The Art of Becoming Indispensable

Despite their academic preparation and lived experiences, new school social workers face a learning curve when moving from entry-level practice to proficiency. The Art of Being Indispensable: What School Social Workers Need to Know in Their First Three Years of Practice is the first book focusing specifically on the needs of new school social workers as they transition to this complex role. Each of the book’s 20 chapters features an academic scholar and at least one school social work practitioner; overall, there are 18 academics and 42 practitioners from 28 different states. The diversity of the authors’ experiences, representing all variations of schools and districts, ensures that the content is applicable to a variety of practice contexts. Each chapter addresses the challenges of a public health pandemic and the impact of racial injustice. There is a timeless quality to this text since every year, new school social workers are being hired, whether from master of social work and bachelor of social work programs or from the ranks of professional social workers changing fields and becoming school social workers. This indispensable guide will help new school social workers to effectively execute their roles and responsibilities.

Stevenson, Olive

Olive Stevenson (1930–2013) was an internationally recognized social work practitioner, educator, scholar, public servant, and consultant. She is particularly remembered for her contribution to the Maria Colwell Enquiry Report in 1974, which investigated a child’s death at the hands of her stepfather. The report was the first of what later became known as Serious Case Reviews. Stevenson authored a minority report, expressing dissent from some of the main report’s conclusions and strongly supporting social workers. This was much appreciated by practitioner social workers and leaders of Social Service departments at the time. She is also regarded by many in the United Kingdom as the leading social work academic of her generation over a 50-year career during a period of considerable change and challenge for the social work profession.

Brody, Elaine Marjorie Breslow

Elaine Marjorie Breslow Brody (1922–2014) was a prolific researcher during a career that spanned six decades at the Philadelphia Geriatric Center, now the Polisher Research Institute. She was a trailblazer and visionary who combined practice and research as a social work practitioner. She served as a mentor and role model for many who were taking professional risks when gerontology was a new area of specialization. She leaves an outstanding legacy of scholarship, research, leadership, and service. She brought honor to the profession.

Reflections on navigating the PhD journey as a social work practitioner

Practitioners who undertake PhDs find themselves in a unique research position. They have a dual role of being a researcher, a doctoral candidate and also a practitioner. This paper describes my reflections on the journey of doing a PhD as an experienced social work practitioner. First, I describe my study which designed, developed and evaluated a psychoeducational intervention for foster carers in Ireland. Then, I discuss my reflections on my position in the research and how I theoretically framed my study in a pragmatist approach. I discuss the challenges I experienced as a practitioner and doctoral candidate. I conclude that my position as a practitioner and doctoral candidate was likely to have enhanced my research and the contribution it has made to social work practice.

Circumcision and the Oppression of the Medical Colonizer

This article provides a critical reflection of medical circumcision on baby boys in western society. Employing a critical deconstruction of the circumcision practice, this writer explores his own circumcision as an experience of personal, cultural, and structural oppression. Included is an analysis of the history of circumcision, the vulnerability of infants, politics in medical practice and implications at all levels of ecological practice for the social work practitioner. Finally, several solutions are suggested to control and obliterate the oppressive practice of medical circumcision in western and global society.

My Journey

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the origins of my tacit knowledge as a social work practitioner, utilising a narrative form I will explore the journey of my ancestors and my own personal journey, discussing how those experiences link with the tacit knowledge of my social work practice. This knowledge is a combination of Wairua through Kinaesthetic application and pebbles that were dropped into a river of transitions many years ago that would later contribute to the strands of my current social work practice via a process of evolution; my practice did not simply happen, many of the strands and transitions that contributed to the evolution of my practice took place before I was even born.