This evidence-based text puts a human face on mental disorders, illuminating the lived experience of people with mental health difficulties and their caregivers. Systematically reviewing the qualitative research conducted on living with a mental disorder, this text coalesces a large body of knowledge and centers on those disorders that have sufficient qualitative research to synthesize, including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism, intellectual disabilities, mood disorders, schizophrenia and dementia. Supported by numerous quotes, the text explores the perspective of those suffering with a mental disorder and their caregivers, discovering their experience of burden, their understanding of and the meaning they give to their disorder, the strengths and coping they have used to manage, as well as their interactions with the formal treatment system and the use of medication. This book will be of immense value to students, practitioners, and academics that support, study, and treat people in mental distress and their families.

This evidence-based text puts a human face on mental disorders, illuminating the lived experience of people with mental health difficulties and their caregivers. Systematically reviewing the qualitative research conducted on living with a mental disorder, this text coalesces a large body of knowledge and centers on those disorders that have sufficient qualitative research to synthesize, including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism, intellectual disabilities, mood disorders, schizophrenia and dementia. Supported by numerous quotes, the text explores the perspective of those suffering with a mental disorder and their caregivers, discovering their experience of burden, their understanding of and the meaning they give to their disorder, the strengths and coping they have used to manage, as well as their interactions with the formal treatment system and the use of medication. This book will be of immense value to students, practitioners, and academics that support, study, and treat people in mental distress and their families.

In a school-assigned diary, 11-year old Krystyn reveals abuse by her stepfather and what happens after she tells the secret. The audience (8 to 12 year olds) should identify with Krystyn who struggles to put the abuse in the context of her relationship with her mother, school, her friends, and the boy she likes. Written by a seasoned expert in sexual abuse treatment, research, and forensic interviewing, Krystyn's Diary is a sensitive yet realistic portrayal of abuse and disclosure, ending on a note of optimism and hope for the future.

Motivational interviewing is a person-centered, collaborative method for exploring ambivalence and enhancing motivation to change. Compatible with social work values and ethics, it is applicable to the wide range of problems and helping situations with which direct practice social workers are involved. One such by-product of working with vulnerable and oppressed clients - people to whom social work is committed - is that social workers are often employed in public agencies with people who have been ordered by the courts to attend services. In order to work successfully with mandated populations, helpers have to consider how they will access those who initially appear unmotivated to change. Motivational interviewing provides the stance and the tools to be able to achieve this effectively, while maintaining human dignity and respect of the individual. And although it can be used as a stand-alone model, motivational interviewing has also been employed as an initial intervention so that people become more motivated to participate in other services; it can be used flexibly on its own or integrated with other, more action-oriented interventions. This workbook, with its infusion of examples and numerous exercises, will help students and beginning practitioners develop the knowledge and skills to work collaboratively with clients and to build their motivation to change problem behaviors.

Case-Based Learning for Group Intervention in Social Work provides essential information on planning and facilitating groups in a clear and easy-to-understand format. Current practice challenges, such as working with people that are mandated to group services and the proliferation of open-ended groups, are taken on directly with an array of strategies. To develop student competency, this volume uses a contemporary pedagogy-case-based learning-as a teaching tool for analysis, application, and decision-making. By working through cases, students gain exposure to the considerable range of populations that can be served by social work group intervention. The text is accompanied by Teaching Notes (available at www.oup.com/us/case-based) to help instructors dive deeply into student responses, whether cases are discussed in the classroom as a whole, in small group activities, or as individual assignments.

Families today often face a range of urgent problems, and practitioners need to intervene with the most effective methods possible, methods which have been tested and that have proven clinical utility. Mental health service delivery systems are increasingly moving toward these empirically-validated approaches, and practitioners need guidelines as to how such treatments may be implemented in daily practice. Evidence-Based Family Interventions reviews the empirically validated treatments that are relevant for family practice in the social work setting.

When used in tandem, systematic reviews and meta-analysis-- two distinct but highly compatible approaches to research synthesis-- form a powerful, scientific approach to analyzing previous studies. But to see their full potential, a social work researcher must be versed in the foundational processes underlying them. This pocket guide to Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis illuminates precisely that practical groundwork.
In clear, step-by-step terms, the authors explain how to format topics, locate and screen studies, extract and assess data, pool effect sizes, determine bias, and interpret the results, showing readers how to combine reviewing and meta-analysis correctly and effectively. Each chapter contains vivid social work examples and concludes with a concise summary and notes on further reading, while the book's glossary and handy checklists and sample search and data extraction forms maximize the boo'ks usefulness.
Highlighting the concepts necessary to understand, critique, and conduct research synthesis, this brief and highly readable introduction is a terrific resource for students and researchers alike.

Direct practice foundation courses in social work prepare students for every step of the problem-solving process, yet too often emphasize the what and the why of practice at the expense of the how. This practical, easy-to-use, and hands-on guide bridges this gap by illustrating the helping skills that practitioners can actually use to influence people's lives in positive ways. Integrating two major helping models--motivational interviewing and solution-focused therapy--it equips students with the techniques and skills necessary for activating client strengths throughout the problem-solving process. Helping Skills for Social Work Direct Practice presents a wealth of sample dialogue, exercises, tips, and do's and don'ts, all designed to encourage learning by doing. This workbook helps make the links between theory and practice with these unique features: - Chapters logically organized by phases of the problem-solving process - Case demonstrations involving a variety of roles, including case manager, crisis intervention counselor, medical social worker, and school social worker - Practice exercises that prompt students to apply and generalize skills to different practice settings and client problems - Exhibits and reflection questions facilitate integration between classroom learning and the internship experience - An online instructor's manual (www.oup.com/us/helpingskills) with detailed answers to discussion questions From the first meeting with clients, to assessment, goal-setting, evaluation, and the ethics that guide the process throughout, this is the nuts-and-bolts guide to helping clients using a strengths-based perspective.

Rather than identifying and fixing preceived client weaknesses, this book takes into account both individual resources and the areas where client skills can be bolstered, offering an eclectic practice approach that interweaves and operationalizes both strengths-based practices approaches. In teh strengths and skills based model, which intergrates solution-focused therapy, motivational interviewing, anf cognitive behavioural therapy, clients are assumed to have the necessary capacities to solve their own problems, and a major focus of treatment is bolstering motivation and resources. When these resources are exhausted or when deficits are identified as a substantial barrier to change then skill building is introduced. However, sklls are taught in a collaborative fashion and as much as possible are made relevant to the client's unique circumstance. Chapters apply this approach to such issues as adolescent conduct problems, depression, substance abuse and domestic violence. This innovative, dynamic resource offers an assessment and intervention model for practitioners in the helping, social service and mental health professions. In addition the helping process can be applied in any number of roles, including that of case manager, probation officer, caseworker, medical social service personnel, counselor, crisis worker and therapist.