This chapter presents an overview of the restorative justice movement in the twenty-first century. Restorative justice, on the other hand, offers a very different way of understanding and responding to crime. Instead of viewing the state as the primary victim of criminal acts and placing victims, offenders, and the community in passive roles, restorative justice recognizes crime as being directed against individual people. The values of restorative justice are also deeply rooted in the ancient principles of Judeo-Christian culture. A small and scattered group of community activists, justice system personnel, and a few scholars began to advocate, often independently of each other, for the implementation of restorative justice principles and a practice called victim-offender reconciliation (VORP) during the mid to late 1970s. Some proponents are hopeful that a restorative justice framework can be used to foster systemic change. Facilitation of restorative justice dialogues rests on the use of humanistic mediation.

This chapter describes some of the recent restorative justice innovations and research that substantiates their usefulness. It explores developments in the conceptualization of restorative justice based on emergence of new practices and reasons for the effectiveness of restorative justice as a movement and restorative dialogue as application. Chaos theory offers a better way to view the coincidental timeliness of the emergence of restorative justice as a deeper way of dealing with human conflict. The chapter reviews restorative justice practices that have opened up areas for future growth. Those practices include the use of restorative practices for student misconduct in institutions of higher education, the establishment of surrogate dialogue programs in prison settings between unrelated crime victims and offenders. They also include the creation of restorative justice initiatives for domestic violence and the development of methods for engagement between crime victims and members of defense teams who represent the accused offender.

This chapter describes the relevance of critical thinking and the related process and philosophy of evidence-based practice (EBP) to cognitive behavior therapy and suggests choices that lie ahead in integrating these areas. Critical thinking in the helping professions involves the careful appraisal of beliefs and actions to arrive at well-reasoned ones that maximize the likelihood of helping clients and avoiding harm. Critical-thinking values, skills and knowledge, and evidence-based practice are suggested as guides to making ethical, professional decisions. Sources such as the Cochrane and Campbell Collaborations and other avenues for diffusion, together with helping practitioners and clients to acquire critical appraisal skills, will make it increasingly difficult to mislead people about “what we know”. Values, skills, and knowledge related to both critical thinking and EBP such as valuing honest brokering of knowledge, ignorance and uncertainty is and will be reflected in literature describing cognitive behavior methods to different degrees.

This chapter describes the Coping Skills Program, an innovative, school-based, universal curriculum for elementary-school aged children that is rooted in cognitive behavior theory. Rooted in cognitive behavior theory, the Coping Skills Program consists of carefully constructed metaphorical fables that are designed to teach children about their thinking; about the connections among their thoughts, feelings, and behavior; and about how to change what they are thinking, feeling, and doing when their behavior causes them problems. The chapter provides a thorough description of the Coping Skills Program and how it is implemented through a discussion of relevant research-based literature, and the theoretical underpinnings underlying this cognitive behavior approach with school-aged children. It also includes the results of preliminary testing of the Coping Skills Program. The research-based literature shows that cognitive behavior approaches are among the interventions commonly used by social workers to help young children in school settings.

This chapter describes the current trends toward greater gender equality in couple relationships, what keeps old patterns of gendered power alive, and why equality is so important for successful relationships. Relationship vignettes like the ones just described are common. Sharing family and outside work more equitably is only part of the gender-equality story. Gender ideologies are replicated in the way men and women communicate with each other and influence the kind of emotional and relational symptoms men and women present in therapy. Stereotypic gender patterns and power differences between partners work against the shared worlds and egalitarian ideals that women and men increasingly seek. The concept of relationship equality rests on the ideology of equality articulated in philosophical, legal, psychological, and social standards present today in American and world cultures. The four dimensions of the relationship equality model are relative status, attention to the other, accommodation patterns, and well-being.

This chapter explores the relationship between gender and power. Gendered power in couple relationships arises from a social context that has given men power over women for centuries. When practitioners fail to take account of social context, however, they may run the risk of inadvertently pathologizing clients for legitimate responses to oppressive experiences. The term gender is a socially created concept that consists of expectations, characteristics, and behaviors that members of a culture consider appropriate for males or females. Consequently, an individual’s ideas about gender may feel deeply personal even though they are a product of social relationships and structures. Strong social forces work to keep social power structures, including gender inequality, in place. The continued presence of gendered power structures in economic, social, and political institutions still limits how far many couples can move toward equality. Today, ideals of equality compete with the institutional practices that maintain gender inequality.

This chapter examines the cultural and relational contexts of postpartum depression. Postpartum depression (PPD) is a debilitating, multidimensional mental health problem that affects 10"-15” of new mothers and has serious consequences for women, children, families, and marriages. Although women’s experience of postpartum depression has been the subject of considerable recent study, nearly all of this work has been interpreted within a medical or psychological frame. The chapter looks at a social constructionist lens to this body of research through a meta-data-analysis of recent qualitative studies of PPD. Though hormonal changes as a result of childbirth are related to depressive symptoms after childbirth, biological explanations alone cannot explain postpartum depression. A social constructionist approach to postpartum depression focuses on how the condition arises in the context of ongoing interpersonal and societal interaction. Climbing out of postpartum depression is an interpersonal experience that requires reconnection with others.

Clinical social workers have an opportunity to position themselves at the forefront of historic, philosophical change in 21st-century medicine. As is so often true for social work, the opportunity is associated with need. For social workers, in their role as advocates and clinicians, this unmet need would seem to create an obligation. This chapter argues that, if choosing to accept the obligation, social workers can become catalysts for vitally needed change within the medical field. 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 Cognitive behavior therapy’s (CBT) effectiveness in relieving not just emotional suffering but physical suffering among medically ill patients. While this chapter discusses the clinical benefits and techniques of CBT, it also acknowledges the likelihood that social work will have to campaign for its implementation in many medical settings.

School social workers provide direct treatment for a multitude of problems that affect child and adolescent development and learning; these problems include mood disorders, attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD), disruptive behavior disorders, and learning disorders, as well as child abuse and neglect, foster care, poverty, school drop out, substance abuse, and truancy, to name but a few. This chapter examines four constructs that are important when working with students. These constructs include: assessment and cognitive case conceptualization, the working alliance, self-regulated learning, and social problem solving. The chapter discusses the development of attainable and realistic goals is a critical component both of self-regulated learning and social problem solving. The chapter examines the problem of academic underachievement and four constructs that are critically important when working with children and adolescents in school settings. Academic underachievement is a serious problem affecting the lives of many children.

This chapter explains a set of guidelines to help mental health professionals and clients move away from the gender stereotypes that perpetuate inequality and illness. Identifying dominance requires conscious awareness and understanding of how gender mediates between mental health and relationship issues. An understanding of what limits equality is significantly increased when we examine how gendered power plays out in a particular relationship and consider how it intersects with other social positions such as socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. To contextualize emotion, the therapist draws on knowledge of societal and cultural patterns, such as gendered power structures and ideals for masculinity and femininity that touch all people’s lives in a particular society. Therapists who seek to support women and men equally take an active position that allows the non-neutral aspects of gendered lives to become visible.

Most Behavioral Group Therapy (BGT) with children and adolescents include aspects of problem solving or social skills training or both. This chapter describes group workers can make an important contribution to children, families, and schools through preventive and remedial approaches. Social skills training grew out of the clinical observation and research that found a relationship between poor peer relationships and later psychological difficulties. The social skills program taught the following four skills: participation, cooperation, communication, and validation/support. The chapter focuses on the unique application of behavioral treatment using groups with an emphasis on assessment, principles of effective treatment, and guidelines for the practitioner. It also focuses on the use of the group in describing these aspects of BGT. The primary goal of using BGT with children is enhancing the socialization process of children, teaching social skills and problem solving, and promoting social competence.

