Introduction to Social Work in Canada: Histories, Contexts, and Practices

This comprehensive introduction to social work integrates perspectives from English, French, and Indigenous peoples in Canada to provide an inclusive treatment of the history, foundational skills, and specific fields of social work practice and research.

Part I begins with an exploration of the origins and foundational concepts of social work in Canada, including how Indigenous, French, and English traditions have shaped and informed social work practice in Canada. The text then discusses theoretical approaches, and the values and ethics at the core of professional practice. Part II examines foundational skills for social workers through a focus on working with individuals and families, and groups and communities. Part III explores specific fields of social work practice and research, with chapters focused on the health field and on working with children, Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, immigrants and refugees, the LGBTQ community, aging populations, and international social work. With an emphasis on diversity and drawing extensively on Canadian statistics and scholarship, this is an ideal text for introduction to social work courses. This updated, new edition features a substantially revised and expanded chapter on Indigenous Peoples and Social Work.

Nicole Ives, Associate Professor, School of Social Work, McGill University,Myriam Denov, Professor, School of Social Work, McGill University,Tamara Sussman, Associate Professor, School of Social Work, McGill University

Nicole Ives is an Associate Professor and Director of the Bachelor of Social Work program at McGill Universitys School of Social Work. She is a qualitative researcher with a focus on refugee and immigrant issues and issues of acculturation, exploring the lived experience of policies. Her research has included examining outcomes for refugees that have been sponsored by religious congregations, the effects of US immigration policy on Liberian refugee families, and Bosnian refugee resettlement in the United States and Denmark. Ives teaches Anti-Oppressive Social Work Practice and Qualitative Research Methods, participates on the BSW Program Task Force, and is a member of the First Nations and Inuit Social Work Program Steering Group. She has taught at McGill, the University of Pennsylvania, and Rutgers.

Myriam Denov is James McGill Professor, a Trudeau Fellow, and Canada Research Chair in Youth, Gender, and Armed Conflict (Tier 1) at the School of Social Work at McGill University. Her research and teaching interests lie in the areas of child and youth in adversity, and international child protection, with an emphasis on war and political violence, children in armed conflict, and gender-based violence. Denov has authored five books, including for Cambridge University Press and for Palgrave Macmillan. She holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge, where she was a Commonwealth Scholar.

Tamara Sussman is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work, McGill University. Her research focuses on how health services and systems impact older adults and their family members. Her research projects include spousal carers experiences with home care; older adults and family members experiences with the transition into long-term care; barriers and facilitators to the delivery of effective interventions for depressed older adults and their care partners; and most recently the experiences of more marginalized populations of older adults such as older homeless adults and older adults identifying as gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT). In 2011, Dr. Sussman was awarded the H. Noel Fieldhouse Award for Distinguished Teaching in recognition of her teaching excellence.