This book provides school personnel with information on how concussion (mild traumatic brain injury) can affect learning, mental health, and social-emotional functioning, skills in developing and leading a school-based concussion support team, tools for school-based concussion assessment, and information on a safe, gradual process of returning to the academic environment. It explains what happens to the brain at the moment of impact, terminology, prevalence rates, causes, risk factors, and issues related to underreporting of concussions. Educators will learn about developmental effects, how concussions can affect students of different ages, as well as difficulties that can result from concussions such as postconcussion syndrome and second impact syndrome. This book presents a school-based concussion team model, including the specific responsibilities of the concussion team leader (CTL), and a discussion of maintaining student privacy through regulations like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. Readers are familiarized with checklists that can be used within the school and assessment tools such as Acute Concussion Evaluation (ACE) and neuropsychological assessment. Readers are also familiarized with how physical and cognitive rest can be balanced with a return to activity during the recovery period. This book also book gives concussion team members guidance on the selection of appropriate strategies, as well as decision making during a student’s return to academics, and discusses concussion prevention information by providing guidance on how readers might train others on concussion recognition and response. Case studies are integrated throughout the chapters.

This book provides the foundations and training that social workers need to master cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). CBT is based on several principles namely cognitions affect behavior and emotion; certain experiences can evoke cognitions, explanation, and attributions about that situation; cognitions may be made aware, monitored, and altered; desired emotional and behavioral change can be achieved through cognitive change. CBT employs a number of distinct and unique therapeutic strategies in its practice. As the human services increasingly develop robust evidence regarding the effectiveness of various psychosocial treatments for various clinical disorders and life problems, it becomes increasingly incumbent upon individual practitioners to become proficient in, and to provide, as first choice treatments, these various forms of evidence-based practice. It is also increasingly evident that CBT and practice represents a strongly supported approach to social work education and practice. The book covers the most common disorders encountered when working with adults, children, families, and couples including: anxiety disorders, depression, personality disorder, sexual and physical abuse, substance misuse, grief and bereavement, and eating disorders. Clinical social workers have an opportunity to position themselves at the forefront of historic, philosophical change in 21st-century medicine. While studies using the most advanced medical technology show the impact of emotional suffering on physical disease, other studies using the same technology are demonstrating CBT’s effectiveness in relieving not just emotional suffering but physical suffering among medically ill patients.

This book explores a set of key topics that have shaped research and given us a much better understanding of how language processing works. The study of language involves examining sounds, structure, and meaning, and the book covers the aspects of language in each of these areas that are most relevant to psycholinguistics. The book then covers relatively low-tech methods that simply involve pencil and paper as well as very high-tech methods like functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) that use advanced technology to determine brain activity in response to language and discusses a topic that has dominated the field for over two decades how people handle ambiguity in language. It describes how language is represented, both in the brain itself and in how multiple languages interact, which parts of the brain are critical for the basics of language, and how language ability can be disrupted when the brain is damaged. The book further talks about progressive language disorders like semantic dementia and what the study of disordered language can tell us about the neurological basis of language. Finally, it looks at sign language research to see if and how sign language processing differs from speech and a relatively new hypothesis that has emerged: most previous work has taken for granted that comprehenders (and speakers) fully process language, that is that we try to build complete representations of what we hear, read, or produce.

This book was conceived out of the authors' shared vision to synthesize key neurobiological developments with effective developments in clinical practice to offer both understanding and practical guidance for the many practitioners working to heal people burdened with traumatic sequelae. It is unique in bringing in all levels of the brain from the brainstem, through the thalamus and basal ganglia, to the limbic structures, including the older forms of cortex, to the neocortex. The book looks at the neurochemistry of peritraumatic dissociation (PD) and explores the effects on neuroplasticity and the eventual structural dissociation. Individual chapters focus on the definition of PD and tonic immobility (TI) and their associations with posttraumatic psychopathology, and review disturbances in self-referential processing and social cognition in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) related to early-life trauma. Separate chapters focus on the modulatory role of the neuropetides in attachment as well as autonomic regulation, and highlight mesolimbic dopamine (ML-DA) system as central to the experiences of affiliation, attachment urge when under threat, attachment urge during experience of safety, and to the distress of isolation and/or submission. The book while increasing awareness of different parts of the self and ultimately creating a more stable sense of self, also incorporates psychoanalytic, cognitive behavioral, and hypnotic methods, as well as specific ego state, somatic/sensorimotor therapies, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), and variations of EMDR suitable for working with trauma in the attachment period. The latter methods are explicitly information-processing methods that address affective and somatic modes of processing.

This book draws on in-depth research of couples in different situations and cultures to identify educational and therapeutic interventions that will help couples become conscious of and move beyond gendered power in their relationships so they can expand their options and well-being. Sharing family and outside work more equitably is a part of the gender-equality story. The book is divided into five parts. Part I of the book lays out the theoretical and methodological issues of gender equality that frame the book’s research projects and practice concerns. Chapters in this section frame the concept of gender equality and its role in promoting mutually supportive relationships. The second part examines the relational processes involved in equality between intimate partners. Traditional couples need help in defining the meaning of relational equality for themselves within external definitions of male and female roles. A chapter in this section is about same-sex couples and explores what happens when gender does not organize relationships. In Part III, two chapters look at how gender legacies and power influence mothering and fathering among parents of young children with a third showing how idealized notions of motherhood heighten and maintain postpartum depression after childbirth. The fourth part shows both similarities and cultural variation in power issues in different cultural settings. While one chapter considers how racial experience increases the complexities of gender and power in couple life, another discovers the considerable diversity in Iran by showing how couples work within a male-dominant legal and social structure that also includes a long cultural tradition of respect for and equality of women. Part V draws on the previous chapters to offer a guide for mental health professionals.