This chapter provides insight into the dilemmas couples face when ideals of equality intersect with societal structures that maintain gendered power. It examines how Iranian couples construct gender and negotiate power within their culture, political structure, and Islamic values. Gender equality may express itself differently in a culture such as Iran that not only emphasizes collective goals and achievements, strong feelings of interdependence, and social harmony. Collectivism typically maintains social order through a gender hierarchy. Contemporary Iranian couples draw from diverse cultural legacies. Although some couples seemed to accept the traditional gender hierarchy and a few others appeared to manage relatively equally within it, other couples were quite aware of gendered-power issues and attempted to address them in their personal lives. Some couples describe trying to maintain an equal relationship in their personal lives despite men’s greater legal authority.

This chapter examines how 12 White, middle-class couples negotiated the issue of equality in their relationships during their first year of marriage. The social context both supports and inhibits the development of marital equality. To be included in the present study, complete transcripts with both the husband and wife present had to be available, both members of the couple had to express ideals of gender equality, and both had to express commitment to careers for wives as well as husbands. Most of the couples classified as creating a myth of equality, spoke as though their relationships were equal but described unequal relationship conditions. The other couples classified in the myth-of-equality category described similar contradictions between their ideals of gender equality and their behavior. Gender-equality issues raise political and ethical concerns for all of us who are family practitioners and teachers.

Community-based epidemiological studies find that when grouped together, anxiety disorders are the most common mental health conditions in the United States apart from substance use disorders. Anxiety disorders are also associated with substantial impairments in overall health and well-being, family functioning, social functioning, and vocational outcomes. This chapter includes a brief description of the anxiety disorders followed by a more detailed review of the cognitive behavior interventions indicated for these conditions. Social phobia is the most common anxiety disorder in the United States. Panic attacks are sudden surges of intense anxiety that reach their peak with 10 minutes and involve at least 4 of a list of 13 symptoms. Another somewhat less common anxiety disorder is obsessive compulsive disorder. The chapter discusses the posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Two anxiety management procedures, breathing retraining and deep muscle relaxation, have been subject to some level of empirical investigation for certain anxiety disorder.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) with children addresses four main aims: to decrease behavior, to increase behavior, to remove anxiety, and to facilitate development. Each of these aims targets one of the four main groups of children referred to treatment. This chapter suggests a route for applying effective interventions in the day-to-day work of social workers who are involved in direct interventions with children and their families. An effective intervention is one that links developmental components with evidence-based practice to help enable clients to live with, accept, cope with, resolve, and overcome their distress and to improve their subjective well-being. CBT offers a promising approach to address such needs for treatment efficacy, on the condition that social workers adapt basic CBT to the specific needs of children and design the intervention holistically to foster change in children. Adolescent therapy covers rehabilitative activities and reduces the disability arising from an established disorder.

Social work professionals are in key roles for providing effective education, treatment, training, and services for adult survivors. This chapter helps the social workers to equip with an evidence-based treatment framework to effectively enhance their work with this population of adult survivors. A community study of the long-term impact of the sexual, physical, and emotional abuse of children concluded that a history of any form of abuse was associated with increased rates of psychopathology, sexual difficulties, decreased self-esteem, and interpersonal problems. There is well-established and increasing empirical evidence that cognitive and cognitive behavior therapies are effective for the treatment of disorders that are typical among adult survivors of sexual and physical abuse. The chapter presents some basic cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) strategies that social workers can use in whatever roles they play in working with the multidisordered adult survivor. There are three types of schema avoidance: cognitive, emotional and behavioral.

When Charles, a 46-year-old divorced male with an extensive psychiatric history of depression, substance abuse, and disordered eating resulting in a suicide attempt, erratic employment, and two failed marriages, began treatment with a clinical social worker trained in dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), he was an angry, dysphoric individual beginning yet another cycle of destructive behavior. This chapter provides the reader with an overview of the standard DBT model as developed by Linehan. Dialectical behavior therapy, which engages vulnerable individuals early in its treatment cycle by acknowledging suffering and the intensity of the biosocial forces to be overcome and then attending to resulting symptoms, appears to be the model most congruent with and responsive to the cumulative scientific and theoretical research indicating the need for the development of self-regulatory abilities prior to discussions of traumatic material or deeply held schema.

This chapter offers a brief and focused review of human development, with specific emphasis on cognition and emotion. It is essential that the reader distinguishes between cognitive development, cognitive psychology, and cognitive therapy. Both short-term and long-term memory improve, partly as a result of other cognitive developments such as learning strategies. Adolescents have the cognitive ability to develop hypotheses, or guesses, about how to solve problems. The pattern of cognitive decline varies widely and the differences can be related to environmental factors, lifestyle factors, and heredity. Wisdom is a hypothesized cognitive characteristic of older adults that includes accumulated knowledge and the ability to apply that knowledge to practical problems of living. Cognitive style and format make the mysterious understandable for the individual. Equally, an understanding of an individual’s cognitive style and content help the clinician better understand the client and structure therapeutic experiences that have the greatest likelihood of success.

Social workers are committed to the protection and empowerment of weak populations, of those people who are least powerful. Gradually, social work started to rely more on problem-solving methods, client-focused therapy, family theories, and, more recently, cognitive behavior theories, constructivist theories, and positive psychology developments. Clinical social work today operates in a variety of settings in the statutory, voluntary, and private sectors. Clinical social workers have always been interested in helping clients change effectively. The importance of empirical study, valid information, and intervention effectiveness has always been accentuated by the social work field’s central objectives of increasing accountability, maintaining exemplary ethics and norms, and establishing clear definitions and goals. Cognitive behavior theory emphasizes several components. First and foremost, human learning involves cognitive mediational processes. Social workers need to look for effective methods for change, and CBT methods are very promising in this respect.

Over the past 25 years there has been a growing recognition of the importance of working with families of persons with severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and treatment-refractory depression. Family intervention can be provided by a wide range of professionals, including social workers, psychologists, nurses, psychiatrists, and counselors. This chapter provides an overview of two empirically supported family intervention models for major mental illness: behavioral family therapy (BFT) and multifamily groups (MFGs), both of which employ a combination of education and cognitive behavior techniques such as problem solving training. Some families have excellent communication skills and need only a brief review, as provided in the psychoeductional stage in the handout “Keys to Good Communication”. One of the main goals of BFT is to teach families a systematic method of solving their own problems.

This chapter discusses the treatment of comorbid chronic depression and personality disorders. It then discusses recent treatment advances in the cognitive behavior field relevant to this population. Recently, research has been done comparing schema therapy to Otto Kernberg’s latest model. Because of severe emotional distress, patient often experience suicidal and/or parasuicidal behaviors. The chapter explores the benefits of mode work with these particular difficulties while maintaining a therapeutic approach of connection and compassion; this alliance is crucial for the approach to be effective. It focuses on the five most common modes for those with chronic depression and personality disorders namely the abandoned/abused mode, the detached protector mode, the angry mode, the punitive mode and the healthy adult mode. The interventions described in schema mode therapy have cognitive, experiential, and behavioral components. Identification of the mode the patient is in when suicidal is essential when managing a crisis.

This chapter reviews the basic tenets of evidence-based practice (EBP), and discusses the potential applications of this model of practice and training for the field of clinical social work. It also presents some actual illustrations of its use. The chapter describes the major forms of clinical outcome studies: Anecdotal Case Reports, Single-System Designs With Weak Internal Validity, Quasi-Experimental Group Outcome Studies, Single, Randomized Controlled Trial, Multisite Randomized Controlled Trials and Metaanalyses that comprise the priority sources of information underpinning EBP. 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 cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) and practice represents a strongly supported approach to social work education and practice.

