A step-by-step guide to the underpinning theoretical knowledge in social work helping your students to confidently apply theory in practice.

- Exercises will help them get to grips with the essentials and reflect on learning.

- Case studies from eight fictional social workers located in a busy local authority office will allow them to explore a range of different practice experience, theoretical perspectives and approaches to understanding situations and identifying possible courses of action.

- The authors' own experiences will show the importance of reflection, supervision and continual learning to help them prepare for the reality of practice.

About the Author
I have been a social worker since 1992 and chose social work as a profession to challenge inequality and discrimination. I have worked mainly in childcare social work, and from 1995, specifically in fostering and adoption. I have worked in statutory, voluntary and independent social work and have worked in all four countries of the UK. I developed a specialism working with male carers, as well as caring for children on the autism spectrum. Having held a wide range of practice, training, reviewing and management roles, I am also a passionate educator. I am qualified to teach adults and children, have been an NVQ assessor and am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. I completed a PhD on foster fathers through Durham University, and joined Northumbria University's teaching team in 2013. I teach across all social work programmes, focusing particularly on social work assessments and interventions. I supervise PhD students, and I currently am principal investigator on an evaluation of simulation-based learning in social work programmes. I qualified as a social worker in 2001, and went on to practice in a variety of mental health settings. I became an Approved Social Worker (ASW) and later an Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP). I developed a specialism in working with people diagnosed with emotionally unstable personality disorder and self-harming and suicidal behaviours. I qualified as a Best Interests Assessor (BIA), and went on to become a local authority Mental Capacity Act lead. From 2013 until its closure, I was a College of Social Work's accredited Expert Safeguarding Adults Practitioner. I left practice in 2013, to teach and research at Northumbria University. I teach across all qualifying and post qualifying social work programmes, focussing particularly on social work with adults, mental capacity, adult safeguarding and mental health. I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and I am currently completing a PhD, which explores how adult safeguarding is performed with people experiencing dementia.

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"...Really going to deepen students' understanding and...boost their comprehension." -- Daniel Okamura
This book provides a helpful overview of social work theory comprising theories from diverse disciplines. In line with the eclectic approach to theory, this comprehensive exploration of theories encourages social work students and practitioners to develop a holistic understanding of the experiences and/or behaviours of service users and carers in the current social context. However, theory is an essential and integral
element of social work practice that tends to alienate or be overlooked by students and practitioners alike, as they find it difficult to see the relevance of abstract theory to reallife practice. By using the Theory Circle and case study examples as tools, readers can
learn how to think theoretically and apply theories to practice. This book, hence, is a great resource for students and practitioners to refer back to as a guide to inform their practice. -- I-Hsuan Lin * China Journal of Social Work *



Book Information
ISBN 9781526492364
Author Philip Heslop
Format Paperback
Page Count 232
Imprint Sage Publications Ltd
Publisher Sage Publications Ltd
Weight(grams) 420g