This book investigates how mental health in South Africa is conceptualised and constructed in public policy. Critiquing embedded assumptions within existing policy documentation, the book advocates for policy solutions centred on poverty alleviation and economic development.

Mental health in South Africa has historically been neglected within the health-care system, a stark reality underscored by the Life Esidimeni tragedy, which exposed widespread mismanagement, negligence, and insufficient resources in mental health-care services. While South Africa has enacted progressive mental health policies, their effective implementation remains hindered by systemic challenges. This book investigates the dominant problems represented in mental health policies, including the segregation of mental health from general health services, inadequate intersectoral collaboration in mental health care, community disconnection from mental health services, the association between poverty and mental health issues, and infringements upon the rights of individuals with mental health problems. Overall, the book underscores mental health as a socio-economic issue, requiring new policy solutions.

This book will be an essential read for mental health professionals and policy makers in South Africa, as well as for researchers working on the good governance of mental health, both within the country and at global and multilateral levels.

This collection charts the key developments in the social work field from 1970 to the present day and shows how by fully understanding social work's past, we can make better progress for practitioners and service users in the future. It brings together a broad collection of experts from across social work who trace how thinking and approaches to practice have changed over time, examine key legislative developments in the field, look at the impacts of major inquiries and consider the re-emergence of certain specialisms. Providing students and practitioners of social work and social policy with a full picture of the evolution of social work, it also shares important insights for its future directions.

This timely resource analyzes home visits as a primary intervention for at-risk families with infants and young children and details innovative programs for home service delivery. Focusing on family violence, mental illness and alcohol and substance abuse as major challenges to child development, the book presents practical strategies for home visitors to address and prevent problems while fostering an improved environment for raising children. Contributors offer a realistic framework for planning, developing, and training an effective home visitation workforce and tailoring interventions to fit individual family dynamics. And the book's international focus provides a variety of perspectives on evidence-based programs that support families raising children in distressed neighborhoods. Among the featured topics: Home visitation as a primary prevention tool for violence. Developmental parenting home visiting to prevent violence. Supporting the paraprofessional home visitor. Engagement and retention in home visiting child abuse prevention programs. Addressing psychosocial risk factors among families in home visiting programs. Home visitation programs in the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Home Visitation Programs: Preventing Violence and Promoting Healthy Early Child Development is an essential resource for researchers, graduate students and professionals in child and school psychology, social work, educational policy, family advocacy and public health.

For several decades conservatives set the political agenda in the United States, allowing them to focus the conversation on topics such as tax cuts, national security, and social issues. It is increasingly becoming apparent, however, that this has begun to change. Factors such as the election of the first African-American President and the increasing diversity of the population, the dramatic rise of income inequality, and the social liberalism of younger Americans indicate that progressive political ideas are more influential today than at any point in four decades. This book is the first to offer a comprehensive overview of progressive politics, combining historical analysis, a discussion of policy priorities today, and a survey of the challenges ahead. Featuring essays by leading scholars, analysts, and commentators, it is an indispensable guide to the ideas and debates that will shape American politics in the coming years.

This volume provides a critical and reflexive view into the counselling profession in India. Counselling and psychotherapy are emergent fields in India; there is inadequate synergy between theory and practice at present, as psychotherapy and counselling practice in the field have not sufficiently informed research, and vice versa. While research on counselling, the counselling process and training, and development of counsellors is extremely vital for the growth of the profession, practitioners seldom feel the need to wear the lens of the researcher. Drawing upon primary research on counsellors and psychotherapists in different parts of India, this volume bridges this gap and discusses the personal and professional journeys of counsellors at various stages of their career, which in turn facilitates further research on counselling in India. The chapters discuss practical issues like the challenges faced by novice counsellors, which contribute to feelings of inadequacy and incompetence; synergy between the personal and professional lives of counsellors and the effect of the counselling process on the self; elements that go into training and how counselling education could be positioned and developed; the use of creative arts in therapy; and the role of school counsellors and the process of negotiating boundaries among various stakeholders in the school system. The volume also examines ethical dilemmas in the field, which have wider policy ramifications.