Comparison studies have long found that same-sex partners maintain more equal relationships than their heterosexual counterparts, largely because they do not divide roles and responsibilities based on gender. Thus the study of samesex couples offers the ability to examine the processes that create and maintain equality when gender differences do not organize couple relationships. However, same-sex partners emphasize the satisfaction of intimacy needs, rather than moral obligation or societal expectations, as their reason for maintaining the relationship. This primary focus on the relationship itself, which is also becoming more common among heterosexual couples, tends to be associated with egalitarian ideals that are not necessarily easy to translate into practice. A distinguishing characteristic of couples who were classified as demonstrating attuned inequality is the indebtedness that the benefiting partner feels to the other. Attuned couples describe conscious strategies for managing their relationships.

Over the years, cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) has been applied to a variety of client populations in a range of treatment settings and to the range of clinical problems. This chapter provides a general overview of the cognitive behavior history, model, and techniques and their application to clinical social work practice. It begins with a brief history and description, provides a basic conceptual framework for the approach, highlights the empirical base of the model, and then discusses the use of cognitive, behavior, and emotive/affective interventions. Cognitive behavior therapy 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.

This chapter presents a combined creative-corrective approach to working with the bereaved by emphasizing on cognitive assessment as a tool for social workers. It determines how best to facilitate an adaptive grief process with individuals who experience traumatic loss or complicated grief. Cognitive therapies (CT) and cognitive behavior therapies (CBTs) were found suitable with individuals suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and chronic or traumatic grief. Grief as a process of reorganizing one’s life and searching for a meaning following a loss through death is a painful experience. The Adversity Beliefs Consequences (ABC) model is based on a cognitive theoretical model to be applied in treatment of bereaved individuals. Like other cognitive models, rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) emphasizes the centrality of cognitive processes in understanding emotional disturbance, distinguishing between two sets of cognitions that people construct, rational and irrational ones and their related emotional and behavioral consequences that differ qualitatively.

This chapter discusses some of the critical issues surrounding culture and cognitive behavioral methods in order to better inform the advancement of culturally responsive social work practice. It focuses on one such treatment modality, cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). The chapter reviews relevant theoretical frameworks, existent empirical studies on CBT with diverse cultural groups, strengths and limitations of this modality across cultures, and suggestions for culturally responsive CBT practice, in order to better inform social work practice. While cognitive behavior therapy was developed with universal assumptions and without consideration to the diversity of the cultural contexts of consumers, it is grounded in theory that is likely to have “some universal basis across populations”. Several studies have described the use of cognitive behavior methods with gay and lesbian clients, particularly the use of rational emotive therapy, cognitive restructuring, and behavior experiments.

The treatment of the suicidal individual is perhaps the most weighty and difficult of any of the problems confronted by the clinical social worker. Some frequent comorbid pathology with suicidal behavior includes alcoholism, panic attacks, drug abuse, chronic schizophrenia, conduct disorder in children and adolescents, impulse control deficits, schizophrenia, and problem-solving deficits. Suicidal harmful behavior appears in all ages and characterizes clients in a large spectrum of life. There are four types of suicidal behavior namely rational suicider, psychotic suicider, hopeless suicider and impulsive or histrionic suicider. This chapter presents some primarily cognitive techniques for challenging suicidal automatic thoughts. Recent reports suggest that individuals suffering from alcohol or substance abuse are at an increased risk both for attempting, and for successfully completing, a suicidal act. The therapist must develop an armamentarium of cognitive techniques, and the skills to use these effectively in ways that are appropriate for each individual client.

Attention to the dimensions of culture in restorative justice practices refers to differences among peoples and also to the broader contextual issues including societal prescriptions and the vicissitudes of power, privilege, and oppression that earmark relationships between peoples. The first dimension focuses on issues practitioners must be sensitive to when they are working with people who are different from themselves and different from each other. The second dimension centers on the nature of the crime or wrongdoing, specifically hate crimes and interethnic conflict. The third dimension concentrates on the emerging interest in restorative justice by non-Westernized cultures often located in diverse corners of the world. Paralanguage or other vocal cues, such as hesitations, inflections, silences, loudness of voice, and pace of speaking, also provide ample opportunity for misinterpretation across cultures. Asians and Native Americans will often use many more words to say the same thing as their White colleagues.

This chapter covers the history and development of the practice, the issues involved in implementation of a victim-offender mediation (VOM) program. Experimentation in bringing together victims and offenders with a trained mediator to talk through what happened and to decide together what to do about what happened began in the early 1970s and 1980s. These efforts to humanize the restorative justice process through holding young offenders directly accountable to the victim of their crime were called Victim-Offender Reconciliation Programs (VORPs). A broad base of community support is necessary to counter the predictable initial skepticism that accompanies the start of a new program that allows the victim to meet with the person who victimized them. Securing public funds is one of the most difficult jobs. VOM programs report that 34” of case referrals are true diversion, occurring after an offender has been apprehended but prior to any formal finding of guilt.

This chapter examines the differences in facilitating a settlement-driven versus dialogue-driven mediation. It also examines the concept of introducing a humanistic approach to mediation and dialogue. The chapter presents the characteristics and qualities of an effective mediator in relation to the victim and offender, the facilitator’s responsibilities during preparation, the dialogue itself, and follow-up, including the significance of self-care. Nowhere else in the restorative justice process is the principle of respect and being non-judgmental more critical than in how the facilitator treats victim, offender, and other key stakeholders. Settlement-driven mediation is generally practiced within a conflict resolution context. In contrast, dialogue-driven mediation recognizes that most conflicts develop within a larger emotional and relational context characterized by powerful feelings of disrespect, betrayal, and abuse. Besides the governing values that define humanistic mediation, mediators must cultivate their emotional commitment to and connection with the highest principles they assign to the dialogue work.

This chapter distinguishes between spirituality and religiosity. It reports on a study that begins to deconstruct the elements in restorative justice that might be considered spiritual. Spirituality is defined as a reverence for life. Sacred reverence is defined as being in awe of and deep regard or veneration. Religious leaders are often strong promoters at the forefront of many rehabilitative justice practices including restorative justice. By delineating specific spiritual components, the concept of spirituality is made clearer and more usable by social workers and other mediators of restorative justice practice. Bender and Armour examined texts about restorative justice using a hermeneutic phenomenological approach. Nine components of spirituality emerged from the research on the restorative justice literature such as: internal transformation, connectedness, common human bond, repentance, forgiveness, making right a wrong, balance or harmony, rituals and the spirit or supernatural.

This chapter provides an introduction to the three basic dialogue practices like victim-offender mediation (VOM), family group conferencing (FGC) and peacemaking circles and the expansion of VOM to include severely violent crime. It describes the components of a restorative justice dialogue that are a part of all approaches. The chapter delineates the stages in developing a dialogue including referral, preparation, dialogue meeting, and follow-up. Again these stages demonstrate how restorative justice values, principles, and core concepts are actualized in the process. The chapter describes the conditions necessary for creating the context that enables change during the dialogue. Those conditions include a process orientation, safety establishment, respectful interaction, and the flow of positive energy. Besides embodying restorative justice values, these conditions represent spiritual components. The components include: personal accountability in response to the harm, inclusivity, voluntarism, preparation for the dialogue, and the telling of story as personal truth.

This chapter examines the history and development of circles and delineates the attributes of the circle process. Circles as a restorative justice approach, is distinct from Victim-Offender Mediation (VOM) and Family Group Conferencing (FGC) in its continual attention to the details that must be in place and tended in order for the work of the circle to be productive. Regardless of the context in which circles are used, the purpose of circles is to create a safe, nonjudgmental place to engage in a sharing of authentic personal reactions and feelings that are owned by each individual and acknowledged by others, related to a conflict, crisis, issue, or even to reactions to a speaker or film. The outer supports of a circle process consist of five structural elements: ritual, behavioral guidelines, a talking piece, circle keeping, and consensus decision making. Circles, regardless of type, are often referred to as peacemaking circles.

