Generalist Social Work Practice: An Empowering Approach

An empowerment-based method of social work which integrates core themes of the profession.

This text is part of the Connecting Core Competencies Series.

Generalist Social Work Practice, 7th edition, fully integrates core social work themes of collaboration, the strengths perspective, values and ethics, social justice and human rights, evidence-based practice, cultural competence, and policy practice.

This text offers a progressive practice approach grounded in social work research, reflective of social work values, sensitive to client diversity, and applicable to work with any level of client system including individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. Beginning with engaging clients as partners and continuing with assessing, intervening, and evaluating from a strengths perspective, this approach offers social workers a method that fully realizes core social work values, respects client competence, and activates client resources within the context of their lives.

All parts of the practice process are described in detail, connected to social work theory, illustrated with case examples, and supported with evidence from social work research. Each chapter focuses on teaching the knowledge, values, and skills reflective of the core competencies and correlated practice behaviors as described in the 2008 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS).

A better teaching & learning experience

This program will provide a better teaching and learning experience--for you and your students. Here's how:

• Improve Critical Thinking – Teaches students specific strategies to identify and use client strengths in their practice.
• Engage Students – Offers numerous case examples to apply the empowerment method to all levels of social work, with diverse clients and situations, and across fields of practice.
• Explore Current Issues – Includes new practice research findings and updates to demographics to ensure currency.
• Apply CSWE Core Competencies – The text integrates the 2008 CSWE EPAS, with critical thinking questions and practice tests to assess student understanding and development of competency.
• Support Instructors – An Instructor’s Manual and Test Bank, Computerized Test Bank (MyTest), BlackBoard Test Item File, and PowerPoint presentations are included in the outstanding supplements package.

Karla Krogsrud Miley , A.M., ACSW, retired in 2009 from her appointment as professor and Chair of the Department of Social, Behavioral, and Educational Studies at Black Hawk College in Moline, Illinois, where she taught life span psychology, introductory psychology, and introductory social work. She continues to teach human behavior theory as an adjunct professor for the St. Ambrose University MSW program in Davenport, Iowa. A graduate of the University of Chicago, School of Social Service Administration, A licensed social worker in Illinois, Miley has experience in a variety of fields of practice, including school social work and aging services. She has extensive experience in facilitating workshops and conference sessions on generalist social work and empowerment and social justice. She has served on the editorial board of Social Work Education and currently is on the Social Work Advisory Board for Pearson Education. Professor Miley is a coauthor Social Work: An Empowering Profession (7th edition), co-editor or Pathways to Power: Reading in Contextual Social Work Practice, and works collaboratively with Michael O’Melia and Brenda DuBois in writing Generalist Social Work Practice: An Empowering Approach (7th edition, forthcoming).

Michael O'Melia is an Associate Professor in the St. Ambrose University MSW Program. He specializes in teaching clinical social work with expertise in generalist, collaborative, and anti-oppressive methods. O’Melia is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Illinois, working for over thirty years with individuals, couples, families and small groups in child welfare, delinquency prevention, family therapy, and school-based practice settings. In addition to co-authoring Generalist Social Work Practice: An Empowering Approach, O’Melia is co-editor of Pathways to Power: Reading in Contextual Social Work Practice. Functioning as a community trainer and program consultant, O’Melia focuses on developing culturally competent practices, working with resistant and mandated clients, and implementing strength-based clinical strategies. He also sits on the Social Work Advisory Board for Pearson Education, serves as a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Rumanian Social Work Review, and contributes as an editor to the Journal of Progressive Human Services.

Brenda DuBois, PhD, MSW, is a professor and former director of the graduate School of Social work at St. Ambrose University, Davenport, Iowa. A graduate of the University of Iowa (social work) and Illinois State University (Higher Education Administration), Dr. DuBois has been a social work educator for 33 years, in both BSW and MSW programs, with teaching specialties in generalist practice, social welfare history and policy, social justice, empowerment, and ethics. She serves on several community boards and service delivery planning groups. Additionally, she has extensive experience in facilitating workshops, staff development training, and conference sessions on generalist social work, empowerment social work, social justice, and social work ethics. Dr. DuBois is a coauthor with Karla Miley of Social Work: An Empowering Profession (7th edition) and works collaboratively with Karla Miley and Michael O’Melia in writing Generalist Social Work Practice: An Empowering Approach (7th edition, forthcoming).