Stress, fatigue and burnout are serious problems in the social work profession. High case loads, staff shortages, budget cuts and the challenging nature of the job contribute to high levels of stress, and social workers can crack under the pressure. This accessible book demonstrates how managers and practitioners can overcome workplace distress, fatigue and burnout by understanding the causes and implementing practical strategies. Part 1 outlines how stress, fatigue, burnout and trauma can be identified, how they impact upon social workers, and what strategies can help. Part 2 explores stress in particular settings, covering frontline practice, working with trauma, working with aggressive service users, bullying and violence in the workplace, and making mistakes. The book is rooted in the reality of everyday social work, incorporating the views and experiences of practising social workers. This book is full of techniques and tips that will be invaluable to all social work managers and practitioners seeking to beat workplace stress overload and burnout.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • An urgently needed guide to the alarming increase in anxiety and stress experienced by girls from elementary school through college, from the author of Untangled Dr. Lisa Damour worked as an expert collaborator on Pixar’s Inside Out 2! “An invaluable read for anyone who has girls, works with girls, or cares about girls—for everyone!”—Claire Shipman, author of The Confidence Code and The Confidence Code for Girls Though anxiety has risen among young people overall, studies confirm that it has skyrocketed in girls. Research finds that the number of girls who said that they often felt nervous, worried, or fearful jumped 55 percent from 2009 to 2014, while the comparable number for adolescent boys has remained unchanged. As a clinical psychologist who specializes in working with girls, Lisa Damour, Ph.D., has witnessed this rising tide of stress and anxiety in her own research, in private practice, and in the all-girls’ school where she consults. She knew this had to be the topic of her new book. In the engaging, anecdotal style and reassuring tone that won over thousands of readers of her first book, Untangled, Damour starts by addressing the facts about psychological pressure. She explains the surprising and underappreciated value of stress and anxiety: that stress can helpfully stretch us beyond our comfort zones, and anxiety can play a key role in keeping girls safe. When we emphasize the benefits of stress and anxiety, we can help our daughters take them in stride. But no parents want their daughter to suffer from emotional overload, so Damour then turns to the many facets of girls’ lives where tension takes hold: their interactions at home, pressures at school, social anxiety among other girls and among boys, and their lives online. As readers move through the layers of girls’ lives, they’ll learn about the critical steps that adults can take to shield their daughters from the toxic pressures to which our culture—including we, as parents—subjects girls. Readers who know Damour from Untangled or the New York Times, or from her regular appearances on CBS News, will be drawn to this important new contribution to understanding and supporting today’s girls. Praise for Under Pressure “Truly a must-read for parents, teachers, coaches, and mentors wanting to help girls along the path to adulthood.”—Julie Lythcott-Haims, New York Times bestselling author of How to Raise an Adult

Nobody performs better under pressure. Regardless of the task, pressure ruthlessly diminishes our judgment, decision-making, attention, dexterity, and performance in every professional and personal arena. In Performing Under Pressure, Drs. Hendrie Weisinger and J.P. Pawliw-Fry introduce us to the concept of pressure management, offering empirically tested short term and long term solutions to help us overcome the debilitating effects of pressure. Performing Under Pressure tackles the greatest obstacle to personal success, whether in a sales presentation, at home, on the golf course, interviewing for a job, or performing onstage at Carnegie Hall. Despite sports mythology, no one "rises to the occasion" under pressure and does better than they do in practice. The reality is pressure makes us do worse, and sometimes leads us to fail utterly. But there are things we can do to diminish its effects on our performance. Performing Under Pressure draws on research from over 12,000 people, and features the latest research from neuroscience and from the frontline experiences of Fortune 500 employees and managers, Navy SEALS, Olympic and other elite athletes, and others. It offers 22 specific strategies each of us can use to reduce pressure in our personal and professional lives and allow us to better excel in whatever we do. Whether you’re a corporate manager, a basketball player, or a student preparing for the SAT, Performing Under Pressure will help you to do your best when it matters most.

Social Work With Groups describes continuity and change in group work. It revisits the theoretical ideas of group work and group work topics of the past decade, focusing on the continuity of group work theory and practice. At the same time it emphasizes the need for change to more effectively work with deal with people in new groups in need--people with AIDS, gangs, persons in grief, and minorities, as well as groups always in need but now with new and additional needs--families, children, adolescents. This book deals with how to meet the needs of existing and emerging populations. It shows a good combination of theory and practice of group work in a variety of settings and using traditional techniques with new groups. Chapters in this book revisit the theoretical ideas of group work such as stages of development and the question of self-determination in groups. The sections of theory are the basis for the more practical emphasis of what today’s group worker is doing and how they are doing it. Social Work With Groups is very practice oriented. As such, anybody who uses groups to help people will find much to read and reflect upon. With its across-the-board appeal, persons new to group work will delight in the practical information, and experienced group workers will find the revisiting of the issues a helpful and refreshing approach. Clinical social workers and faculty with an interest in theory and theoretical approaches to group work will appreciate the theory addressed in the book. Social change oriented practitioners searching for new methods of empowerment among the people will find helpful suggestions in this book for social, political, and grassroots activism.

This fully-updated, accessible textbook considers the theory and practice of critical social work in addressing inequality and social injustice. It is essential reading for students, educators and practitioners of child and family social work.

There is an increasing emphasis on post-qualifying training for social workers, especially in the complex and demanding area of working with children and families. This essential textbook is especially designed for practitioners studying at this level. Accessible and thorough, the text focuses on a mixture of conceptual and organisational topics, skills, law, policy and key practice issues. It includes chapters on: Social work values and ethics Risk, uncertainty and accountability Direct work with children and young people Promoting security and stability Working with reluctant service users Assessment of parenting Working with poverty, drugs and alcohol Going to court and the legal framework Children and young people going home Supporting others in their professional development. Using case studies and activities to link research, theory and practice, Social Work with Children and Families takes a wider look at the role and tasks of an experienced social work practitioner, and the skills and knowledge needed to develop professionally from this point.

This book analyses the types of and possibilities for care in social work with families in situations where evidence-based programmes, standardised forms of risk-assessment and intervention, performance management and incentives to increase cost-effectiveness take precedence. Offering a new framework for understanding and exploring theories and practices of care in social work with families, it is structured into • A comprehensive introduction to care theory and its relevance for social work. This includes critical reflections on "the missing link" between care theory and social work theory and the need for care theory in research on and social work with families. • A new framework for understanding core elements, dimensions and dilemmas of care in social work. This is based in theory and international research and is illustrated with exemplary "thick" ethnographic cases of statutory social work, homebased social work and family treatment. • Suggestions for enabling social change of the conditions for and practices of care in social work with families. By allowing critical reflection on this topic, this book will be of interest to all scholars, students and academics of social work and other professions dealing with child protection.