Social workers must help clients and patients deal with a variety of issues, from substance abuse and depression to a prolonged adoption process and eating disorders. With so many resources online, it can be hard to find the best ones. Well, we’ve done the work for you: here are 10 books every social worker should read, and why.
synopsis: frances, who has been “credited for spearheading efforts against dsm-5,” delves into what he believes to be overdiagnosis and overmedication of the general public.
You are reading: Books for social workers
What social workers can learn: Know where you stand on the use of diagnostics and prescription medications. read the scathing critique of dsm-5 and then use your clinical judgment accordingly.
synopsis: Told through the voice of an eating disorder, anorexia, this story details the struggles of 14-year-old Mike as he overcomes his insecurities and body image issues.
What social workers can learn: Delve into the psyche of an adolescent with anorexia to develop insights on how to combat eating disorders.
synopsis: A mother and her son explore their experiences of alcoholism and recovery together.
What social workers can learn: compare mother and son as they face addiction and define their own terms of success in recovery.
See Also: Nora Roberts – Audio Books, Best Sellers, Author Bio | Audible.com
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synopsis: Violence in schools is often perceived as acting “aggressive” and “masculine” in an effort to be popular. klein explores the underlying causes of anxiety, eating disorders, suicide, depression, truancy, and substance abuse.
What social workers can learn: Dealing with the emotional damage that gender policing can cause without having to re-experience high school.
synopsis: the author uses her experiences fighting for economic justice with women’s groups to outline priorities and strategies for advancing the mission of social change groups.
What Social Workers Can Learn: Learn to fight for justice and strategize for social change.
synopsis: courter chronicles his journey through 14 different foster homes, going back and forth between schools and social workers, and enduring abuse from his foster family.
What Social Workers Can Learn: Identify potential difficulties in the foster care system and develop new ways to solve problems as well as educate others.
See Also: This Time Is Different | Princeton University Press
synopsis: winterson delves into a life of searching for happiness and his biological mother after suffering abuse from his adoptive mother and discovering his love of words and women.
What Social Workers Can Learn: Dealing with the complications of the adoption process and the surprising places where people find their strength.
synopsis: a memoir of wurtzel’s experiences with major depression, hospitalization, therapy, and medication.
What Social Workers Can Learn: Delve into the depths of depression while putting yourself in the shoes of someone who experienced it firsthand.
synopsis: this memoir chronicles the author’s experience growing up as the abandoned child of drug-addicted and mentally ill parents, living on the streets as a teenager, and eventually earning a scholarship from new york times to attend harvard university.
What social workers can learn: Draw inspiration from a story of human resilience despite a difficult and traumatic childhood.
Synopsis: In response to several highly publicized incidents of lgbt youth being bullied into suicide, savage began the it gets better project, which began as a video series and grew into a book of essays, written by celebrities and non-celebrities alike, that aim to engage young people struggling with their fears and feelings.
What social workers can learn: develop your ability to provide hope when hope is scarce, which is applicable to lgbt youth, but also to anyone experiencing difficulties.
See Also: The 100 Best American Revolution Books of All Time – Journal of the American Revolution