Relationship-Based Social Work

Getting to the Heart of Practice

Edited by Gillian Ruch, Danielle Turney and Adrian Ward

Paperback: £19.99 / $32.95

2010, 234mm x 156mm / 9.25in x 6in, 272pp
ISBN: 978-1-84905-003-6, BIC 2: JKSN JKS

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'I particularly liked those (chapters) which had an emphasis on working with strong feelings ranging from anger and aggression, through depression and despair, to love and positive feelings in general... The conclusion draws together the themes, including the important point that social work involves much more than a narrow concern with the current pre-occupation with technical competence; rather there must also be an interest in ability to work with human relationships. Throughout there are useful illustrative case studies... I particularly enjoyed the chapter by Ruch on the contemporary context of practice, including the section on "marketisation, managerialism and the commodification and bureaucratisation fo the individual"... She rightly refers to the colonisation of professional practice by bureaucracy and managerialism but, like many others, manages to retain a sense of hope... In short, I certainly recommend this book especially for those on undergraduate and postgraduate social work courses, as well as experienced social workers and allied professionals. Politicians and managers should also digest the arguments even though it is unlikely to be a welcome read for them.'

- Youth & Policy

'Relationship-Based Social Work is quite refreshing and unlike many of the theory and practice books I have read recently... This is very easy to read with minimal jargon and is a definite change of pace to more theoretical books... Is this a useful text I will keep beyond my academic career? Definitely yes!'

- Rostrum

Relationship Based Social Work re-affirms the importance of the working relationship between social worker and service user within a contemporary perspective. This is a timely and thought provoking work which provides a well argued counterpoint to the increasing dominance of managerial and outcomes-based approaches to social work practice. As such it will be of great value to students and practitioners alike.

- Martin Gill, Lecturer in Social Work, University of East Anglia, UK

By the same authors

Author information

• Gillian Ruch
• Danielle Turney
• Adrian Ward

Subject areas

• Health, Social Work and Social Care

Keywords

• adolescence,
• adult protection,
• adults,
• attachment,
• bereavement,
• challenging behaviour,
• child development,
• child protection,
• child psychology,
• children,
• communication,
• community care,
• depression,
• emotions,
• families,
• nonverbal learning disabilities,
• older people,
• person-centred,
• psychoanalysis,
• psychology,
• relationships,
• resilience,
• safeguarding children,
• social care,
• social policy,
• social skills,
• social work,
• substance abuse,
• supervision,
• teenagers

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