Empowerment Series,
11th Edition

Part I: INTRODUCTION.
1. The Challenges of Social Work.
2. Orienting Frameworks for Direct Practice.
3. Overview of the Helping Process.
4. Operationalizing the Social Work Values and Ethics.
Part II: EXPLORING, ASSESSING, AND PLANNING.
5. Building Blocks of Communication: Conveying Empathy and Authenticity.
6. Verbal Following, Exploring and Focusing Skills.
7. Eliminating Counterproductive Communication Patterns.
8. Assessment: Exploring and Understanding Problems and Strengths.
9. Assessment: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal and Environmental Factors.
10. Assessing Family Functioning in Diverse Family and Cultural Contexts.
11. Forming and Assessing Social Work Groups.
12. Developing Goals and Formulating a Contract.
Part III: THE CHANGE-ORIENTED PHASE.
13. Choosing and Implementing Interventions to Facilitate Change.
14. Balancing Micro and Macro Social Work Practice: Roles, Theories and Intervention Strategies.
15. Enhancing Family Functioning and Relationships.
16. Intervening in Social Work Groups.
17. Additive Empathy, Interpretation and Confrontation.
18. Managing Barriers to Change.
Part IV: THE TERMINATION PHASE.
19. The Final Phase: Evaluation and Termination.

• Dean H. Hepworth

  Highly respected social work educators, Dean H. Hepworth and Jo Ann Larsen originally defined how direct practice should be taught.

• Pa Der Vang

  Pa Der Vang, Ph.D., MSW, LICSW, is an associate professor at St. Catherine University in the Department of Social Work. She teaches social work methods with individuals, groups and communities; human behavior in the social environment; group work; and communication and interviewing skills. Dr. Vang’s publications center on Hmong immigration and culture change. She co-founded the Minnesota Hmong Social Workers’ Coalition and serves on the Minnesota Board of Social Work. She is also editor of Staring Down the Tiger: Stories of Hmong American Women (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2020).

• Joan Marie Blakey

  Joan Marie Blakey, PhD, LMSW, is an associate professor in the School of Social Work at Tulane University. Before her administrative role as the associate dean of academic affairs, Dr. Blakey taught generalist micro practice and direct practice and children and families at the Master of Social Work (MSW) level. She also has developed several courses related to trauma, substance abuse and co-occurring disorders, and she teaches doctoral-level courses. Dr. Blakey’s scholarly research interests and practice experiences primarily involve trauma and substance abuse among African American women involved with the child protection and criminal justice system. More recently, her research and consulting work has focused on organizational and structural assessments and evaluations related to racial equity. Dr. Blakey also serves on the Council on Social Work Education and the Black Administrators, Researchers and Scholars’ Board of Directors.

• Craig Schwalbe

  Craig Schwalbe, Ph.D., MSW, is a professor in the Columbia University School of Social Work. Prior to joining the School of Social Work, he was in direct practice in child welfare, child mental health and adult mental health settings in rural communities. Dr. Schwalbe’s current scholarship focuses on the development of evidence-based strategies for probation-involved adolescents. He was the recipient of the WT Grant Foundation Scholars award in 2009, which funded a study of success and failure on probation, and he led a UNICEF-funded international development effort to design and implement juvenile diversion programs for delinquent youths in Jordan. Most recently, he is a co-principal investigator of the COVID-19 Community Supervision Survey, which seeks to explore how probation and parole have adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Caroline Evans

  Caroline Evans is currently the lead evaluator for the Substance Use Prevention, Education and Research (SUPER) project, an adolescent substance use prevention program in North Carolina. Dr. Evans' research focuses on adolescent development, youth violence, bullying and victimization, adolescent substance use prevention and anti-racism and social justice. Her clinical experience includes working with Latinx clients in both community mental health and hospital settings.

• Ronald H. Rooney

  Ronald Rooney is a professor emeritus in the School of Social Work at the University of Minnesota. As a former social worker in child welfare, community mental health and school social work, Dr. Rooney is also the author of Strategies for Work with Involuntary Clients.