This chapter reviews the historic relationship between social work and the criminal justice system and the significance of restorative justice to the social work profession. It demonstrates the strong implicit relationship between social work and restorative justice by reviewing the core social work values and how those values are manifest in restorative justice philosophy and practices. As long as rehabilitation was the guiding retributive philosophy, there was a natural affinity between social work and criminal justice. Social work is unique among the mental health professions because it is the only one built on a fundamental set of values. Social workers respect the inherent dignity and worth of the person. Self-determination is an extension of human worth and holds that individuals ought to take part in the decisions that affect their lives. Social workers recognize the central importance of human relationships.

This chapter explains Victim-Offender Dialogue (VOD), its history and development, its characteristics, and its procedures. Concerns about victim forgiveness, are more explicit in VOD because the nature of the crimes involves the taking of human life or other heinous act and the impossibility of ever returning life to the one murdered or restoring a survivor’s life to what it was before the murder. Part of the cautiousness about the use of restorative justice for violent crime was concern that it might revictimize victims. VOD is an outgrowth of victim-offender mediation (VOM) and is similar in its central focus on the relationship between victim and offender. Victims, family members, and offenders describe the process of the meeting as a conversation. Although the dialogue belongs to the victim and offender, the facilitator begins the process, helps with transitions, invites breaks as needed, and remains a constant, readily alert, and cementing presence throughout.

Medieval universities were structured as urban centers providing technical training in medicine, law, and, most importantly, theology. Colleges and universities are uniquely situated within communities, often influencing many facets of a community’s life, including costs and structure of housing, types of amenities and businesses, and the presence of law enforcement. During the rapid industrialization of Victorian London, urban poverty in the East End became a growing concern. In partnership with Vicar Barnett, Arnold Toynbee conceptualized a model of community engagement whereby students from universities such as Cambridge and Oxford would take up residence in London’s East End to collaborate with residents and address social problems. Understanding the historical rationale for campus-community partnership is critical for determining the future of community engagement. The engaged campus plays an important role in both maintaining and promoting civil society and fostering civic engagement among emerging adults.

Historically, service-learning practice and literature have focused more heavily on student experiences rather than those of the community partner. Although research focused on community partners’ experiences has increased, it has generally not taken into account shifting demographics of students in the U.S. higher education system, specifically the rapid internationalization of colleges and universities. Beginning in 1938 with Dewey’s introduction to experiential learning and democratic education, service learning has gained momentum as a pedagogical technique and as a high-impact practice. The number of nonprofit organizations in the U.S. hosting international service-learning students is unknown, but given trends in international exchange programs and the demographic nature of clients served by nonprofit organizations in the U.S., the mutually beneficial possibilities of international service learners in U.S. organizations are vast. Through an analysis of the qualitative data, researchers have identified cultural and linguistic barriers as a consistent theme.

Field education is an integral aspect of every social work student’s training. Whether a student is obtaining a bachelor’s degree in social work (BSW) in the hope of pursuing a career in generalist practice or working toward a master’s degree in social work (MSW) to prepare for advanced or independent work, learning skills and practice techniques in community settings is essential. The work that is performed by students in the field is supervised by social workers in many different organizational and practice settings. The relationship between the field instructor and the social work student provides fertile ground for socialization as a member of a profession and the acquisition of practice skills. Whether we are working in health care, child protection, mental health services, corrections, education, gerontology, or another area of social work practice, we have much important knowledge to share with a student.

Child welfare practitioners at all levels play a vital role in shaping outcomes and the well-being of children who reside in kinship care. Child welfare educators will be well served to use innovative approaches to student recruitment and retention in efforts to build a cadre of professionals who have the desire, value orientation, and background to be trained to become competent practitioners. One strategy that child welfare educators can consider is the use of “geodemographic planning”. To ensure an adequate supply of future child welfare professionals, it is imperative that educators and academic leaders implement strategic retention plans. Intensive supervision models, mentoring/coaching, and using youth-and family-representative-informed care are modalities that child welfare educators should consider in workforce development. Field education should incorporate technology-enhanced training resources and methods in order to maximize student supervision. The use of computer-facilitated assessments and standardized screenings could be encouraged with kinship families.

Serving as a field instructor is usually a delightful and rewarding experience. Most of our students are bright, motivated, and eager to develop into skilled professionals. However, there are times when a practicum student may be ill-suited to the internship. Field supervision is both a process and a relationship. Several frameworks have been discussed in the social work literature about the nature of the field instructor-student relationship. These include the developmental model, attachment-based approaches to supervision, and the relational approach. Program faculty can also work with you to help in the process of integrating classroom knowledge and theory with interventions in the practicum setting. Some areas where students may particularly struggle are the following: emotional self-care, professionalism, setting appropriate professional boundaries, integrating classroom knowledge with fieldwork, professional writing skills, accepting constructive feedback, and asking for help.

Nearly all social work professionals remember their field instructors. Field instructors clearly play a critical role in social work education. This chapter is for those field instructors who would like to broaden their repertoire of tools for helping students become more adept at integrating theory, models, and skills in a coherent manner. It briefly reviews the literature, then identifies barriers, and makes recommendations about strategies for theory and practice integration. The literature suggests that students have appreciated the systematic integration of theory and practice by field instructors. The literature about how to foster integration in field education has a different focus when comparing academic field faculty and agency-based field instructors. For more experienced field instructors, the literature recommended training centered on topics such as enhancing students’ critical thinking, group work, and communication skills, as well as conflict resolution skills.

One of the most important areas of practice that field instructors discuss with their students is teaching and reinforcing the ethics and values of the social work profession. Students are introduced to the Code of Ethics of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) early in their social work education, but it is up to academic faculty and also field instructors to ensure that social work students can make connections between the content of the ethical code and real-life practice situations. There are a number of topics that frequently arise as ethical challenges in the practicum. These include mandated reporter responsibilities, mental health treatment and involuntary commitment, worker-client boundaries, specific boundary concerns related to self-disclosure, and disclosure of student status. There are a number of other approaches to resolving ethical dilemmas. These include the use of principle-based ethics and virtue ethics.

This chapter entails a review of “system readiness”, and discusses methods for conducting evaluations and research related to capacity building through system change. Moreover, with advocacy research being paramount in kinship care practice, its use in kinship care is addressed, covering the use of advocacy research strategies and methods for translating research findings into kinship care policy and practice. When service systems are ready for change, they are best served by a trained and supported workforce that is able to intervene and support families using culturally appropriate, evidence-based practice models. A probe into how evidence-based practices can become more effective in realm kinship care is offered. Children in kinship care not only need effective and supportive caregivers, but also need effective child welfare policies and programs. System of Care has been one approach used in child welfare to bring about necessary changes to local programming.

This chapter gives an overview of the conditions and child vulnerabilities that can disrupt relationship building. In the context of parenting and/or adult-to-child caregiving, theoretical understanding of the importance of human relationships, connections, and alliances has been guided by major models, including evolutionary psychology, attachment theory, social learning, social cognition theory, social development theory, and social control theory, bioecological systems theory and human behavioral genetics theory. Relationship formation is critical in positioning caregivers to serve in a “curative” role in assisting children to make gains and recover from the experiences of not having normal parental experiences. Kinship caregivers are in a unique position to help children develop relational competence. Relational competence is a person’s ability to appropriately interact with others and to develop meaningful relationships and connections. The caregiver can help the child reconnect or restore broken relationships.

