Social Work Methods and Skills: The Essential Foundations of Practice

Karen Healy

Book cover for Social Work Methods and Skills: The Essential Foundations of Practice
Book cover for Social Work Methods and Skills: The Essential Foundations of Practice
Image for variant 9781350415386
Image for variant 9781350415393
Book cover for Social Work Methods and Skills: The Essential Foundations of Practice
Book cover for Social Work Methods and Skills: The Essential Foundations of Practice
Image for variant 9781350415386
Image for variant 9781350415393

Social Work Methods and Skills: The Essential Foundations of Practice

Social Work Methods and Skills: The Essential Foundations of Practice

Karen Healy

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Description

This innovative textbook takes an integrated approach to the core theories, methods and skills at the heart of all good social work practice, demonstrating how practice both shapes, and is shaped, by professional purpose.

Responding to the latest contemporary debates, advances and emerging social challenges in the field, this five-part book:

- Covers a broad and diverse range of social work practice methods, from working with individuals and families through to community work, policy practice and system change.
- Underlines the fundamental dimensions shaping the practitioner and their practice context, equipping the reader with how to form effective working relationships and tackle competing inter-agency priorities.
- Engages with core theories, including eco social work and de-colonized perspectives.
- Provides a dedicated section on communication skills, an important topic integral to all areas of practice.
- Emphasizes the importance of self-care, along with professional boundaries in achieving good critically reflective practice.
- Includes a range of exercises, examples and review questions to help readers consolidate their learning.

This book offers a step-by-step discussion of topics that will empower social work students and practitioners alike to critically develop and refine their professional toolkit for purposeful and innovative intervention, reinforcing an understanding of how to achieve effective professional practice.

About the Author

Karen Healy is Professor of Social Work in the School of Social Work and Human Services at The University of Queensland, Australia.

Critical Reviews

"Professor Healy's second edition offers a coherent and critically informed foundation in social work methods and skills. Its highly readable and integrated approach to micro, mezzo and macro practice makes it particularly valuable for undergraduate students developing reflective, ethically grounded and relationship-based professional identities. New areas on trauma, emotions and the use of AI in social work practice makes interesting reading." --Mark Taylor, Senior Lecturer in Social Work, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK

"Karen Healy's updated second edition of Social Work Methods and Skills remains one of the most accessible and practically grounded texts available to emerging social workers and those studying in the human services field. The new material on digital technologies reflects the realities of modern practice, and the clear, student-centred approach throughout makes this a reliable companion for any social worker, whether they are entering their studies, stepping into the sector during field placement, or beginning their first days of practice post-study." --Ben Joseph, Senior Lecturer in Social Work, Western Sydney University, Australia

"This text offers readers a comprehensive overview of social work in a context of neoliberalism. It is a great orientation to the various ways in which social workers can work effectively at different levels of practice." --Jenny Dale, Senior Lecturer in the School of Health and Wellbeing, University of Worcester, UK

"Healy presents her work with an inviting mix of personal knowledge, social work literature and - importantly for the current context - well-researched evidence." --Praise for the first edition, Roslyn Giles, Senior Lecturer and Director of Field Education, University of Sydney, Australia

Publishing Information

Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Pub date: 2026-10-01
Length: 288 pages

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