Social Work Perspectives: Conceptualising Youth Mental Health Through Trauma-Informed Systems Thinking

Social work is only just beginning to adapt knowledge and practice to the realities of a geographically diverse world. Within the social services, one of the most exciting diversity-related initiatives is a localization movement that calls for a social work knowledge base that is fundamentally different from one geographic milieu to the next. Few, if any, studies to date have considered the Canadian North (an area populated by diverse aboriginal cultural and linguistic groups) as a basis for localizing social work knowledge. This study reports on interviews conducted with social work practitioners in northern Ontario and the Northwest Territories to gain insight into how changes in the current social work knowledge base could be the locus for meaningful and contextually sensitive social work knowledge and intervention. This initial exploratory study presents a number of key findings that aid in developing an understanding of social work practice and knowledge specific to the Canadian North. These findings identify geographical areas where social work knowledge requires adaptation, changes in the personal and professional behaviour of practitioners, or modification of mainstream knowledge; use of appropriate and inappropriate social work theory and practice; specific challenges faced by agencies; ways agencies can modify programs to meet community needs; ways for clients to access service; and the relationships between practitioners and the surrounding communities. We conclude with implications for the Canadian North related to social work, allied disciplines, and social welfare structures.

Social work practitioners have many resources for building practice knowledge. In this period of explosive growth in information and technology, the journal Social Work presents only one of a multitude of information resources available to practicing social workers. As the new editor-in-chief of Social Work, my primary interest is to increase the relevance and utility of the journal for social workers nationally and internationally. What We Know about the Development and Use of Knowledge in Social Work Increasing the relevance and utility of the journal requires asking what we know about the development and use of knowledge more generally in social work and other professions. Going back as far as the Flexner Report of 1915, the literature on professions indicates that knowledge relevant to practice is no just an important element in the development of a profession, it is central. The actual work that a profession accomplishes along with the knowledge it uses to do that work are a profession's defining characteristics. The work of a profession and the knowledge used to accomplish that work also are the basis by which professions differentiate themselves from one another and by which they legitimize their activities in the larger society and culture (Abbott, 1988). In the case of social work, we define ourselves as the profession concerned with individual well-being and the just distribution of resources (including social, psychological, political, and economic resources). Our knowledge base is the accumulate d theoretical and empirical work that we use to benefit our clients. Research and knowledge development in our field is a vast enterprise concerned with physical, mental, and economic health; individual, family, institutional, and community welfare; the interests of diverse groups in society; and thinking about problems, defining them, and identifying effective means for ameliorating them. In the 1970s UCLA social work professor Zeke Hasenfeld suggested that our knowledge base produced an uncertain technology. Even a brief review of the social work literature in 2002 reveals that research and scholarship in our field is increasingly producing a certain technology. Given the centrality of our knowledge base to the social work profession, it is necessary to understand where we find our knowledge, to identify its concrete expressions. Certainly Social Work represents one repository--I would hope a foremost repository--for social work knowledge. Indeed, all of the publications of NASW Press, the journals (Social Work, Health & Social Work, Social Work Research, and Children & Schools), the references such as the Encyclopedia of Social Work and the Social Work Almanac, as well as the expanding list of books, provide rich repositories of emerging knowledge in social work. The increasing numbers of journals and books published by academic and commercial presses also are sources for social work knowledge. Clearly, there are many repositories of social work knowledge, some well-established, and many still emerging. What if we ask social workers and other helping professionals what sources they rely on for relevant and useful practice knowledge? Based on studies that have taken this approach, we know that practitioners list the following trusted, valued sources of knowledge (in decreasing order of usefulness): consultations with colleagues and supervisors, workshops on practice issues, theoretical books and articles, and empirical books and articles (Cohen, Sargeant & Sechrest, 1986). A quick read of the debate on knowledge utilization in the social work literature suggests that social work scholars and researchers are surprised and discouraged that their preferred modes of knowledge dissemination-- articles and books--do not emerge as practitioners' preferred modes. In reality it is not surprising that practice colleagues who can address specific questions with targeted responses represent a highly trustworthy and efficient source of practice knowledge--that is, that knowledge based on relationships (relational knowled ge) represents a primary repository for the social work knowledge base. …

