Days in the Lives of Social Workers: 58 Professionals Tell "Real Life" Stories From Social Work Practice - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 192910930X ISBN 13: 9781929109302

Publisher: White Hat Communications, 2012

Synopsis

Spend a day with social workers in 58 different settings, and learn about the many career paths available to you. Did you ever wish you could tag along with a professional in your chosen field, just for a day, observing his or her every move? DAYS IN THE LIVES OF SOCIAL WORKERS allows you to take a firsthand, close-up look at the real-life days of 58 professional social workers as they share their stories. Join them on their journeys, and learn about the rewards and challenges they face.

This book is an essential guide for anyone who wants an inside look at the social work profession. Whether you are a social work graduate student or undergraduate student, an experienced professional wishing to make a change in career direction, or just thinking about going into the field, you will learn valuable lessons from the experiences described in DAYS IN THE LIVES OF SOCIAL WORKERS.

The 4th edition includes four new chapters, a new appendix on social media and mobile apps, and features a foreword by Elizabeth J. Clark, executive director of the National Association of Social Workers.

Table of Contents

About the Editor/Contributors
Foreword
Introduction to the 4th Edition
Acknowledgments

PART 1--HEALTH CARE

• Social Work in the ER
• Social Work in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
• Remembering Why I Became a Social Worker: Lessons Learned on Internal Medicine
• Social Work in an Infertility Clinic
• Working with Pregnant Women in Public Health
• Managing in Managed Care
• Social Work in the Commissioned Corps

PART 2--HIV/AIDS

• Private Practice With Urban Gay Men: With a Subspecialty in HIV/AIDS
• A Very Special Nursing Home in the South Bronx
• Pediatric HIV Research

PART 3--SCHOOL SOCIAL WORK

• Elementary School Social Work
• An Inner-City High School
• Social Work in a Rural School District

PART 4--CHILDREN, YOUTH, AND FAMILIES

• Urban Child Protective Services
• A Neighborhood Youth Center
• Play Therapy and Bullying
• Working with Gay and Lesbian Youth
• Child Welfare Ombudsman
• Employee Assistance Programs
• Social Work Goes to Summer Camp

PART 5--DISABILITIES

• Developmental Disabilities
• "Us" Becoming "Them"

PART 6--MENTAL HEALTH

• Involuntary Admission: A New Worker's Introduction to the "603"
• Partial Hospitalization
• Social Work in a Clubhouse
• Life as a Group Home Manager
• Disaster Mental Health Services

PART 7--SUBSTANCE ABUSE

• Dual Diagnosis: Substance Abuse and Mental Health in an Inpatient Setting
• Social Work in the Alaskan Bush
• Adventure-Based Practice

PART 8--PRIVATE PRACTICE

• Private Practice and the Eclectic Social Worker
• An Office to Call My Own: Private Practice in the Lesbian Community

PART 9--CRIMINAL JUSTICE: WORKING WITH OFFENDERS AND VICTIMS

• Prison Substance Abuse Treatment
• A Hard Day's Night: Working with Assaultive Men in Prison
• Residential Treatment for Adolescent Sexual Offenders
• Forensic Social Work: Mitigating Death Penalty Cases in a Capital Defense Unit
• Victim Services

PART 10--OLDER ADULTS AND THE END OF LIFE

• Social Work With Survivors of the Holocaust
• Nursing Home Social Work
• Senior Adult Coordinator
• Hospice Social Work
• Home Health Social Work
• Geriatric Care Management: A Growing Profession

PART 11--MANAGEMENT

• The Daily Life of NASW's Executive Director
• Life as an Agency CEO
• Association Management

PART 12--VETERANS AND THE MILITARY

• Family Advocacy in the Military
• Outreach to Homeless Veterans

PART 13--HIGHER AND CONTINUING EDUCATION

• Life as a BSW Educator
• A University Counseling Center
• Providing Continuing Education to Social Workers

