Childhood Adversity, Substance Abuse, and Violence: Implications for Trauma-Informed Social Work Practice

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 24-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jill Levenson ◽  
Melissa Grady
Keyword(s):  
Substance Abuse ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Childhood Adversity ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Trauma Informed

Translating Trauma-Informed Principles into Social Work Practice

Social Work ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 288-298
Author(s):  
Jill Levenson
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Trauma Symptoms ◽  
Trauma Narratives ◽  
Helping Relationship ◽  
Trauma Informed Care ◽  
Trauma Informed ◽  
And Coping

Abstract Trauma-informed social work is characterized by client-centered practices that facilitate trust, safety, respect, collaboration, hope, and shared power. Many agencies have adopted trauma-informed care (TIC) initiatives and many social workers are familiar with its basic principles, but it is challenging to infuse these ideals into real-world service delivery. This article offers 10 trauma-informed practices (TIPs) for translating TIC concepts into action by (a) conceptualizing client problems, strengths, and coping strategies through the trauma lens and (b) responding in ways that avoid inadvertently reinforcing clients’ feelings of vulnerability and disempowerment (re-traumatization). TIPs guide workers to consider trauma as an explanation for client problems, incorporate knowledge about trauma into service delivery, understand trauma symptoms, transform trauma narratives, and use the helping relationship as a tool for healing.

Promoting Evidence-Based, Trauma-Informed Social Work Practice

2019 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 645-657 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua P. Mersky ◽  
James Topitzes ◽  
Linda Britz
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Trauma Informed

Talking about change – Positioning and interpretative repertoires in stories about substance abuse and change

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 216-235 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lillian Bruland Selseng ◽  
Oddbjørg Skjær Ulvik
Keyword(s):  
Substance Abuse ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Institutional Context ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Substance Abusing ◽  
Subject Positions ◽  
Interpretative Repertoires ◽  
Discursive Constructions

Understandings of as well as negotiations about change are constantly present in social work practice and in many instances these are decisive for how social work is formed. Employing discourse theories, this article analyses interpretative repertoires used by social workers in describing how they experience change and absence of change among clients having substance abuse problems, and how they position themselves accordingly. Examination of data drawn from interviews with counsellors working for the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration reveal three distinct subject positions in their discursive constructions of change and absence of change. These include (a) ‘the position of despair’, (b) ‘the position of limited professional responsibility’ and (c) ‘the position of resistance’ – each with its own distinctive set of interpretative repertoires. The article relates these to the complexities and varieties of constructions and understandings of change involved in working with substance abusing clients, where the counsellors’ experiences of success and of responsibility have central roles. In addition, the article shows that the institutional context is often significant for how change is constructed and understood by the counsellors.

Children, Substance Abuse and the Role of Social Work

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kabo Diraditsile ◽  
Omogolo Mabote
Keyword(s):  
Substance Abuse ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Survey Design ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Design Data ◽  
University Of Botswana ◽  
Effective Interventions ◽  
Institutional Review

The study determined children’s experiences of and views on substance abuse, and the role of social work practice. It adopted a quantitative approach using a descriptive survey design. Data were collected using structured questionnaires with a total of 100 randomly selected students from the Tshwaragano Junior Secondary School in Botswana. The data were coded and quantitatively analysed using SPSS. A research permit and permission to enter the school were obtained from the Institutional Review Board of the University of Botswana, and the Ministry of Education and Skills Development. Furthermore, parental or guardian informed consent was obtained before the data collection. The findings reveal that various illegal substances widely used by students manifested in psychosocial issues. Moreover, it was also affirmed that despite government programme interventions designed to end substance use in schools, the situation remained unabated. This paper recommends that social workers contribute to this area in order to play a greater role in advocating for their clientele to receive the most effective interventions so that they can fight substance abuse. The paper concludes that generating reliable empirical data will increase awareness on the subject with the aim of making schools a conducive and better environment for students.

Reflections of stress in US abortion narratives

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 533-556 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mickey Sperlich ◽  
Gretchen E Ely ◽  
Rebecca S Rouland ◽  
Connor A Walters ◽  
Max Carwile
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Traumatic Stress ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Trauma Informed Care ◽  
Trauma Informed ◽  
Work Education

A trauma-informed, thematic analysis that identified stress-related themes evident in 39 personal abortion narratives from the Tennessee Stories Project in the United States is presented in this paper. Using the Braun and Clarke model of thematic analysis, guided by the trauma-informed social work framework, researchers examined these narratives to identify stress related themes.FindingsAn overall theme of stress and traumatic stress was found to be present throughout the abortion narratives. These themes were categorized into subthemes, including: (a) existing life stressors preceding the abortion experience, (b) stressors while trying to access abortion services, (c) stressors while obtaining abortion services, and (d) stressors arising after the procedure.ApplicationsThese results suggest that stress and traumatic stress were reflected in these abortion narratives throughout the abortion seeking experience. This finding supports the need for social work practice responses that are designed to address and eliminate stress during the process of seeking and obtaining an abortion in the United States. A trauma-informed framework is recommended for guiding social work education about abortion, social worker interactions with clients who are seeking abortions, and the development of abortion policy in the United States in order to better align the abortion seeking experience with the principles of trauma-informed care.

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