars from a wide variety of roles, this handbook has been designed to be internationally generalisable and applicable to all major areas of social work. This Handbook provides a field-defining account of decision making, assessment and risk in social work which is unrivalled for its diversity and strength of coverage, and will be of value to social work researchers, teachers and practitioners, as well as to those in allied fields such as health care. Section 1: Professional Judgement Section 2: Assessment, Risk and Decision Processes Section 3: Assessment Tools and Approaches Section 4: Developing and Managing Practice Section 5: Concluding Section / Afterword




Evidence Discovery and Assessment in Social Work Practice


Book Description

Social workers play a crucial part in contemporary society by ensuring that individuals are able to address, overcome, and manage obstacles in their daily lives. In an effort to better serve their clients, many practitioners have turned to evidence-based practice. Evidence Discovery and Assessment in Social Work Practice provides practitioners with the tools necessary to locate, analyze, and apply the latest empirical research findings in the field to their individual practice. This premier reference work provides insights and support to professionals and researchers working in the fields of social work, counseling, psychotherapy, case management, and psychology.




Handbook of Oncology Social Work


Book Description

The development of this inaugural Handbook of Oncology Social Work: Psychosocial Care for People With Cancer provides a repository of the scope of oncology social workers' clinical practice, education, research, policy and program leadership in the psychosocial care of people with cancer and their families. It focuses on the unique synergy of social work perspectives, values, knowledge, and skills with the psychosocial needs of cancer patients, their families, and the health care systems in which they are treated. It addresses both the science and art of psychosocial care and identifies the increasing specialization of oncology social work related to its unique knowledge base, skills, role, and the progressive complexity of psychosocial challenges for patients with cancer. This Handbook equips the reader with all that we know today in oncology social work about patient and family centered care, distress screening, genetics, survivorship, care coordination, sociocultural and economic diversity, legal and ethical matters, clinical work with adults living with cancer, cancer across the lifespan, their caregivers and families, pediatrics, loss and grief, professional career development, leadership, and innovation. Our hope is that in reading this Handbook you will identify new areas where each of you can leave your mark as innovators and change agents in our evolving field of practice.




Social Work Treatment


Book Description

First published in 1974, Social Work Treatment remains the most popular and trusted compendium of theories available to social work students and practitioners. It explores the full range of theoretical approaches that drive social work treatment and knowledge development, from psychoanalysis to crisis intervention. A treasure trove of practice knowledge, the text equips professionals with a broad array of theoretical approaches, each of which shine a spotlight on a different aspect of the human condition. Emphasizing the importance of a broad-based theoretical approach to practice, it helps readers avoid the pitfalls of becoming overly identified with a narrow focus that limits their understanding of clients and their contexts. This sweeping overview of the field untangles the increasingly complex problems, ideologies, and value sets that define contemporary social work practice. The result is an essential A-to-Z reference that charts the full range of theoretical approaches available to social workers, regardless of their setting or specialty.




Gerontological Social Work and the Grand Challenges


Book Description

The growing number of older adults in the United States poses a significant challenge to families, healthcare systems, mental health services, and many other caregiving groups. Using the Grand Challenges for Social Work initiative as a framework, this text evaluates critical policies and issues pertaining to older adults, identifying both the overall systemic inequalities currently working against older adults as well as specific areas that require updated policies and interventions. It calls for active attention to the implementation of science-based research, policy, and practices to promote health and well-being. Among the topics addressed: Family violence against older adults Disaster planning and preparedness Building financial capability for aging families Health needs of incarcerated older adults Closing the gap in healthcare services for older adults Social isolation and its effects on mental health and well-being A useful gerontology resource for students, social work scholars, and practitioners, Gerontological Social Work and the Grand Challenges advocates for justice and equal opportunity for older adults, and highlights important social issues that must be urgently addressed in the near future.




Dilemmas and Decision Making in Social Work


Book Description

Dilemmas and Decision Making in Social Work is a collection of stories to help social workers work with dilemmas, weigh up options and make good decisions. Told in the first person from the point of view of a social worker, each case study begins with the service user’s story and then applies relevant theory. It demonstrates where workers have to think outside their own frames of reference and seek other’s expertise, how they work with barriers to collaboration with other professionals and how to handle disagreements. Where fitting, the emotional impact of the work is highlighted and how social workers deal with this. In summary: Starts with the human story and then considers which theory applies so very accessible to readers Demonstrates thinking in action Packed with succinct examples of real time challenges and how these have been tackled Full of reflective questions valuable to all social workers and supervisors regardless of experience. This book helps students and new workers learn from experience of established workers, firstly to gain insight into practice in areas they have no experience, but primarily to help them understand how decisions are made reflexively in the moment.




Shared Mass Trauma in Social Work


Book Description

This edited volume looks at the phenomenon of shared trauma and how it affects social workers and their clients alike. Bringing together established voices from the field of social work, Shared Mass Trauma in Social Work presents ideas of how to provide resilient care and practice while social workers and their clients are both experiencing the same mass trauma. Social workers are often on the front line when community trauma occurs, and the boundary between their experiences and those of clients can become blurred. In this timely resource, Ann Goelitz and the contributors aim to share both their findings and evidence-based tools to help professionals look after themselves and their clients in times of turmoil. Beginning by setting a conceptual framework for shared trauma and reviewing related research, the contributors discuss the concept as it relates to events such as the coronavirus pandemic, climate change and natural disasters, police brutality and racism, and war and terrorism. Filled with case studies that bring the text to life, chapters then move to the modalities of psychotherapy, group work, and community organizing, before concluding with reflections and lessons learnt for future practice. The glossary of terms, sample syllabus, and practical exercises to support training social workers are a bonus for educators. Shared Mass Trauma in Social Work incorporates specific implications, trauma-informed care, social work principles, and practical tips to support training and established clinicians working in unprecedented circumstances.