“Essentially, RSW frees up social workers to work alongside families to help them change, taking much of the bureaucracy away from social workers. It also acknowledges what a difficult job child and family social work is, particularly in local authority child protection contexts. The Social Work Unit, led by a Consultant Social Worker, brings together a small group of staff to work with families, bringing a range of perspectives and skills to bear on the complex work that needs to be done. It ensures faster work that is more reflective, evidence-based and expert, which achieves good outcomes for children.”

Anthony Peake is a renowned writer and researcher whose work focuses on the nature of consciousness and reality, and mysterious phenomena such as déjà vu. He is the co-editor, with Mahendra Perera and Karuppiah Jagadheesan, of the forthcoming book, Making Sense of Near-Death Experiences: A Handbook for Clinicians‘ – available from Jessica Kingsley Publishers in[... read more]

“First and foremost, I wrote the novel for my brother. I wanted to accomplish two things that would make the world a safer place for him and everyone with AS. Firstly, to educate those without AS… Secondly, I wanted to give people with AS something. I wanted to provide a verification of what many of them already know. I wanted to give them a voice and a hero which would contradict those who are always telling them they are “disabled”. I wanted to tell them that AS is not a disability, it is a different way of thinking. And in spite of what others may be telling them, it is not a “wrong” way of thinking.”

“Psychodrama and systemic constellation work – sometimes called family constellation work – look very similar yet have some specific differences. Psychodrama explores the conscious story that we tell ourselves about what has happened in our lives or what we wish would have happened. Constellation work goes deeper, delving into the distorted unconscious energies in the family system and allows love to flow more fully through the system. Because we may have various levels of consciousness about various parts of our lives and the lives of our family members, it’s helpful to be able to choose different methods for different situations.”

JKP is exhibiting at the Frankfurt Book Fair this week. Jessica Kingsley took a few minutes between meetings to talk about why we attend this major international event, and to highlight some of the things we’ve been talking about.

Professor Joyce Lishman was previously Head of the School of Applied Social Studies, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, UK. She was also General Editor of the Research Highlights in Social Work series for many years. Here, she introduces readers to her new book, Social Work Education and Training. I have been associated with Research Highlights (RH) for 30[... read more]

“The continued need for comprehensive and co-ordinated policies to address the disadvantaged and troubled familial, social and cultural experiences of many young people will always be critical in dealing with many aspects of societal violence. To expect individual young people to be able to always choose ‘non-violent’ approaches just through individual work without cognisance being given to the bigger picture of their lives is unrealistic.”

By Dr Dorothy Howie, author of Teaching Students Thinking Skills and Strategies: A Framework for Cognitive Education in Inclusive Settings. The teaching of thinking has become one of the central developments in education over recent decades, and now thought is being given to how this can occur in a way which is of benefit to[... read more]

“Bully behavior occurs in overt forms, such as hitting, name calling, and teasing as well as through relational aggression – a virulent style of bullying most prevalent among girls, in which relationships are manipulated to settle grudges. This more covert style of rumor spreading and social exclusion is bred by the round-the-clock availability of popular social networking sites… Even when the final school bells rings, many young girls deal with relational aggression 24/7.”