A half century after its founding in London in 1844, the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) became the first NGO to effectively push a modernization agenda around the globe. Soon followed by a sister organization, the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), founded in 1855, the Y-movement defined its global mission in 1889. Although their agendas have been characterized as predominantly religious, both the YMCA and YWCA were also known for their new vision of a global civil society and became major agents in the world-wide dissemination of modern "Western" bodies of knowledge. The YMCA's and YWCA's "secular" social work was partly rooted in the Anglo-American notions of the "social gospel" that became popular during the 1890s. The Christian lay organizations' vision of a "Protestant Modernity" increasingly globalized their "secular" social work that transformed notions of science, humanitarianism, sports, urban citizenship, agriculture, and gender relations. Spreading Protestant Modernity shows how the YMCA and YWCA became crucial in circulating various forms of knowledge and practices that were related to this vision, and how their work was coopted by governments and rival NGOs eager to achieve similar ends. The studies assembled in this collection explore the influence of the YMCA's and YWCA's work on highly diverse societies in South, Southeast, and East Asia, North America, Africa, and Eastern Europe. Focusing on two of the most prominent representative groups within the Protestant youth, social service, and missionary societies (the so-called "Protestant International"), the book provides new insights into the evolution of global civil society in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and its multifarious, seemingly secular, legacies for today's world. Spreading Protestant Modernity offers a compelling read for those interested in global history, the history of colonialism and decolonization, the history of Protestant internationalism, and the trajectories of global civil society. While each study is based on rigorous scholarship, the discussion and analyses are in accessible language that allows everyone from undergraduate students to advanced academics to appreciate the Y-movement's role in social transformations across the world.

This is the first book to explore the different relationships between active citizenship and civil society, particularly the third sector within civil society. In what ways can the third sector nurture active citizenship? How have the third sector and active citizenship been constructed and reconstructed both locally and internationally, over recent years? To what extent have new kinds of social connectedness, changing forms of political engagement and increasingly complex social and environmental problems influenced civil society action? Written by experts in the field, this important book draws on a range of theory and empirical studies to explore these questions in different socio-political contexts and will be a useful resource for academics and students as well as practitioners.

This book offers a critical reflection on the ways in which migration has shaped Australia's cities, especially over the past twenty years. Australian cities are among the world's most culturally diverse and are home to most of the nation's population. This edited collection brings together contemporary research carried out by scholars across a range of diverse disciplines, all of whom are concerned with the intersections between migration and urban change. The chapters are organised under three sections: demographic, settlement and environmental transitions; urban form and housing transitions; and socio-cultural transitions. Drawing on diverse theoretical and methodological approaches, the chapters engage with a range of factors and influences affecting migration and urban development. This book will be of special interest to scholars and practitioners in the disciplines of sociology, urban planning, geography, public policy and environmental sustainability.

This timely and relevant book focuses on the societal impact of the pandemic on children and the educational, social and psychological services that function to support them. It acknowledges the constant change and adaptation required in real time and provides the basis for a start to the discussion about the effects of COVID-19 on families and everyone involved with 'school life'. Essays include reflections on the impact of lockdown on children and the lessons to be learned, with contributions from children, parents, teachers, educational psychologists and social workers in the UK and worldwide.

Malcolm X once warned of the power of the media, "societal oppression" and its ramifications. Ignominiously, within today's society young people live up to labels handed to them, and wear them as badges of honour, suffer poverty, oppression within the education and penal system, and are constantly fighting for status in a very bigoted society, where the poor get poorer and the rich get richer. The author argues that a chauvinistic society, the lack of culpability, uninspiring media reporting, which remain relentless, and the antagonistic systems which remain aloof to socially excluded young people, have contributed to the rise of the "new aged gangs", thus creating a "them and us" culture. A culture with the ability to become a social norm. Guns, gangs and the implication for social workers is a must read for all professionals who wish to understand some of the ills of todays, in order to building a better tomorrow.

This book demonstrates that alternative approaches to criminal rehabilitation succeed in developing pro-social attitudes and in improving mental, physical and spiritual health for youth and adults in prison and community settings. The use of mindfulness is highlighted as a foundational tool of self-reflexivity, creative expression and therapy.

Saul Alinsky, according to Time Magazine in 1970, was a ""prophet of power to the people,"" someone who ""has possibly antagonized more people . . . than any other living American."" People Power introduces the major organizers who adopted and modified Alinsky's vision across the United States: Fred Ross, Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, and the Community Service Organization and National Farm Workers Association Nicholas von Hoffman and the Woodlawn Organization Tom Gaudette and the Northwest Community Organization Ed Chambers, Richard Harmon, and the Industrial Areas Foundation Shel Trapp, Gale Cincotta, and National People's Action Heather Booth, Midwest Academy, and Citizen Action Wade Rathke and ACORN Weaving classic texts with interviews and their own context-setting commentaries, the editors of People Power provide the first comprehensive history of Alinsky-based organizing in the tumultuous period from 1955 to 1980, when the key organizing groups in the United States took form. Many of these selections--previously available only on untranscribed audiotapes or in difficult-to-read mimeograph or Xerox formats--appear in print here for the first time.