The family unit shapes the child’s intellect, and influences the child’s ability to cope with the phenomenological forces that can affect his or her mental well-being. The family teaches children how to be good citizens in society. Most importantly, family helps shape children’s identity development so that they can be proud of their cultural heritage, their background, and what they can offer to the world. Children in kinship care are found to maintain more connections with their families and communities; and they experience fewer disruptions in relationships. Children who reside in relative care, risk experiencing a host of negative outcomes including substance abuse, criminal system involvement, mental health disorders, early pregnancy, and education insufficiencies, to name just a few. Relative caregivers are often willing to be permanent resources for children through either adoption or guardianship and their preferences should be valued and considered in relation to the child’s best interest.

This chapter focuses on federal policy and provides information on how to access local state policies pertaining to kinship care. Also, attention is devoted to illustrating different strategies that can be used to incentivize states’ use and support of kinship caregivers. The chapter presents a policy analysis framework to guide readers in approaching a critical analysis of federal policies and their effect on kinship caregivers. Federal and state policies can influence the extent to which state-level programming is geared toward establishing and supporting curative relationships for children by supporting their caregivers. A policy advocacy approach that promotes relationship building for children in kinship care is offered. The chapter considers the social and environmental conditions that have led to high rates of nonparental care, the economic impact, and the related political and policy response.

This chapter provides an overview of ways in which people can work to ensure a positive experience for their and thier social work practicum student. It offers some helpful, practical advice to guide the field instructor-student relationship. The chapter presents a checklist of “dos and don’ts”, and the chapter provides a great deal of practice-based wisdom for the field instructor. Many students choose to or must meet enormous responsibilities, and they balance complex schedules. Knowing about these circumstances from the beginning of the internship can dramatically decrease conflicts, stress, and unmet goals. Establishing open lines of communication so students will be proactive in seeking our input, guidance, or permission to meet changes and challenges can decrease anxiety, which will help ensure their maximum learning, growth, and performance in the practicum.

This chapter focuses on realities, both challenging and triumphant, of family life in the 21st century. It explores when, where, and why we moved from a practice of “family taking care of family” to the now well-established and formalized legal structure of state or custodial care of children. The chapter considers the social and political forces behind an ever-increasing model of state care of maltreated children. The history of kinship care in the United States can be understood by examining general child welfare history, but kinship care predates child welfare history. Such care has been especially prominent in the African American family experience. The longstanding debate about children’s rights, parents’ rights, and the extent to which government has a responsibility for needy and dependent children influences how we approach the practice of kinship care.

When social work practitioners agree to take on interns from a social work degree program, they are agreeing to work hand in hand with the students to ensure that the students meet the learning requirements, often expressed as competencies, of the social work program. An important element of ensuring a good experience for the practicum student is to engage actively with the student’s social work school or department. Effective communication between the academic institution and the field instructor/agency setting is indispensable to the social work practicum process. One of the biggest responsibilities in the implementation of "signature pedagogy" is ensuring that practicum students can successfully integrate the knowledge they gain in the classroom with the real-world practice of social work. In some social work programs, faculty advisors conduct site visits for their students’ practicum placements.

This chapter introduces the current evidence-based brief interventions that derive from the theories of health behavior. It reviews theories of health behaviors that inform the types of behavioral health interventions that utilize in the practice of behavioral health care. Health beliefs are attitudes, values, and knowledge about medical care, physicians, and disease that influence an individual’s behavior toward health care services. Consumer satisfaction was added as an outcome of health services utilization to reflect the increasing buying power and medical knowledge of the health of the health care consumer. Analysis of preventive health behavior was examined with regard to numerous health conditions and the preventive behaviors thereof, such as influenza inoculation, screening programs for genetically inherited diseases, breast cancer, and high blood pressure. The provision of all services from a single health care provider will help establish a relationship in which the patient trusts and confides.

This chapter describes the Ocean Tides database and identifies the chronological changes in that population. All of the residents in the Ocean Tides program are court-adjudicated male juvenile delinquents with charges serious enough to have been sentenced to at least probation, and, for the great majority of cases, time to serve in the Rhode Island Training School (RITS) for boys. Only boys between the ages of 13 and 17 years are considered for acceptance into the program. Neither religion nor racial or ethnic backgrounds are in any way factors in determining a boy’s eligibility for acceptance into the program. The recording process involved the careful reading of each report in the hard-copy juvenile records. Parent interviews are conducted with the primary custodial parent and are conducted by the social worker assigned to each boy.

This chapter consists of six case histories of boys who resided at Ocean Tides. The information was culled from their files, the clinical consultant’s interviews with the boys when they were in residence, and aftercare information. Their names have been changed to protect their identities, and permissions to include their stories in the chapter were granted where possible. These cases were selected to provide a sampling of the Ocean Tides boys; their backgrounds, personal, and psychological hurdles; and the outcome of their experience at Ocean Tides. The Ocean Tides program was there for these boys providing care, guidance, counseling, and family support systems in the role of surrogate parents sometimes for more than a year of their young lives, and other times forging relationships with these young men that would last a lifetime.

Agnew’s general theory of crime culls decades of empirical evidence from research and explanations for crime and delinquency from multiple theories and disciplines that identify experiences that lead to crime and explain the processes that connect them with criminal outcomes. The authors focus on the juvenile offender and his life prior to encountering the juvenile justice system, contrary to many other approaches that focus on what is wrong with the juvenile justice system and how to fix it. To understand how all the pieces of boy’s lives fit together, the authors turns to theories from multiple disciplines that help to explain why some juvenile boys are delinquent and some are not, thus informing rehabilitative programs that can really work. General theories of crime are intended to explain a wide range of criminal behaviors that occur under most circumstances and in all possible contexts.

This chapter explores the challenges that chronic disease presents to health care and introduces systems medicine and the emerging disciplines of genomics, epigenetics, and neuroscience. It highlights the importance of patient education and behavioral therapy with respect to key modifiable lifestyle domains. The chapter describes the integration of mindfulness into chronic disease care. Systems medicine is an approach to viewing chronic disease as distinct from acute disease and recognizes the complex interconnectivity of the various systems of the body. Furthermore, systems medicine views chronic disease as lifestyle triggered, influenced by nutrition, physical activity, thoughts and emotions, relationships, and even sleep and relaxation. The chapter explores the basic characteristics of the brain-mind-body connection and how this knowledge can be useful for behavioral health with respect to chronic disease. It also explores the basics of psychoneuroimmunology as an example of this interconnectivity and the consequences of system imbalances.

Substance users have substantially reduced rates of use of preventive health care services, and reduced rates of compliance with prescribed medical treatment. Primary care providers are frequently overwhelmed and may be reluctant to address substance-related problems given few resources. Direct collaboration with a behavioral health specialist (BHS) co-located within the primary care clinic results in increased efficiency and better treatment outcomes. There are excellent resources available for the BHS who will provide tobacco abuse interventions in the primary care setting. A number of behavioral factors should be considered in effectively addressing substance use and abuse in the primary care setting. Primary care providers should also be alert to unexplained vague symptoms, somatic complaints, difficulty with sleep, anxiousness, frequent life disruptions or chaotic lifestyle, and a family history of mental health problems or substance abuse.

The Ocean Tides program is organized into five main components: education, group living, social services, the extension houses, and aftercare. For many years, there was a community-based early intervention diversionary program that targeted youngsters at high risk for juvenile offenses. A key to the success of the Ocean Tides program is to identify and hire good people and help them get better at their jobs by providing ongoing opportunities for in-service training, close supervision, and the close monitoring of job performance. As a program under the jurisdiction of and funded by the Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF), Ocean Tides adheres to Rhode Island’s Children’s Bill of Rights. All of these aspects of the program are designed to reduce unnecessary strain and help raise the young men’s levels of self-esteem and provide them with positive alternatives to delinquency and criminal activities.