This book focuses on the key issues surrounding multicultural neurorehabilitation for a wide range of health care professionals. The study of traumatic brain injury has seen a clear evolution in the sophistication, breadth, and depth of findings concerning neuroepidemiology as it affects racial and ethnic minorities. As large-scale epidemiological studies increasingly include and distinguish individuals of color and linguistic minorities together with religion, sexual orientation, physical disabilities, place of residence, and key socioeconomic variables that interact with race/ethnicity, more information will be available to make changes in policy, training, and clinical service delivery. Neuropsychological assessment involves the administration of a battery of tests that assess a variety of cognitive domains to obtain a clinical picture of brain behavior relationships. Within the inpatient rehabilitation setting, neuropsychologists often perform various functions, including neuropsychological assessment, psychotherapy, and assistance with adjustment issues for patients and their families. The book discusses some of the common cultural issues that impact neuropsychology in an inpatient rehabilitation setting. Considerations of race and ethnicity, disability culture, military and veteran culture, and cultural aspects of religiousness and spirituality are all considered in the book. The authors in the book wrote from their own perspectives as clinicians and researchers, representing diverse cultural backgrounds and neurorehabilitation contexts and roles. Hopefully, the book will generate more discussion, research, and literature on multicultural neurorehabilitation.

This book serves as a practice resource for social workers by making accessible the vast territory covered by the social, cognitive, and affective neurosciences over the past 20 years, helping the reader actively apply scientific findings to practice settings, populations, and cases. It features contributions from social work experts in four key areas of practice: generalist social work practice; social work in the schools and the child welfare system; in health and mental health; and in the criminal justice system. Each of the chapters is organized around practice, policy, and research implications, and includes case studies to enhance practice application. The impact the environment has on neural mechanisms and human life course trajectories is of particular focus. It is divided into four sections. Section A includes chapters devoted to social-cognitive neuroscience conceptualization of empathy, mirror neurons, complex childhood trauma, the impact of trauma and its treatment through discussion of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Section B covers child maltreatment and brain development, transition of youth from foster care, social work practices in schools for children with disabilities, and managing violence and aggression in school settings. Section C deals with several issues such as substance abuse, toxic stress and brain development in young homeless children and traumatic brain injuries. Neuroscientific implications for the juvenile justice and adult criminal justice systems are explained in Section D.

This book is a guide to understanding core restorative justice values and practices and what we have learned from research on the impact of this emerging social movement in the global community. The first three chapters provide an overview of the restorative justice movement and its connection with core social work values and spirituality (not religion). Restorative justice dialogue and its most widespread applications are then presented in Chapters four through eight. Each chapter on a specific application of restorative justice dialogue includes a thorough description of the process, including case examples, followed by a review of empirical research that is available. These chapters describe the most widely used applications, namely victim-offender mediation (VOM), family group conferencing (FGC), peacemaking circles, and victim-offender dialogue (VOD) in crimes of severe violence. The concluding three chapters, nine through eleven, focus on broader issues related to restorative justice dialogue. The crucial role of the facilitator in restorative justice dialogue is highlighted, followed by identifying the dimensions of culture in the restorative justice movement and the very real possibility of unintended negative consequences if we are not mindful of these dimensions. Finally, emerging areas of practice that go beyond the juvenile and criminal justice system are addressed.

Field education has been identified as the “signature pedagogy” social work education. The practice of having students working alongside community practitioners is almost as old as the social work profession itself. Field education, which involves students working with practicing social workers to learn the knowledge, skills, and values of the social work profession, brings the intellectual content of the classroom into focus with everyday tasks and responsibilities. Therefore, the work of community-based practitioners who supervise social work interns is essential to our profession. This book includes content on how to recruit a practicum student, as well as useful information about effective supervision, learning assessment planning and development, integration of theory and practice, helpful evaluation techniques, and teaching social work ethics. It provides an introduction to the practice of field education, along with useful recommendations about how to maximize the learning experience of practicum students. College and university social work programs provide regular orientations to their field education programs. Students should adhere to agency expectations regarding dress, language, and boundaries. Once students are aware of the agency culture, they should be held accountable for meeting those expectations. Effective communication between the academic institution and the field instructor/agency setting is indispensable to the social work practicum process. Several models exist to help students determine an ethical course of action or to resolve an ethical dilemma. Practicing as an ethical social worker requires not only knowledge of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics, but also the ability to apply sound decision-making strategies to everyday situations encountered in social work practice.

The primary objective of this book is to describe how a relationship-building approach can be used in the delivery of child welfare services to kinship caregivers and the children who reside with them. To accomplish this objective, the book entails a review and evaluation of the three major child welfare goals: protection, permanency, and well-being. Specifically, it explores how these three goals can be better achieved when informed by a relationship-building approach. The book assists child welfare practitioners in framing how they view kinship caregivers and acquiring knowledge and skills about the use of relationship-building models (emanating from social work practice perspectives) and is designed to increase positive outcomes for maltreated children. The multifaceted issue of relative caregiving is in dire need of attention from virtually every social work service domain level. Specifically, micro-level practice interventions are needed, as well as mezzo-level programming for particular groups and macro-level policy redesigns that support services to relative caregivers are also warranted. The book integrates practice, policy, and research, and includes study tools and resources (a glossary, discussion questions, and activities for ongoing learning) and thus can be easily incorporated into such courses as child welfare, family practice, social work and the law, social work practice, cultural diversity, policy, child welfare integrative seminars, and special topic electives.