Emerging approaches to treating addictions and minimizing relapse are spotlighted in this idea-packed volume, as alternatives or adjuncts to standard psychological and pharmacological therapies. Its biopsychosocial perspective delves into the causes and processes of chemical dependence, and the clinical characteristics it shares with other addictions (e.g., food, sex, gambling, online activities), to identify client needs that substance abuse may fulfill. Accordingly, the diverse modalities featured here address substance addiction on multiple levels, offering clients physical or mental stimulation and/or emotional relief as well as affording different degrees of autonomy. Methods can be mixed and matched to reinforce treatment goals, and clinicians can tailor treatment to individual issues and interests to assure clients nuanced and meaningful care. Included in the coverage: * Use of herbal medicine to treat drug addiction. * EMDR therapy and the treatment of substance abuse and addiction. * Evaluating the change processes in drug users' interventions. * Web-based interventions for substance abuse. * Physical exercise and treatment of addiction. * Mindfulness to reduce the anxiety during the abstinence * Neurofeedback to deal with craving and anxiety symptoms Psychologists, psychiatrists, clinical social workers, and addiction counselors and educators will find Innovations in the Treatment of Substance Addiction a valuable sourcebook for understanding addiction-and intervention-in its wider context.

This handbook examines the wide-ranging applications of positive psychology in the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities. It discusses the change in perceptions of disability and the shifting use of traditional deficit-based treatments. It presents evidence-based approaches and strategies that promote individuals' strengths and capacities and as well as provide supports and services to enhance quality of life. Chapters address medical and psychological aspects in intellectual and developmental disabilities, such as mindfulness, motivation, physical well-being, and self-regulation. The book also discusses uses of assessment practices in evaluating interventions and client outcomes. In addition, it explores ways practitioners, with positive psychology, can focus on what a person is capable of achieving, thereby leading to more effective approaches to care and treatment. Topics featured in the Handbook include: Translating the quality of life concept into practice. The Casual Agency Theory and its implications for understanding self-determination. The Mindfulness-Based Individualized Support Plan (MBISP) and its use in providing support to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The unique role that friendship plays to people's lives and social well-being. Supported Decision-Making (SDM) as an alternative to guardianship. A positive psychology approach to aging and retirement. The Handbook of Positive Psychology in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities is a must-have resource for researchers, professors, and graduate students as well as clinicians and related professionals in clinical child and school psychology, behavioral therapy, social work, applied behavioral analysis, recreational therapy, occupational therapy, education, speech and language pathology, psychiatry, clinical medicine, and nursing.

Social work and poverty: A critical approach provides a timely review of the key issues facing social workers and service users in working together to combat poverty.First, it situates social work and poverty within a historical context, then analyses definitions and theories of poverty along with their importance in enabling anti-oppressive practice with service users. It goes on to evaluate the Welfare Reform Act 2012 in relation to the negative impact on service users and social workers alike. Key areas of social work and social care are covered with regard to the effects of poverty including, uniquely, access to food, obesity and problematic drug use. Finally the impacts of globalisation on social work and issues of poverty are explored. The book will be of interest to students, researchers and academics in social work and policy makers working in related areas.

How is social work shaped by global issues and international problems and how should it address them? This book employs a radical perspective to examine international social work. Globalisation had opened up many issues for social work, including how to address global inequalities, the impact of global economic problems and trends towards neoliberalism. By examining the origins of modern social work, problematising its definition and addressing the care/control dichotomy the book reveals what we can learn from different approaches and projects across the globe. Case studies from the UK, the US, Canada, Spain, Latin America, Australia, Hungary and Greece bring the text to life and allow both students and practitioners to apply theory to practice.

This book presents original research outlining the key elements in responding to parental misuse of drugs and alcohol. * Offers a definition of "misuse" and "addiction" and the factors that influence the nature of misuse or addiction * Reviews extensively the nature and impact of parental substance misuse on children and families using the latest evidence * Explores how research and theories might help inform professionals or non-professionals assessing families affected by parents who misuse drugs or alcohol * Provides an in-depth discussion of Motivational Interviewing, including a critical discussion of the challenges and limitations involved in using it in child and family settings * Considers the wider implications of the findings for practice and policy and argues that these responses can be used across the field of work with vulnerable children and their families

Over the last few decades, public opinion has been traumatised by revelations of child abuse on a mass scale. It has become the major human rights story of the 21st century in Western society. This ground-breaking book explores the relationship between the media, child abuse and shifting adult-child power relations which, in Western countries, has spawned an ever-expanding range of laws, policies and procedures introduced to address the 'explosion' of interest in the issue of child abuse. Allegations of child sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy in Ireland - and its 'cover-up' by Church authorities - have given rise to one of the greatest institutional scandals of modern history. Through in-depth analysis of 20 years of media representation of the issue, the book draws significant insights on the media's influence and its impact on civil society. Highly topical and of interest and relevance to lecturers and researchers in the areas of childhood studies, sociology of childhood, child protection and social work, social and public policy and human rights, as well as policymakers, this book provides an important contribution to the international debate about child abuse as reflected to the public through the power of the media.