This chapter describes the importance of individual differences and the importance of identifying a person’s strengths in addition to their problems or deficits. The goal is to assess the adolescent’s unique personality characteristics that can contribute to helping him change his behavior rather than focus on only assessing psychopathology and reaching a diagnosis. The notion of individual differences, that every person is a unique individual, is one of the foundations of modern psychology. The chapter focuses on the problems and troublesome nature of talking with these youngsters. It provides both rationales and practical strategies for conducting interviews that are useful for rehabilitation plans with court-adjudicated adolescent male juvenile delinquents. Juvenile delinquents present a special challenge to the professional mental health interviewer. A successful interview is defined by the types and amount of information revealed that is useful for treatment and rehabilitation.

This chapter is designed to examine the issues most relevant to social workers serving clients who are taking prescription or nonprescription (over-the-counter (OTC)) medication. Topics covered include the labeling, regulation, and scheduling of drugs in terms of both prescription and nonprescription medications. Drugs, medications, and remedies are classified differently, and a basic knowledge of this process can help the social worker understand some of the classification issues. Although many social workers acknowledge the importance of understanding prescription medications, little emphasis is placed on knowing nonprescription medications. The role of the social worker in helping to understand, communicate, monitor, and document issues surrounding the use of prescription and nonprescription medications is an important one. Social workers need to be aware of medication actions and interactions and help clients prepare for and avoid negative reactions.

This chapter provides an overview of the medication issues and concerns mental health practitioners will encounter. The philosophy of the authors is simple: collaborative teamwork between physicians, prescribers, nurses, other health care providers, and mental health practitioners such as social workers is necessary for ethical and competent practice. Social workers make up the majority of mental health professionals in the United States. The chapter offers both historical and current perspectives on the importance of the knowledge of medications used in competent professional practice. From a social work perspective, it encourages an interdisciplinary team approach that takes into account the client's environment; thus, special attention is given to empowering clients to become active participants in the treatment process. The approach also recognizes the social worker as an important member of the health care delivery team. Psychopharmacology, medication as a primary treatment modality, and psychotherapeutic approaches are discussed.

This chapter focuses on the unique characteristics presented by three special populations that frequently receive psychotropic medications–children and adolescents, older adults, and women who are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. It is intended to sensitize social work practitioners to the unique considerations frequently encountered with these populations and to highlight the importance of combining medication therapy with counseling when addressing the mental health needs of these special populations. The chapter also provides a sampling of some Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM-5) diagnoses frequently identified in children and highlights the medications commonly used to treat the mental disorders. Assessing and determining the medications to use to assist children and adolescents suffering from a mental disorder is never easy. Two conditions that present a particular challenge for prescribers and other members of the collaborative team are attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and conduct-related disorders.

This chapter provides an overview of the medication issues and concerns social workers will encounter when treating clients who suffer from depression. It focuses primarily on major depressive disorder but can be applied to any mental health disorder characteristic of these depressive symptoms. Strategies are presented to better understand how these disorders are treated pharmacologically including the short- and long-term efficacy, side effects, and other important considerations designed to increase the effectiveness of social work intervention strategies. The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics requires social workers to remain competent by staying abreast of the latest research in their area of specialty (NASW, 2008b). Social workers must be up to date on how antidepressant medications affect the depressed client's biopsychosocial functioning and how these medications influence the course of counseling.

Anxiety is often a normal reaction to stress, and there will always be situations that create stress and discomfort. In social work practice, recognition of the primary types of anxiety-related mental health disorders and the medications used to treat these disorders is an essential first step for comprehensive treatment. When medication alone is not enough, psychosocial interventions can assist the client in controlling anxious feelings. This chapter emphasizes the importance of being familiar with the medications and supplemental psychosocial interventions that can be effective in treating these disorders. Social work professionals often provide key services, including assessment and diagnostic and treatment services, to those who suffer from anxiety conditions. In terms of direct intervention efforts, many of the techniques described in the chapter can be used to help clients suffering from depression because the symptoms of anxiety and depression frequently overlap.

This conclusion presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The overriding message in the book for social workers and mental health counselors is clear: Knowledge of medications is essential to deliver and monitor effective and efficient services. The book has stressed the important supportive role of the social worker as counselor and educator. Fulfilling this role is not an easy task because many clients want immediate solutions to their health and mental health problems. The social worker can become an essential part of the team by drawing attention to cultural and diagnostic issues and providing education and support on medication-related issues while helping clients decide on the best course of treatment. Social workers must become more proactive in acquiring as much knowledge as possible in all areas of mental health interventions, including medication therapy.

This chapter helps social workers become aware of situational factors and medication issues key to improving the well-being of the client being served. Armed with this information, social workers can help their clients make the best personal decisions empowering them to take an active role toward the betterment of their own health and well-being. Some common terms in medication dosing and monitoring that the professional social worker should be aware of include medication half-life, drug potency and toxicity, the therapeutic index, and drug tolerance. Knowledge of the action of a medication, including information related to the therapeutic index, is essential for social workers because it outlines how to utilize a drug safely. The therapeutic index is the relative measure of a drug's toxicity or safety. This index, also referred to as a "therapeutic ratio", provides the mathematically calculated range between a therapeutic and a toxic dose of a drug.

This chapter discusses issues of power, the cycle of violence, learned helplessness (LH), the battered woman syndrome (BWS), and reasons victims stay in abusive relationships. Violence within intimate relationships can be understood as one partner gaining power over the other partner with the use of coercive and controlling tactics. Such tactics may be reinforced with physical and/or sexual violence. Battered women who acquire LH tend to be at high risk of developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depressive disorder (MDD); their development of LH is associated not only with their abusive situation but also with past difficult life circumstances. The dynamics of domestic violence are so complex that it is difficult for most people to understand why a woman living in an abusive relationship does not simply leave. Many of the common explanations for why victims stay are myths.

This chapter highlights the basic biomedical knowledge essential for interpreting medical information and understanding how medications work in the body. Fundamental issues about the brain and nervous system are discussed in a practical and simplified manner with an emphasis on those issues most relevant to social work. In psychopharmacology, the study of how medications work at the molecular level is called "pharmacodynamics". The neuron cell is the basic unit of the brain, and neuronal activity is central to the thought, action, or feeling that results. As an impulse travels along the axon and prepares to enter the synaptic gap, neuronal activity results. This process occurs in five basic stages: synthesis, storage, release, receptor binding, and termination. Most professionals agree there are biological and biochemical processes that increase the possibility of drug addiction, or what is often characterized as drug "dependence".

Practitioners involved in work with violent or potentially violent clients have a great need for understanding the nature, process, and research status of prediction. This chapter concentrates on issues related to the use of instruments for prediction. It presents a summary of procedures used in the clinical and statistical prediction of violence, in all cases multiple data sources should be used in making predictions regarding violence. The practitioner’s knowledge of clinical assessment remains an extremely important adjunct to any statistical prediction. The chapter discusses how one evaluates the psychometric properties of risk assessment instruments. It talks about some of the traditional psychometric requirements for tests and measures, such as test reliability and test validity. Several of the more important measurement considerations are the possibility of participant response distortion, the availability of appropriate test norms, the size of the standard error of measurement (SEM), and the estimated violence base rates.

This chapter focuses on the effects of intimate partner violence (IPV) on victims of diverse cultural backgrounds and/or at-risk populations who suffer social and economic injustices. It presents the barriers experienced by victims who are members of diverse populations, including those who are impoverished, older, living in rural areas, same-gender couples, living with disabilities, immigrants, Asian American, African American, Hispanic, Native American, and veterans returning from war. States that adopt the Family Violence Option (FVO) can establish programs, exemptions, and waivers to assist battered women. Persons who recruit women into the sex industry are known to social workers and law enforcement as controllers, traffickers, and pimps. Without performing proper screening to identify victims of sex trafficking, law enforcement may arrest victims under other prostitution statutes and subject them to further trauma. When members of at-risk and diverse populations are also victims of domestic violence, they live in multiple jeopardy.

