Social Justice In Clinical Practice

Social work theory and ethics places social justice at its core and recognises that many clients from oppressed and marginalized communities frequently suffer greater forms and degrees of physical and mental illness. However, social justice work has all too often been conceptualized as a macro intervention, separate and distinct from clinical practice. This practical text is designed to help social workers intervene around the impact of socio-political factors with their clients and integrate social justice into their clinical work. Based on past radical traditions, it introduces and applies a liberation health framework which merges clinical and macro work into a singular, unified way of working with individuals, families, and communities. Opening with a chapter on the theory and historical roots of liberation social work practice, each subsequent chapter goes on to look at a particular population group or individual case study, including: * LGBT communities * Mental health illness * Violence * Addiction * Working with ethnic minorities * Health Written by a team of experienced lecturers and practitioners, Social Justice in Clinical Practice provides a clear, focussed, practice-oriented model of clinical social work for both social work practitioners and students. Review: This book, written by a struggling consumer and consummate advocate of great stature and growing vulnerability, is a must read for anyone working in the fields of mental health and addictions or living with mental illness and or addiction. - Andrew Malekoff, Social Work with Groups This book provides a clear and compelling vision of liberation health practice in social work. While not being prescriptive, it provides tools and a framework for analysis and action. The case presentations are highly effective at demonstrating the use of the triangle in a process of problem formulation that both includes and goes beyond traditional practice. These analyses and the plethora of interventions they inform will likely challenge all but the most cynical of practitioners, expanding readers' sense of what is possible. -- Journal of Sociology Social Welfare