The Skills of Helping Individuals, Families, Groups, and Communities

For students, Shulman (U. of Buffalo, State U. of New York) explains what social workers do in the helping process with individuals, families, and groups. He outlines a generalist practice model, common and variant elements and skills, and preparation for working in various modalities. He presents an interactional model, a theory of the helping process, the skills needed to put the framework into action, and empirical data supporting the framework. He includes discussion of ethics, the phases of work, working with communities and in larger systems and organizations, and different models of practice, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy, solution-focused therapy, and motivational interviewing, as well as psychodynamic and brief treatment. He draws on his studies of social work practice, supervision, management, and medical practice; the research of others; evidence-based practice models; and emerging models awaiting research support. This edition includes references to the Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards' 10 core competencies and 41 recommended practice behaviors of the Council on Social Work Education. It has more emphasis in early chapters on brief descriptions of other models and decreases the number of chapters on group work. Cases are included, as is more focus on recent evidence-based practice findings. The discussion of practice models adds content on feminist practices; religion and spirituality; working with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender clients; and responses to trauma and extreme events. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)