The Road to Social Work and Human Service Practice

The Road to Social Work and Human Service Practice gives you a comprehensive introduction to all aspects of practice in both social work and the human services. It lays out the journey and expertly signposts the key areas of knowledge, skills, values, ethics, practice contexts and contemporary debates. Perspectives from both clients and practitioners offer reflections on real-life social work and human services interventions, while new case studies show how theory can be applied to practice.

This text is an invaluable tool for you as you start your career in the social work and human services sector.

About the Authors

Donna McAuliffe is Professor and Academic Lead in the School of Health Sciences and Social Work at Griffith University. Her social work practice experience was in the fields of community development, mental health and legal social work. She now specialises in the teaching and research of professional ethics, with a focus on inter-professional practice, ethical decision-making and codes of ethics. She provides ethics consultation, training and supervision to social work and human service practitioners and management.

Jennifer Boddy is a passionate educator and leading international researcher in environmental social work. Her work is grounded in a commitment to social and environmental justice. Through her research and teaching she seeks to create healthy, sustainable environments and address barriers to accessing education for diverse groups. Coupled with her practice experience as a counsellor and therapeutic caseworker, she has an in-depth understanding of the complexities of people’s environments and their impacts on education, health and wellbeing.

Since completing her PhD in 2009, Jennifer has developed a strong scholarly background and publication track record in social work. In that time, she has published over 60 peer-reviewed publications, books chapters, and reports, with a h index of 19. She has led and been involved in partnerships that have obtained almost $1 million in competitive funding, consultancies and other government research funding and she has supervised nine higher degree-by-research students to completion. Jennifer’s recent research is focused on the intersections between domestic violence and climate change and teaching social work in online mediums.

Lesley worked for more than 25 years as an academic after a long career in human service in the disability and health sectors. Now retired, she continues to engage with research and writing in social work practice, disability and new models and approaches to disadvantage and social exclusion. Lesley has taught numerous courses in social work theory and practice and disability studies over many years. Lesley Chenoweth AO is Emeritus Professor of Social Work at Griffith University, is a consultant to many government and community organisations and now serves on several boards of community organisations.