Saul Alinsky, according to Time Magazine in 1970, was a ""prophet of power to the people,"" someone who ""has possibly antagonized more people . . . than any other living American."" People Power introduces the major organizers who adopted and modified Alinsky's vision across the United States: Fred Ross, Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, and the Community Service Organization and National Farm Workers Association Nicholas von Hoffman and the Woodlawn Organization Tom Gaudette and the Northwest Community Organization Ed Chambers, Richard Harmon, and the Industrial Areas Foundation Shel Trapp, Gale Cincotta, and National People's Action Heather Booth, Midwest Academy, and Citizen Action Wade Rathke and ACORN Weaving classic texts with interviews and their own context-setting commentaries, the editors of People Power provide the first comprehensive history of Alinsky-based organizing in the tumultuous period from 1955 to 1980, when the key organizing groups in the United States took form. Many of these selections--previously available only on untranscribed audiotapes or in difficult-to-read mimeograph or Xerox formats--appear in print here for the first time.

The profession of social work has, since its inception, stressed the importance of the family system in practice and policy development. Even though the family has always been central to effective social work practice, the framing of the family system from a holistic health perspective is new to the field. This collection develops a family health perspective that will facilitate effective social work practice and policy development.

Family health is an emerging practice orientation within the field of social work. A family health orientation practice utilizes a holistic approach that examines family strength and stress inside and outside the family system. How families perceive these conditions and their ability to adapt and change will greatly determine how concerns are managed by the family system. A critical role of the social work practitioner is to help families deal with these pressures at both the micro and macro levels.

The family health perspective examined in this collection deals with assessment and intervention through a family health approach; research and evaluation on family health; family health and cultural diversity; family health and social policy; and social service delivery through a family health approach.

Much has been written about special education and about inclusive education, but there have been few attempts to pull these two concepts and approaches together. This book does just that: sets special education within the context of inclusive education. It posits that to include, effectively, all children with special educational needs in schools requires an integration of both concepts, approaches, and techniques. It has never been more timely to publish a book that helps professionals who work with schools, such as psychologists, special education professionals, and counselors, to identify effective practices for children with special needs and provide guidelines for implementing these in inclusive schools.

Gun violence occurs in urban areas more than it does anywhere else, and youth of color in these areas are disproportionately impacted in the United States. How can we approach this? What can we do to stop this from happening in the first place? In addition to trying to bolster the barriers one must cross to acquire a gun, we must also focus on the communities struggling with this abuse. In this book, Melvin Delgado approaches this nationwide issue with a specific focus on the victims: detailing the primary issues surrounding gun violence, what social workers can do about it, and why it is critical for those in the field to get involved. Delgado identifies the current strategies used by social workers, providing professionals with the tools necessary to identify key problems before they escalate enough to lead to violence. He also discusses ways to reshape the education social workers receive to make sure they keep these racial injustices in mind in their approaches. Self-help organizations can intervene and potentially reduce the number of gun-related deaths that occur in cities nationwide, but we too often do not look to them after a shooting. Urban Gun Violence presents opportunities for improvement based on the work done by urban self-help organizations in the past. Building off of these organizations from across the US-from Louis D. Brown Peace Institution in Boston to the Community Justice Reform Coalition in San Francisco-Delgado illustrates how social workers can advocate for minority communities impacted by this lethal weapon. With chapters spanning everything from how people obtain guns-legally and illegally-to lessons from the field, the book outlines the path toward successful intervention.

This volume develops a comprehensive multivariate paradigm of the process of aging, delineating the factors underlying age-related degeneration. The model is aimed at understanding the conditions under which age sets into motion a process of degeneration. Accumulating evidence suggests that age per se is not the decisive factor in age-related regression--leading scholars to distinguish between chronological and functional age. The process of degeneration is evidently due to the combined impact of deleterious biophysiological, psychological, and socio-cultural factors and the interaction among them.

Based on this evidence, Zeev Ben-Sira shows how age-related degeneration can be viewed as a product of a damaging cycle of reciprocally activating stimuli from the person's internal and external environment. Consequently, aging is conceptualized as a process of bio-psychosocial regression. The paradigm outlined in this volume identifies factors that are likely to accelerate or decelerate the process of aging.