This chapter provides an overview of some potential approaches for working with abused children and their families. Evidence-based practice is part of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics, which requires social workers to contribute to the evaluation of practice. Young children may respond well to music therapy, play therapy, and drama therapy. Emotional and psychological maltreatment can result in learning and behavioral problems in those who are abused. Intervention must focus on the entire family and provide physical, mental health, educational, and similar services to reverse the child’s developmental setbacks. Animal-assisted therapy (AAT) and animal-assisted activities (AAA) provide avenues for overcoming of emotional problems, experience trauma, suffer insecure attachment, and live with a myriad of health problems. Cognitive behavioral therapy is an effective means to decrease the psychological symptoms associated with the trauma of child maltreatment.

This chapter focuses primarily on filicides in the context of intimate partner violence (IPV). Historically, in these cases, children have often been seen to be corollary victims and often the potential risks to them have been ignored or minimized. IPV risk assessment is focused on the potential risk of harm to adult victims rather than the children. The chapter focuses on the risk of serious harm that children face when they live with IPV. Drawing from emerging research, it reviews findings about risk factors with a specific focus on IPV, and explores the effectiveness of current tools and assessment strategies in preventing child homicides related to IPV. Child homicides that occur in the chapter appear to differ from ones that are specifically child maltreatment related in terms of perpetrators’ motives.

Substance misuse, abuse, and substance use disorders constitute a major public health crisis in the United States. This places a tremendous strain on the nation’s healthcare system. Social workers are advocating for policy changes aimed at preventing and reducing the serious adverse consequences of substance abuse disorders. This chapter underscores the importance of addressing prevention and treatment with various population groups and includes the following three subsections: Practice, Research, and Policy for substance misuse, abuse, and addiction. The development of policies that support healthcare reform and treatment is vital for addressing the major public health crisis of substance use disorders. Social workers have played an important role throughout history in working with the complex problems of addictive disorders. The education and training of social workers and all healthcare professionals about the issues associated with addiction is critical to reducing stigma and providing competent and quality treatment services.

Childhood bereavement support is provided by a variety of professionals including chaplains, social workers, mental health counselors, psychologists, child life specialists, nurses, school counselors, thanatologists, and educators. This chapter discusses the issue of professional accountability and ethical considerations when working with bereaved children and their families in order to offer a framework for standards for this important type of support. It is not enough to solely provide orientation training to volunteers, it is also important to offer continued training for both new and existing volunteers. Organizations that provide support to bereaved children should establish written, agreed upon standards of practice to which program staff and volunteers are held accountable. The parent or legal guardian of children attending individual support, peer support groups, or grief camps should be provided a clear description of services being provided. Services provided should fit within the mission, vision, and values of the organization.

The lesbian, gay male, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning (LGBTQ) population is a diverse community that has historically been brought together to cope with an oppressive society. As society has become more accepting, younger sexual and gender minorities may feel safe and more comfortable disclosing their sexual orientation and gender identity. In order to understand the lack of attention and the healthcare needs of this population, social workers first must understand the LGBTQ community. In collaboration with their clients, social workers can develop goals to increase coping and problem-solving skills to help address stressors. By affirming the identity, expressions, and behaviors of sexual and gender minorities as equal to heterosexuals, men, and women, social workers can employ the various practice methods of research, policy, advocacy, leadership, and direct practice to empower LGBTQ persons and help them achieve equity in healthcare.

Social workers, both in the community and within the Veterans Administration (VA), provide a comprehensive range of services to a broad demographic of veterans. Service provision for veterans can address a wide range of issues including aging, homelessness, reintegration, sexual assault, physical and psychological war injuries, and substance abuse. Research-informed practice allows social workers to effectively address the special needs of veterans. This chapter discusses the landscape of social work practice with veterans and the interconnectedness of research, policy, and service delivery. It offers an introduction to working with veterans from a practice, policy, and research perspective. Social workers should have a working knowledge of military culture, the impact of deployment, subsequent redeployments, reintegration, and adjustment to civilian life. It is essential for social workers to have knowledge about the physical and psychological aspects of trauma, particularly war-related trauma.

This chapter presents a case study of a 4-and-a-half-year-old Caucasian male, who lived with his mother and his 3-year-old sister. The patient’s mother requested counseling services due to growing concerns surrounding his medical condition, cerebral palsy (CP). The patient had not been educated regarding his disability, which began to cause social and emotional difficulties for him. The school diagnosed him via early intervention services with only a mild impairment of cognitive functioning. The patient struggled with issues related to weak muscle tone and poor muscle control and coordination, and struggled to understand the changes taking place in his body. The author chose the intervention and theoretical orientation, child-centered play therapy (CCPT), because it provided an inherently creative approach to working with children. Providing the patient with information on CP allowed him to better understand what came to light about his body and why he experienced difficulty.

This chapter presents a case study of a patient who received counseling for behavior-related concerns. The patient’s mother seemed ashamed to admit that her children’s father decided to be absent in their lives. This feeling appeared to be consistent with the patient’s feelings, as observed through her nonverbal behaviors of avoidance and silence during discussions about her relationship with her father. The mother appeared to feel guilty about the father’s lack of participation and tended to overcompensate by being involved in her children’s lives, especially in their medical and mental health treatment. The patient experienced difficulties with identity and relationships. The author chooses a cognitive behavioral approach, rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT). This approach focuses on the role of thinking and beliefs as the root cause of personal problems. The author felt good about the referral and the new opportunities for the patient to develop her self-expression skills.

This chapter presents a case study of a school student who is the oldest child in a family of five. The patient attended school regularly, and always made good grades in pre-advanced placement (Pre-AP) courses. Prior to his father going to prison, the patient had not experienced significant loss. The grief associated with his father’s sudden absence from everyday life left him feeling frustrated and disconnected. Unattended emotions surrounding his father’s incarceration impeded his academic success and damaged his relationships. As his professional school counselor, the author wanted to help him see the connection. Being able to identify emotions and understand that internal conflict carries external implications is a valuable life-lesson. The author helped an entire family by coordinating the services of a therapist in the community and the patient reported that he was doing well academically.

This chapter presents a case study which details a patient’s treatment and the sequence of her engagement in the counseling sessions. The patient functioned in the concrete operational stage of development. Children with concrete operational skills tend to demonstrate more abstract and inductive thinking. The patient’s entire family resided in a low socioeconomic community except for an extended family member who cut ties with the parents due to their involvement in drugs. The patient experienced a childhood riddled with abuse, loss, and addiction. The first strategy for promoting healthier emotional coping revealed sensory details that the patient could recognize and identify when she felt happy, mad, sad, scared, or disgusted. The chapter explores characteristics of healthy relationships using Miller’s “Five Good Things”: sense of zest; clarity about self, other, and the relationship; sense of self-worth; enhanced creativity and productivity; and desire for further connection with others.

This chapter presents a case study of a 15-year old White female. It outlines the process of finding healing through charting memories utilizing an evidence-based treatment. Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) is an evidence-based treatment used to treat posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) experienced by children ages 3 to 18. As the name indicates, the theoretical base lies in the cognitive behavioral school of thought. The overall focus of TF-CBT is to build physical, emotional, and cognitive coping skills; bolster the parent-child relationship; gradually expose and desensitize; and create new meaning surrounding the trauma. Most importantly, it is used to help the child to not be defined by the trauma. Rather than proceeding chronologically or focusing on a specific traumatic event, exposure during the trauma narrative (TN) is focused on themes and difficult thoughts and feelings that arise out of the client’s trauma experiences.