The purpose of this article is to identify, analyse and interpret key practices and knowledge in gerontological social work. This article explores social work practices and knowledge in the context of gerontological rehabilitation using data gathered through thematic and dialogical interviews with seven social workers. In those interviews, social workers described their daily work with older adults. Using frame analysis, the data revealed assessment, support and care-taking frames which included many practices. The social work knowledge consist of factual, theoretical, procedural and practical and personal knowledge. Furthermore, clients’ personal knowledge is essential in social work practices of every kind. The study findings identify the importance of support and care-taking practices in gerontological rehabilitation, as well as a need for extensive social work knowledge.

The article will outline the logic, parameters, and methodology of an attempt at mainstreaming ethnicity within EMILIA, an EU 6th FP multi-sites project focused on mental health and social inclusion over two years. Led by two social work researchers within a large multi-disciplinary group consisting of eight sites spread across Southern, Central and Northern Europe, alongside mainstreaming gender, we will look at the findings of the baseline audit, the ensuing action plans and the changes which followed. Examining the process and its outcomes for mainstreaming across the different sites and the services they provide for people experiencing mental health problems highlights the impact of country-specific policies on disclosure of information pertaining to ethnicity as well as country and site policies and practices pertaining to recognising the existence of ethnic inequality and tackling it. Issues underlying formal mainstreaming staff and users' training will be explored. The role of social work within a multi-disciplinary group will also be looked at, and the lessons for European social work will be outlined. The lessons pertain in part to the impact of the wide ranging variation in background, scope and focus on the role social work values, knowledge and skills can play in the intersection between mental health, parameters of social inclusion and mainstreaming ethnicity.

Social Work Teaching Partnerships were developed in 2015 by the Department for Education in England to foster stronger links between social work employers and educators to improve the quality of social work graduates leaving universities. The initiative resulted in practising social workers entering universities in greater numbers to teach social work students. This paper focuses on how two practicing social workers – Elizabeth and Alex - were affected by teaching social work students in a university setting. The paper presents the practitioners’ reflections of teaching and its effects through short vignettes before examining these reflections by drawing on critical social theories. Social work teaching partnerships which encourage practitioners to spend time as social work teachers in the University classroom can produce unanticipated, positive effects for these practitioners. If the university classroom is seen as a “field” (Bourdieu, 1988), it can facilitate social workers to become objects of knowledge for social work students andto themselves. Interacting with students created opportunities for Elizabeth and Alex to reflect on their social work values, knowledge base, role, and practice. By asking unexpected questions in the classroom, students problematize (Foucault, 1984) what it means to be and to practice as a social worker. Consequently, classroom interactions with social work students can lead practitioners to think about how they would like to work. Elizabeth’s and Alex’s reflections of their classroom experiences may also help to inform and strengthen workforce retention policies in social work, as their self-efficacy increased and new possibilities for social work practice emerged.