• Glenda Dewberry Rooney

  Glenda Dewberry Rooney is a professor emeritus in the Department of Social Work at Augsburg University in Minneapolis. She taught undergraduate and graduate practice courses in ethics, and research and courses in organizations and administration. Her practice experience includes child welfare, mental health and work with families and children. In addition, she was involved in community-based research and worked with agencies concerned with children, youth and families as a trainer and as a clinical, program and management consultant.

• Kim Strom

  Kim Strom is the Smith P. Theimann Jr. Distinguished Professor of Ethics and Professional Practice in the School of Social Work and director of the university’s Office of Ethics and Policy. She also serves as the principal investigator of the UNC School of Social Work state behavioral healthcare contract. Dr. Strom has been an educator for over 30 years and has authored over 80 books, articles and chapters on ethics and practice. She is an internationally recognized scholar on moral courage, ethics and social work education. In addition, she served on the NASW committee responsible for revising the Code of Ethics and represents North America on the Ethics Commission of the International Federation of Social Work.

• To enhance readability and make key concepts easier to master, the authors have condensed and streamlined the presentation of core models and skills, while retaining core content and skills essential for beginning social workers.

• To more fully explicate and update the philosophical underpinnings of direct practice, Chapter 2 presents six “orienting perspectives” that underlie contemporary direct practice across multiple practice domains. These include ecosystems perspective, strengths perspective, cultural humility, anti-oppressive practice, trauma-informed practice and evidence-informed practice. Orienting perspectives are woven throughout the text to help students align their practice with the ethical and social justice missions of the social work profession.

• Throughout the text, references to cultural and racial diversity have been updated and revised in alignment with the orienting perspectives presented in Chapter 2. In addition to the traditional stance of sensitivity to diversity, the revised text includes a focus on self-awareness about the power and positionality of the social worker as part of a critical analysis that underlies effective social justice practice.

• References to gender throughout the text have been expanded to recognize the non-binary nature of this social construct. While many clients continue to be identified as “female” or “male,” the text uses the gender-neutral “they/their” when practice scenarios include non-gender binary examples or when gender is not central to the scenario presented.

• The authors have updated various chapters to include elements of the contemporary practice context, including the social work response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the expanding use of tele-social work, environmental justice, and other recent important developments. In addition, The authors have reviewed and revised the entire text to streamline content, and replace outdated references with up-to-date information.

• All-new coverage of trauma-informed care introduces students to the principles and practice of this approach in working with clients. Resources and references are included to add to students' knowledge and understanding of the prevalence of trauma experienced by clients.

• The Eleventh Edition reflects changes made to the NASW Code of Ethics in 2017 and expands attention to global differences in social work ethics. Included dilemmas and practice scenarios invoke contemporary challenges such as worker safety, political tensions, social media and service limitations.

• Student video demonstrations illustrate important skills and practices described in the text, enabling students to model appropriate behavior without the pressures of facing a client. References to the videos throughout the text help students put each new skill into context. The videos are available through the accompanying MindTap®, which also offers students practice exercises and questions to evaluate their learning and skills.

• The text balances fundamental theory with a practical emphasis on improving and refining students' assessment, helping and communication skills. Composed of four parts, the text begins by identifying the mission of social work, its values, and knowledge base. The authors then differentiate generalist from direct practice and explore roles of direct practitioners. Common elements among diverse theorists are examined next, followed by key intervention strategies and information about various client population and practice settings.

• Rather than focusing only on clients' problems, the authors explore how social workers can better assess clients' strengths and integrate those positive attributes into the social work process.

• The text is packed with examples and case studies, many drawn from social work practitioners and the authors' personal practice situations. Diversity content is integrated throughout the text, with cases exemplifying diversity in multiple forms. Skill development exercises give students myriad opportunities to put chapter concepts into action.

• Guides to assessing specific problems--such as the potential for suicide--and full examples of written assessments are included to help students practice and improve these important skills.

• The text is packed with examples and case studies, many drawn from social work practitioners and the authors' personal practice situations. Diversity content is integrated throughout the text, with cases exemplifying diversity in multiple forms. Skill development exercises give students myriad opportunities to put chapter concepts into action.

• Guides to assessing specific problems--such as the potential for suicide--and full examples of written assessments are included to help students practice and improve these important skills.

Cengage provides a range of supplements that are updated in coordination with the main title selection. For more information about these supplements, contact your Learning Consultant.

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