Ethnicity and Social Work Practice offers a broad conceptual model of ethnic identity which enables social workers to practice effectively with clients of all ethnic and racial groups. This book fills a major gap in the literature on social work and ethnicity. It presents ethnicity in an innovative way, focusing on its many dimensions in relation to social work practice. It addresses all areas of social work (individuals, families, groups, and communities) and includes separate chapters on social services, health care, and social planning and policy development.

This is one of the most well-known and respected texts on ethnic-sensitive social work practice, diversity practice, or practice with minorities. It can also be used as a supplement in social work practice courses at either the undergraduate or graduate levels. The text covers practice not only with minority groups but with other ethnic groups as well; it includes a chapter on practice with refugees and immigrants (Ch. 10). Ethnic-Sensitive Social Work Practice takes a generalist perspective, with coverage of individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. It also covers many approaches to practice, including empowerment and strengths perspectives, psychosocial perspectives, problem-solving and task-centered, as well as structural approaches. This text was one of the first written in response to CSWE's mandate for coverage of ethnicity within the social work practice sequence (in 1981), and it has since led the way in exploring issues of ethnic sensitivity in practice. The new edition includes coverage of a developing "new ethnicity" in America, with the emergence of a new population with multiracial backgrounds. The impact of welfare reform on ethnic communities is covered in Chapters 1, 8 (Direct Practice) and 9 (Macro Practice), 12 (Practice in the Public Sector), and 13 (Managed Care and Ethnicity).

Here is an important look at creative ways to successfully blend theoretical knowledge with skillful intervention in social group work. Theory and Practice in Social Group Work represents leading works in conceptual development that creatively connect practice with theory and also reflect the current diversity of interventions in group work practice. The book calls for more carefully articulated connections between knowledge and action and maps a strategy for strengthening social work curriculum and expanding group work practice. Some of the areas discussed include group work in medical and health settings, group work with people undergoing life cycle transitions, and group work interventions with vulnerable populations. A wide range of possibilities for applying theories in group work situations are presented in this thought-provoking volume. Some specific examples discussed include group work interventions with persons affected by the AIDS crisis and persons at high risk of contracting HIV, a group model for the management of chronic pain, group intervention services for the homeless mentally ill delivered through a mobile outreach team, a bingo group in an SRO hotel, group work with adults molested as children, and a model of practice for work with minority populations and communities.

This book brings together several valuable papers from different parts of the world, addressing social work with minorities in the areas of disability, sexuality, race, and ethnicity. Collectively, these make an important contribution to developing theory, and practice awareness of how social work education with minority groups is framed, evidenced, and experienced. The perspectives and different strands of work presented within this book offer new insights and a better understanding of how a diverse set of social justice issues confronting social work education have led to the development of different types of interventions both in the classroom and in practice contexts. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal Social Work Education.

Here is an exciting and informative volume on the use of social group work in psychiatric settings. As it affirms the significance of social group work’s clinical potential, Group Work With the Emotionally Disabled fosters further development in this highly specialized area of human service.Baruch Levine, a prestigious social group worker and clinical theorist, has edited this exceptional volume that emphasizes the coexistence of mental illness and mental health in effective group experiences for treating mental disability. Readers are treated to a comprehensive history of the development of the use of social group work practice with the emotionally disabled in psychiatric settings. Other authoritative chapters focus on the practice aspect and explore the problems and issues in group work with the emotionally disabled, the settings for group treatment of the chronically ill and psychiatrically at-risk, and the development of comprehensive approaches to the treatment and rehabilitation of persons with severe mental illness.

This comprehensive handbook presents major theories of social work practice with groups and explores contemporary issues in designing and evaluating interventions. Students and practitioners gain an in-depth view of the many ways that groups are used to help people address personal problems, cope with disabilities, strengthen families and communities, resolve conflict, achieve social change, and more. Offering authoritative coverage of theoretical, practical, and methodological concerns--coupled with a clear focus on empowerment and diversity--this is an outstanding text for group work and direct practice courses.

Stories Celebrating Group Work: It’s Not Always Easy to Sit on Your Mouth celebrates the 25th anniversary of the esteemed journal Social Work with Groups with a collection of 21 narratives from group work practitioners and educators. These highly personal stories from a range of social workers—young and old, “famous” and not so famous—reflect each author's development and experience, serving as both instruction and inspiration for practitioners and educators. This unique collection—by turns humorous, moving, profound, and down-to-earth—gets to the heart of what it means to be a member of the social work community. Each chapter of Stories Celebrating Group Work draws on its contributor’s area of expertise and interest in a specific topic, chronicling the development of the author's understanding, appreciation, and skill. Authors address the everyday concerns of social work professionals, such as maximizing mutual aid, promoting positive norms, maintaining authority in group work, managing conflict, dealing with taboo subjects, building a group work culture in a human services organization, working with a co-leader, tapping the strengths of group members, and addressing social change. The individual stories of working with men, women, and children suffering through abuse, homelessness, addiction, and teenage pregnancy, in places as diverse as East Harlem, Maine, Canada, Nebraska, Long Island, Haiti, Uruguay, help form a collegial spirit as group workers gain insight from the theory and practice of those who went before. The personal stories you’ll find in Stories Celebrating Group Work include: “How I Became a Social Worker” “The Power of Group Work with Kids” “How the Relational Model of Group Work Developed” “My Love Affair with Stages of Group Development” “But I Want to Do a Real Group” “Racial Difference and Human Commonality: The Worker-Client Relationship” and many more! Stories Celebrating Group Work: It’s Not Always Easy to Sit on Your Mouth is a one-of-a-kind collection of stories, at once entertaining and educational. It's an essential read for beginning and seasoned human services practitioners, and educators involved with, or interested in, working with groups.