Two thousand and five is a banner year for the National Association of Social Worker's publications program! This year marks the 30th anniversary of the conceptualization and development of this journal--Health & Social Work. The history of this publication began in 1975 with a special call for papers on social work and the health field, publicized in the March 1975 issue of Social Work. The call for paper was used as a test to gauge the interest in a health journal. The special issue received a promising response, and the NASW Board of Directors authorized the publication of this specialty journal. It was the first specialty publication offered by NASW, and it demonstrated NASW'S continuing commitment to meet both the general and special interests of social workers and the people they serve (Briar & Minahan, 1976, p. 5). The vision for the journal was that it be built on the heritage of two other social work health journals, Medical Social Work and the Journal of Psychiatric Social Work (Mahaffey, 1976). Even in its early days, the conceptualization was total health of the individual, including the body and the mind. Instrumental in its development were Maryann Mahaffey, who served as president of NASW, Anne Minahan, chair of the Publications Committee, and Scott Briar, editor-in-chief of Social Work. Their foresight into the importance of this journal led to its inception. Beatrice Phillips, the first editor-in-chief of Health & Social Work, provided leadership in the development of its form and content. In 1975 health care was regarded as one of the largest and fastest growing fields in the United States, and the role of social work in health had a long, established history, dating back to Richard Cabot's establishment of the first medical social work program at Massachusetts General Hospital in 1905. At the time this journal was conceived, one-third of NASW members practiced in health care arenas. It was believed that the journal could form a base for legislative action and information. Also in 1975 there was concern about the changes being experienced in health care, and it was believed that a journal emphasizing health would bring to the forefront problems that needed to be addressed. Early issues dealt with such topics as HMOs, quality assurance, self-help groups, nursing home care, race relations, and use of people power. These issues, although called other names-managed care, quality improvement, consumer movement, long-tem care, cultural competence, and staff deployment, continue to be explored by social work researchers. Over the years the journal experienced significant enhancements. As social work research has grown, the journal has taken a research focus in examining issues. Two columns were developed and have consistently appeared over the years and have helped preserve the original focus of the journal. Our Practice Forum column, for example, highlights topics of interest to practitioners. In addition, the National Health Line column focuses on policy issues critical to the profession. As our submissions have increased, so have the consulting editors who assist in the peer review process. Our peer reviewers have grown from a handful to more than 40 scholars. Although we have grown and changed, our commitment to social workers and their clients remains the same. This journal continues to fill a need, having the second highest circulation of all the NASW journals, and social workers continue to he a strong force in health care. A recent study of the NASW membership conducted by NASW's Practice Research Network (PRN), identified that 58 percent of the members surveyed selected mental health, health, aging, adolescents, or addictions as their primary practice area, and 30 percent specifically identified their organizational setting as a hospital or outpatient mental health service (NASW PRN, 2000). Over the years, social work roles have been reconfigured within the health care system. …

Recent changes, especially after the 90s in Albania, have marked an important turn in the whole health system and even more so in the field of mental health. With health services, policies and social services were implemented to people with mental health problems, and it in this form that there was a need to bridge these policies and services to beneficiaries, such as social workers in mental health. Now the social worker is one of the key persons in the multidisciplinary team whose purpose is to identify, diagnose, treat, plan and integrate these people into society. The study aims is to identify the support and role of social work in persons with mental health disorders at Psychiatric Hospital “Sadik Dinçi” Elbasan, Albania and in the supported housing in this city. Qualitative method was used for conducting the study, and semi-structured interview with a focus group of 4 social workers of this hospital, 2 social workers of Elbasan Community Mental Health Center and 4 day-care ergo therapists located within the premises of the hospital was used as measuring instruments to this hospital. Also, a survey was conducted with 15 patients of the hospital. According to the study, the role of the social worker is well positioned in the field of mental health, but at the same time the study highlights the need for modern European interventions and models for integrating these individuals away from the walls of psychiatric hospitals, models where these individuals are supported and integrated in society.

