The Art of Being Indispensable What School Social Workers Need to Know in Their First Three Years of Practice is a vital resource for newly hired school social workers that helps bridge the gap between classroom theory and field practice.

This new practice text provides a series of readings focusing on case management in a number of fields and in a variety of settings with different client populations. Each chapter examines a major component of case management practice by presenting information about an innovative program from a different location around the country. In conjunction, these readings provide a road map to social work case management.In addition to offering up-to-date practice approaches and examining the functions and skills of case management in depth, the authors provide the policy information needed for putting this traditional form of social work practice into today's service delivery context.

Social work deals with the heavy end of human difficulties such as cruelty, self-destructiveness, and severe and enduring mental health problems. How do social workers make sense of the emotional difficulties which come with the realities of practice? Understanding our clients is the best way of dealing with complex situations and avoiding burnout and stress. The contributors to this book argue that psychoanalysis provides a theory of development and behaviour capable of formulating a realistic model for understanding emotional difficulties and disturbances in both clients and ourselves. The chapters demonstrate a way of thinking for the practitioner that can be used in all situations. The book examines in detail some of the difficult and disturbing conversations that social workers have with clients of all ages. It provides a psychoanalytic framework for understanding circumstances which may be puzzling, stressful or frightening, and a theory whose value for many social work problems is well underpinned by research evidence. Written by senior practitioners who are all still working in the front line, this book puts complex real life experiences into words, to help the social worker become a more effective practitioner.