Social work is the profession that claims to intervene to enhance people's well-being. However, social workers have played a low-key role in environmental issues that increasingly impact on people's well-being, both locally and globally. This compelling new contribution confronts this topic head-on, examining environmental issues from a social work perspective. Lena Dominelli draws attention to the important voice of practitioners working on the ground in the aftermath of environmental disasters, whether these are caused by climate change, industrial accidents or human conflict. The author explores the concept of ‘green social work' and its role in using environmental crises to address poverty and other forms of structural inequalities, to obtain more equitable allocations of limited natural resources and to tackle global socio-political forces that have a damaging impact upon the quality of life of poor and marginalized populations at local levels. The resolution of these matters is linked to community initiatives that social workers can engage in to ensure that the quality of life of poor people can be enhanced without costing the Earth. This important book will appeal to those in the fields of social work, social policy, sociology and human geography. It powerfully reveals how environmental issues are an integral part of social work's remit if it is to retain its currency in the modern world and emphasize its relevance to the social issues that societies have to resolve in the twenty-first century.

Green social work espouses a holistic approach to all peoples and other living things – plants and animals, and the physical ecosystem; emphasises the relational nature of all its constituent parts; and redefines the duty to care for and about others as one that includes the duty to care for and about planet earth. By acknowledging the interdependency of all living things it allows for the inclusion of all systems and institutions in its remit, including both (hu)man-made and natural disasters arising from the (hu)made ones of poverty to chemical pollution of the earth’s land, waters and soils and climate change, to the natural hazards like earthquakes and volcanoes which turn to disasters through human (in)action. Green social work’s value system is also one that favours equality, social inclusion, the equitable distribution of resources, and a rights-based approach to meeting people’s needs to live in an ethical and sustainable manner. Responding to these issues is one of the biggest challenges facing social workers in the twenty-first century which this Handbook is intended to address. Through providing the theories, practices, policies, knowledge and skills required to act responsibly in responding to the diverse disasters that threaten to endanger all living things and planet earth itself, this green social work handbook will be required reading for all social work students, academics and professionals, as well as those working in the fields of community development and disaster management.

This book argues that climate justice is an urgent and defining global challenge with long-term implications for poverty reduction, livelihoods, community well-being, and sustainable development. It provides a thorough overview of both fundamental and new directions of knowledge and policy directions in this less debated area within environmental social work. The chapters of this book offer both global and cross-country perspectives via case studies from India, Nepal, Ukraine, South Africa, and the USA, providing greater understanding, evidence, and strategies to achieve the resilience of vulnerable communities based on climate justice principles. It will be required reading for all scholars, students, and social work professionals as well as those working in sustainability and community development.

Building on the successful 1st edition, this reader brings together some of the most significant ideas that have informed social work practice over the last fifty years. At the same time as presenting these foundational extracts, the book includes commentaries that allow the reader to understand the selected extracts on their own terms as well as to be aware of their relations to each other and to the wider social work context. There is no settled view or easy consensus about what social work is and should be, and the ideas reflected in this volume are themselves diverse and complex. The world of social work has changed greatly over the last ten years, and this new edition reflects that change with new material on the decolonisation of social work knowledges, the greater emphasis on inter-disciplinarity and co-production and the new concern for identities. With an accessible introduction to contextualise the selections, the book is divided into three main sections, each presenting key texts drawn from a wide range of perspectives: psychological, sociological, philosophical, educational and political, as well as perspectives that are grounded in the experiences of practitioners and those who use services, which have contributed to the development of: the profession of social work knowledge and values for social work and practice in social work. By providing students and practitioners with an easy way into reading first-hand some of the most interesting, foundational texts of the subject, it will be required reading for all undergraduate and postgraduate programmes and professionals undertaking post-qualifying training.

The Routledge Handbook of International Critical Social Work is a companion volume to the Routledge Handbook of Critical Social Work. It brings together world-leading scholars in the field to provide additional, in-depth and provocative consideration of alternative and progressive ways of thinking about social work. Critical social work is increasingly involved in a global conversation, and as a subfield of social work it is rapidly becoming an interdisciplinary field in its own right and promoting novel forms of political activism. The Handbook showcases the global influences and path-breaking ideas of critical social work and examines the different stances taken on important political and ethical issues. It provides the first complete survey of the vibrant field of critical social work in a rich international context. This definitive volume is one of the most comprehensive source books on crucial social work that is available on the international stage and an essential guide for anyone interested in the politics of social work. The Handbook is divided into sever sections • Thinking the Political • Politics and the Ruins of Neoliberalism • Negotiating the State: Resistance, Protest and Dissent • Race, Bordering Practices and Migrants • Post Colonialism, Subaltern and the Global South • Critical Feminism, Sexuality and Gender Politics • Posthumanism, Pandemics and Environment The Handbook is comprised of 46 newly written chapters (and one reprint) which concentrate on differences between European and American contributions in this field as well as explicitly identifying the significance of critical social work in the context of Latin America. It provides a further vital trajectory of intellectual practice theory via interdisciplinary discussion of areas such as biopolitics, critical race theory, boundaries of gender and sexuality, queer studies, new conceptions of community, issues of public engagement, racism and Roma people, ecological feminism, environmental humanities and critical animal studies. The Handbook is an innovative and authoritative guide to theory and method as they relate to policy issues and practice and focus on the primary debates of today in social work from a critical perspective, and will be required reading for all students, academics and practitioners of social work and related professions.

Despite urgent calls for global action, sustainable social work practice, and a solid “green” theoretical knowledge base, North American social work and helping professions have been slow to learn from community activists, acknowledge the international climate emergency, and act collectively to achieve climate justice. Greening Social Work Education examines how social work educators can best incorporate sustainability content into social work curricula, integrate green teaching methods, and mobilize students and colleagues towards climate action, justice, and leadership. Drawing on Canadian content, this collection highlights Indigenous, eco-feminist, collective-action, and multi-interdisciplinary approaches to social work. The book provides a rationale for why the topic of greening is important for social work and the helping professions; discussion of current debates, tensions, and issues; useful ideas related to innovative interdisciplinary theoretical approaches, analyses, and constructs; and practical recommendations for teaching green social work education. In doing so, Greening Social Work Education strives to help social workers and educators gain the confidence and tools they need to transform their teaching and curricula.

Future social work practice requires a holistic framework to deal effectively with the great social and economic disruptions of this unprecedented time. Innovation and creativity are indispensable to empowering social workers and social service organizations to make an impact on the lives of people and societies in today's world. This book provides a range of innovative practices of social work drawing from alternate theories and with a global orientation. It is forward-looking with a focus on social resilience, social inclusion and recovery. Using a strengths perspective, discussions in the chapters provide useful insights in restructuring social life and social services at the individual as well as community and societal levels for meeting the challenges of a new global era. The chapters draw on the experiences of the authors in their academic and practice engagements and focus on a variety of arenas of social work education and practice to enrich the understanding of the present and future of the field. Authors discuss theoretical and conceptual models to review social work education and practice of engaging in a fast-changing global era and complex contexts. Topics explored include: New Era for Social Work in the Global Future Remaking Social Work by Applying an Anti-oppressive Lens Vulnerability and Resilience of Refugee Women and Children Critical Green Social Work as Futuristic Social Work Practice Globalisation and the Future of Social Work Practice and Education Equipping Social Workers for a New Global Era Remaking Social Work for the New Global Era is an essential resource to inform practice, enrich teaching, and direct future research for social work academics, researchers, educators, students, and field supervisors, as well as social care, social work and social service practitioners in both clinical and policy settings. The book also would be of interest to mental health and community professionals in various practice contexts across the globe.