Each chapter concludes with Summary and Selected References. I. INTRODUCTION. 1. What Is Social Work? Social Welfare. Social Work. Distinguishing Characteristics of Social Work. Sociology and Social Work. Psychiatry and Social Work. Psychology and Social Work. Counseling and Social Work. Social Work in the World Today. 2. The Evolution of Social Welfare and Social Work in the United States. Echoes of the Past. European Roots. Beginnings in the United States. Public Assistance and Social Welfare Emerge. Services of Volunteers. Social Workers Appear. 3. Education for Social Work. Social Work Education. Council on Social Work Education. II. SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE. 4. Generalist Practice and Introductory Theory. Need for a Theoretical Framework. Introductory Inner and Outer Forces Paradigm. Additional Model Definition. The Life Cycle and the Inner and Outer Forces Model. Social Functioning. Levels of Social Functioning. A Base for Generalist Social Work Practice. 5. Social Work Practice with Individuals. Work with the Individual: A Generalist Approach. Social Casework Defined. History of Social Casework. Trends in Casework. The Practice Framework. Methods of Social Casework. Problems in Social Casework. The Casework Process. The Multi-Systems Approach. 6. Social Work Practice with Groups. Historical Developments. Group Work Defined. Group Work Models. Formation of Groups. Selection of Group Members. Preparation of Group Members. Structuring the Group. Stages of Group. Group Work Settings. 7. Social Work Practice with Communities. What Is Community Organization? Beginnings of Community Social Work. Underlying Principles in Community Organization. Community Social Work Processes. Roles of the Community Organizer. Case Summaries. 8. Administration and Research. Administration. Research. III. SOCIAL WORK SERVICES. 9. Mental Health Services. Beginnings in Mental Health. Elements of the Mental Health Network. Essential Elements of Comprehensive Mental Health. Special Problems and Issues in Mental Health. 10. Social Work in Health Care. Definition of Social Work in Health Care. The Meaning of Illness. The Role of Social Work in Health Care. The Future of Social Work in the Health Care Services. Prevention and Social Work. 11. Social Work in the Schools. The Education Delivery System: New Approaches. Problems Plaguing the Public Schools. Beginnings in School Social Work. Social Work Practice in the Schools. Social Work Using a Group Approach. School Social Work and the Community. Working with Minorities. When the System Fails. 12. Social Security and Public Welfare. Government's Responsibility for Welfare. The Social Security Act. Aid to Families with Dependent Children. Government and Public Welfare. 13. Family and Child Welfare Services. Marriage and Family Counseling. Child Welfare Services. Home Care of Children. Foster Care of Children. Adoption Services. Protective Services. Child Sexual Abuse. 14. Correctional Services. The Social Problems of Delinquency and Crime. Social Work and Corrections. Social Work Practice in Corrections. Processes and Principles. Social Services and Case Examples. 15. Services for the Aged. Older Americans Act of 1965. White House Conference on Aging, 1971. Adequate Income. Appropriate Living Arrangements. Institutional Responsiveness and a New Attitude Toward Aging. Independence and Dignity. 16. Drug Abuse and Social Work. Misused Drugs and What They Do. Extent and Cost of Drug Abuse. Programs for Control, Prevention, and Treatment. Role of Social Work in Treatment. 17. Services with Minorities. Minority Problems. Social Services. Educational Developments. 18. Social Work in Rural Areas. Beginnings in Rural Social Work. Rural Social Work Practice. Roles of the Rural Social Worker. Rural Social Service Agencies. Distance Learning for Rural Social Work. 19. Case Management. Historical Developments. Case Management Defined. Case Management Research. IV. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 20. Social Work: A Maturing Profession. Criteria of a Profession. Historical Background. Social Work Today. 21. Social Work Prevention and Enrichment. Social Work Focus on Prevention. Problems Involved. Examples of Prevention. Implications of Prevention. Social Work Enrichment. 22. Social Work and the Future. Professional Maturation. Increase in Services. Professional Identification and Visibility. Licensing. Spirituality in Social Work Practice. Changing Continuum in Social Work Education. Development of the Role of Consultant. Status of Social Worker. Private Practice. Case Management. Advocacy Role. Improved Public Relations. Rural Social Work. Technology. Expansion of Leadership Roles. Increase in International Social Work. Prevention. Enrichment. Movement for Higher Quality. Name Index. Subject Index.

Disciplinary knowledge is reflected, legitimated, and replicated in academic journals, social work knowledge reproducing mainly Western knowledge(s). Hence, there has been an increase in the calls for a stronger articulation and inclusion of critical alternatives. Using a critical social work lens, we explored whether and how social work journals reproduce alternative knowledges. We developed a novel global list of all 272 social work journals and invited journal editors to respond to a virtual, exploratory qualitative survey. Through our reflexive thematic analysis, we identified two core themes in the 31 responses – the journal editors’ attachment to dominant, white, western social work knowledge and values, and their rhetorical inclusion of alternative knowledges. Alternative knowledges were seldom constructed as subjugated voices, but rather as innovation, gaps, or international perspectives. Despite agreeing that social work journals should include of a variety of knowledges, few journals created intentional space for subordinated knowledges. A disciplining mechanism that excludes/minimizes the alternative voices, and invalidates their experience was used to avoid attention to marginalized and silenced perspectives. Such processes impoverish social work knowledge. To enrich social work knowledge, journal editors should act intentionally, collectively, and critically to identify critical alternative knowledges and facilitate their inclusion in the social work canon.