There are many protective and promotive factors that support the health of bereaved children. Many of these factors are inherent in a child’s personal attributes, their social and environmental surroundings, home life, and culture. This chapter provides professionals with information about these elements and their importance in the lives of children. It also provides information for professionals regarding the parent/child relationship, and tips for supporting and encouraging positive adaptation after a death. The chapter describes a positive relationship between a parent and child. Another factor that promotes health in bereaved children is the ability for children to express their grief and to have their experience validated. An important factor that promotes health in children is the ability for a bereaved child to be able to regain and retain a sense of control. Positive self-esteem and coping skills are also important factors in contributing to the health of bereaved children.

This chapter discusses the background and significance sections of a proposal and describes how the literature review supports both. Over time, literature reviews have become more systematic and rigorous because investigators have understood the value and necessity of applying review methodologies that strengthen the scientific foundation of their study. Systematic and narrative reviews are sometimes confused because both provide a summary of existing literature on a research topic. This chapter compares the narrative review and the systematic review to differentiate between the two. The chapter also introduces the matrix method of organizing the literature search and provides a step-by-step outline for conducting a review of the literature, which includes activities that are indispensable to “owning the literature” so the grant writer can discuss major ideas and prior research conducted and ensure that the research questions asked are logically developed and based on a solid scientific foundation.

Family and fathers play a critical role in many African American communities and life; however, social-historical factors, such as racism, contribute to the multiple challenges they face as witnessed in the case of a patient’s family system, as described in the chapter. The need to protect the patient’s family, possibly from the violence he witnessed in his community, became a larger burden for him. He was willing share the reasons for his criminal behavior. While his physical health was generally good, his psychiatric evaluations revealed diagnoses of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), oppositional defiant disorder, bipolar disorder, and intermittent explosive disorder. Being imprisoned physically did not concern him because it provided him some protection from the turmoil in his family and community. However, his psychological imprisonment seemed to impede his adolescent identity development. Overall, the patient worked toward physical liberation, but more so toward liberation of his multiple incarcerated identities.

The author presents a case study of a 15-year-old African American male, who attended a midsize suburban high school where, he successfully navigated his freshman year of high school. The patient described his school as attended by both Black and White students, along with some Hispanic students and was having difficulty being around his friends. His parents described him as an active child and teen who enjoyed playing baseball and hanging out with friends. The parents described him as an average student who did well in both academic and extracurricular activities. Treatment goals involved both individual and family counseling sessions to address and improve communication while decreasing family conflict. After counseling, the patient’s grades improved, he spent time with his friends more regularly, and he received no other suspensions or incidents of fighting.

Electronic submission is the primary method used by federal agencies and foundations for submitting grant applications. Occasionally paper submissions are required so be sure to check the requirements for each competition. Electronic submission represents a significant leap forward in increasing efficiency in the submission and processing of grant applications. The primary challenge with an electronic submission is that the grant writer will be required to have a completed and final grant application ready for uploading anywhere from 5 days to 2 weeks prior to the funder’s deadline. The key to success is allowing sufficient time and having patience with system and computer bungles. This chapter provides general tips for some of the key challenges involved with online submissions of grant applications and what it takes to be efficient and ready to submit an application electronically.

Grantsmanship reflects a unique world with its own language, rules, strategies, and requirements. This chapter introduces the language of grantsmanship and locates grant writing within the larger context of career building and as an essential professional activity. Grant writing should not be a “one-off” activity; each grant should be viewed as a stepping stone to building programs that progress along a career trajectory. Grantsmanship is a thoughtful process and a professional commitment, with each award contributing to the advancement of knowledge, practice, and programmatic development. This chapter helps the reader understand common terms of grantsmanship, identify how grant writing fits along a career trajectory, and develop a plan of action for writing a grant from any career stage.

This chapter presents a case study of a woman who finds a counselor for her 11-year-old son. The son’s family possessed many qualities characteristic of “growth-fostering relationships” defined in relational-cultural theory (RCT). The woman portrayed the son as a healthy young boy with few developmental problems or health concerns. The priorities for his counseling goals included: to assess the risk that he might harm himself and put in place interventions for safety; to determine what significant life events contributed to his anxiety and depression; to increase his feelings of connection to others; to reduce the occurrence of his nightmares; to support him in developing a stronger voice in order to ask for help when he needed it and to express his needs. Adlerian play therapy and mutual storytelling proved to be a good fit for him, and helped the author understand his view of self and his world.

In developing a research, training, demonstration, or education grant proposal, an important consideration is the structure of the project. Understanding the available options and the nuances of different project structures is helpful and enhances work efficiency, the competitiveness of an application, and the ease with which the project can be implemented. This chapter introduces four models (individual, consultative, cooperative, and collaborative) and discusses the relative merits, characteristics, and considerations of each. An individual model reflects the traditional academic approach. A consultative model is an extension of the individual approach and includes assistance from experts or consultants. Cooperative models can involve either a main investigator who invites individuals at the same institution to work on aspects of the same project or an arrangement among two or more institutions. A collaborative model builds upon a cooperative approach and involves a more complex organizational structure. The chapter will help the reader determine which model is most appropriate for the reader’s proposed project.

Most public health concerns are complex and require perspectives from different areas of expertise and disciplines to address them effectively. Also, working with others on a team to develop and submit a grant application can support the application’s competitive edge. Yet the process of forming a team can be challenging and sometimes confusing. This chapter discusses how to form a team and evaluate and maximize a team’s effectiveness. The chapter also explores how to define the specific roles and responsibilities of each team member, emphasizing the importance of the team leader role. This chapter also examines common problems in collaborative teams and offers effective solutions. The chapter ends with a case study that illustrates the basic concepts discussed in the chapter and serves as an example of applying the five-stage model of collaboration.

This chapter presents the case study of a 17-year-old Hispanic male, highlighting the interplay of systemic, developmental, relational, and multicultural influences, and the many risk factors that ultimately contributed to his delinquency. His history of legal troubles included referrals for several public intoxications, theft, and violations of probation, resulting in referrals for expulsion, child in need of supervision (CINS) assessment, and contempt of court. The patient possessed great potential for growth, but his skill sets, social and emotional developmental levels, and systemic influences showed potential to hinder interventions and progress. The concepts, Patient-centered Acute Care Training (PACT) and “To Booth or Not to Booth”, challenged his faulty thinking and beliefs. He began to find his personal strengths, minimize his lack of trust and disconnections with others, and became engaged in the process of fostering his own social, emotional, and cognitive growth.

This chapter presents a case study of a 9-year-old Caucasian child who lived with his paternal grandparents in a small rural community. The patient attended a local private school where he received individualized education accommodations based on school-level evaluations, asserting that his learning is being impacted by behavioral deficits. Media outlets also played a large role in his life as he reportedly spent a large amount of his formative years locked inside of his bedroom with a television and video games. According to Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development, at 9 years of age the patient was in the industry versus inferiority stage of development. Based on his developmental level and age, the author used a child-centered play therapy modality to facilitate the therapeutic process. Based on his grandmother’s report of the patient’s behavior, he developed some of the skills needed for treatment to be considered successful.

The author’s approach to counseling is typically grounded in a systemic perspective, where he uses a directive approach, especially when family issues are involved. This chapter presents a case study of a 15-year-old Caucasian female from a middle-income family. Her parents were divorced and she had one sibling. The therapeutic challenge consisted of helping the patient process the difficult feelings she experienced toward her mother, and remain connected, or loyal, to their relationship. The patient attended counseling and focused on taking responsibility for her thoughts and feelings, and acting on them in an appropriate manner, regardless of how she perceived the behaviors of those around her. She recognized her growth and embraced it, knowing it meant she had to be responsible for herself after counseling, accepted her mother as a good person and understood that she received her mother’s best efforts.