Social Work Skills

by PamelaTrevithick (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2000

  $3.27

  A welcome reminder in the age of competency framework of the value of social work skills. This book is a clearly written knowledge and practice based exploration of core skills for all social workers - Michael Preston-Shoot, Professor of Social Work and Social Care, Liverpool John Moores University. Written by an academic-practitioner, this text provides a detailed description of over fifty social work skills, with case examples of their creative use in practice. The book takes as its starting point the view that social work is a skilled activity and one that is uniquely located in 'no-win' situations, caught in a tension between conflicting and sometimes incompatible needs and expectations. These tensions call for critical thinking and balanced and judicious decision-making across a range of fundamental issues such as the rights of the parent and the needs of the child, acknowledging the needs of carers alongside those of their 'dependents' and weighing individual freedom against the risk to society. In order to address often severe and enduring problems and complex situations, social workers need to have at their fingertips a 'toolbox' of practice skills to help people to move their lives forward. Giving a name to these skills and being able to identify and demonstrate their effective use in evidence-based practice is a central theme of this text and one that provides an important and timely contribution to the literature on social work theory and practice. The handbook is essential reading for all social work students and a valuable reference resource for practicing social workers and human service professionals.

• Used

  Paperback
  2005

  $3.76

  'The second edition is very welcome and represents and extremely useful addition to theory/models texts. Pam brings a very lively style of debate to these issues and, extremely importantly, adds a critical edge which is what students require within the realm of contemporary practice' - Professor Jonathan Parker, Head of Department of Social Work, University of Hull. What skills do social workers need to become effective practitioners? How can these skills be perfected and made transferable across different service user and carer groups, contexts, and countries? How can these skills be used to enhance multi-agency co-operation and collaboration? Written by an experienced academic-practitioner, the new edition of this best-selling text is updated to include the current educational, policy and practice context of social work.It includes descriptions of over fifty social work skills, with case examples to illustrate their creative use in practice. Giving a name to these skills, and being able to identify and demonstrate their effective use in contemporary social work practice, highlights the importance of an evidence based and research led approach to practice. In particular, this edition contains new material on: social work methods, practice approaches and perspectives; the knowledge base of social work and the importance of the relationship between theory and practice; and, how the terms skill and intervention are defined and effectively applied in practice. The starting point for this text is that social work is - and has to be - a highly skilled activity. It is important to stress this fact because social work practitioners work with some of the most complex, unpredictable and troubling areas of human experience. For this reason, social work practice is also an intellectual activity. This calls for practitioners to acquire a 'toolbox' of skills that can be used to enable people to move forward. Social Work Skills is essential reading for all social work students and a valuable reference text for practising social workers and human service professionals.