PART 14--INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL WORK

• Consulting in Armenia
• Working with Unaccompanied Minors in Britain
• Working with Raskal Gangs in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea
• Working with Russian Immigrants

PART 15--WORKING IN COMMUNITIES

• Community Organizing for Social Change
• A Day in the Life of a Policy Practitioner
• Mucho Gusto en Conocerle (I'm Pleased to Meet You): Working with Migrant Farm Families

APP. A: Organizations of Interest to Social Workers
APP. B:  Additional Reading
APP. C: Web Resources
APP. D: Social Media, Blogs, and Apps, Oh My!

About this title

From the Author

Excerpt--Copyright Linda May Grobman. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.*Note: This excerpt is from the Introduction to the 4th Edition.

If variety is the "spice" of life, then social work is one of the "hottest" careers around. Variety is one of the things that make social work practice exciting for so many members of the profession. It's also one of the reasons so many people don't fully understand exactly what social workers do....

Indeed, it is sometimes difficult to articulate exactly what one does as a social worker, and the profession is sometimes misunderstood. So, when I set out to publish a book about social work, I wanted to convey a sense of not only what professional social workers do, but what their lives are like on a day-to-day basis.

This book is about real life social workers. It says, "I'm a social worker. Spend a day with me and see what it's like." It takes a firsthand, close-up look at the roles social workers play every day in places from hospitals to prisons to universities. It celebrates the joys and rewards of social work, and it presents a realistic view of the challenges of being a social worker. In it, real life social workers describe their days--not necessarily "typical" days, since most say there is no such thing, but days that are representative of the essence of their work....

Since [the] third edition, the need for social workers has continued to grow into even more diverse areas. We have continued to see social workers involved in the aftermath of such disasters  as Hurricane Katrina, mass shootings at Virginia Tech, the attempted assassination of Congressperson Gabrielle Giffords, and others. Bullying and bullying-related suicide are issues that have been in the forefront, and social workers need to be and ARE in the forefront helping to alleviate and prevent an epidemic from occurring. Cyberbullying and the effects of social media, both positive and negative, are emerging concerns. Military social work is a growing field, as is gerontological social work. Newspapers have reported the use of social work services in department stores and in public libraries. Indeed, social workers can be found just about anywhere.

Technology continues to grow as an integral part of our society. No longer simply an "add-on," knowledge of the latest technology has become an issue of cultural competence for social workers. In response to the enormous and ongoing development of new technologies and their implications for the social work profession, I have added an appendix to this edition to introduce readers to social work-related uses of social media, blogs, and mobile apps....

As you read DAYS IN THE LIVES OF SOCIAL WORKERS, you will discover that the career possibilities in social work are virtually endless. You will read about social workers who are employed by state and federal governments, social workers in private practice, social workers in other countries, social workers working for communities, and on and on. In each chapter, you will find something different, while you will also notice that many of the same core social work skills are used across settings.

My hope is that you will use this book as a starting point--an introduction to the variety of roles social workers play every day. Use it as you would the opportunity to literally follow and observe 58 different social workers for a day. Soak up as much as you can from each experience, decide what you would like to explore further, and then take it from there!

Linda May Grobman, ACSW, LSW, Editor
July 2011

About the Author

Linda May Grobman, ACSW, LSW, is the founder, publisher, and editor of THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER, the careers magazine for social work students and recent graduates. She has been a social worker in mental health and medical settings, is a former staff member of two state chapters of the National Association of Social Workers, and is co-author of THE SOCIAL WORKER'S INTERNET HANDBOOK, as well as editor or co-editor of other books in the DAYS IN THE LIVES OF SOCIAL WORKERS series. Linda also provides live therapeutic music at the bedside in hospice and nursing home settings.

About this edition

• Publisher: White Hat Communications
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 192910930X
• ISBN 13: 9781929109302
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 4
• Number of pages: 448
• Editor: Linda May Grobman