The description of the role of social workers is considered important because the initiator of the formation of a village tourism program in Sukaratu Village is the social worker itself, so that if the role can be fully described it is not impossible the role of social workers. In the village of Sukaratu can be adopted by other communities in different regions that have the same commitment to community development. These findings indicate that the role of community social workers at the identification stage is more facilitative and educative. At the socialization stage, the role of social workers is more dominant in practicing the role of representation and education. Subsequent roles in the social worker planning stage play a more facilitative role and in the implementation stages of social workers practice more training (educational) skills. Then at the evaluation stage the social worker does not perform a representational role, but rather performs a facilitation role to facilitate the evaluation procedure and the various aspects that must be in the evaluation process. While the barriers experienced by social workers in implementing the community development process in Sukaratu Village is in increasing the number of people involved in the implementation of representational roles.

In the context of health services, decisions regarding priorities for social work intervention and, hence, the allocation of social work expertise and resources have traditionally been based on an interaction between social work knowledge, principles and skills, historical precedence, health policy, multidisciplinary team requirements, and manager opinion. In the current context of health services, traditional practices are questioned and it has become essential for social work as a profession to clarify its role, its choice of interventions, and to state clearly and strongly, on the basis of social work knowledge, its core priorities for practice and, hence, the allocation of resources. This paper presents the findings of an exploratory study, undertaken by joint university and practice collaboration, designed to develop a set of priorities for social work practice in health. The study was undertaken in the Hunter Health region of New South Wales, Australia, where social workers are employed across a range of hospital, mental health, specialist, and community services. The resulting set of clinical priorities for social work practice in health has implications for the allocation of social work resources and expertise to the social issues central in individual family and community health status, and for the profession's capacity to strengthen the role of social work in health.

Social workers in hospitals necessarily work alongside other healthcare professionals, and the perspectives on social work held by doctors and senior nurses are relevant both to their relationship with social workers and to the smooth running of the hospital. An exploratory investigation in the East Anglian Region has produced profiles of perceived social work practice in six different patient-care categories: surgical and orthopaedic, accident and emergency, medicine for the elderly, psychogeriatric medicine, psychiatry and paediatrics. The social worker's functions are recognized as including statutory responsibilities in child protection and mental health, and there are some secondary roles that often reflect a social worker's personal interest or sphere of expertise. The social worker's primary role, however, is deemed to be that of discharge planning - a task which has been given statutory force under the National Health Service (NHS) and Community Care Act 1990. The nurses and doctors interviewed rated the quality of social work practice predominantly by the extent to which the social worker was seen to identify unambiguously with the hospital and its ethos; but they also set great store by the presence and easy accessibility of a social worker, and they preferred regular contact with the same person. They saw the social worker as a key agent within the health care framework, and acknowledged that the social care role and the social worker's link with the community were crucial components of good hospital practice.

Supporting youth mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The increasing complexity of social challenges has heightened the demand for social innovation – developing novel solutions that enhance services and address emerging community needs. Traditionally, fields such as business, banking, IT, and communications have shown little interest in vulnerable populations, yet they are now actively engaging in social innovation initiatives. However, entrepreneurial approaches may prioritize organizational goals and return on investment over long-term sustainability. Social work, with its expertise in understanding social problems and fostering empathy, can bridge the gap between values and innovation through participatory design. This paper explores how social work knowledge integrates into social innovation design. Based on an observational study, findings suggest that social work-trained professionals approach design differently than entrepreneurs, emphasizing process over outcomes. Key challenges include professional identity, recognition, and ethical considerations in interdisciplinary collaboration. Understanding these dynamics is essential for enhancing the role of social work in social innovation.

• Summary: This article explores the knowledge of community-based social workers in the context of an action research project aimed at exploring the practitioners’ own descriptions of their knowledge and expertise on the theme of spatial marginalization. • Findings: The knowledge of social workers seemed to be based on service users’ experiences and case examples, on value and moral constructions, and it was created from experience, by doing and in action. It was local and contextual, in some sense silent but shared through a discussion process. It was not based on empirically based scientific research understood in the traditional sense; rather, social workers resorted to practical knowledge in its various forms. • Applications: The sharing of individuals’ social work knowledge, both ‘knowing that’ and ‘knowing how’, with other social workers and reflecting together on the knowledge and tradition that social workers carry serves to define, study and promote the transferability of common and shared knowledge.