Social Work Under Pressure

Van Heugten (social and political sciences, U. of Canterbury, New Zealand) uses a strengths-based approach and focuses on personal and contextual contributors to illustrate how social work managers, supervisors, and practitioners can deal with workplace stress, fatigue, and burnout by understanding their causes and implementing practical strategies. She explains models of workplace stress, typical work pressures and what is helpful in overcoming them, the context of personal experiences and the importance of work-life balance, and stress in specific settings, including frontline practice, working with traumatized clients, working with aggressive or violent service users, bullying and violence in the workplace, and making mistakes. She incorporates quotes from interviews with 14 social workers throughout. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Kate van Heugten, Ph.D., is Senior Lecturer, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Canterbury, New Zealand. She has extensive experience as a social worker and supervisor in statutory and private practice. Her research interests focus on professional and workplace issues, including workplace stress and bullying.