Resilience and Personal Effectiveness for Social Workers

Jim Greer left a career in Local Government auditing to become a volunteer on Community Service Volunteer's Independent Living Scheme, an invaluable experience which gave him insight into the lived experience of service users and the reality of being a full time carer. Since qualifying Jim worked initially as a generic social worker, before specialising in adult mental health and subsequently being promoted to Team Manager. More recently Jim worked as a Project Manager, for a Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnership, responsible a number of projects which applied new technologies in social care. Jim has also taught psychology, social care and social work for a number of years, sometimes in parallel with other roles. He is currently Principal Lecturer in Social Work Teesside University. He is a member of the British Psychological Society and promotes the value of psychological and scientific approaches in social work education. He also utilises his experience in finance and service improvement in the teaching of organisational issues. He combines his academic duties with other roles including social work course endorsement and being a standing member of a committee of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.

Chapter 1 - Stress and the Social Work Role Chapter 2 - The Psychology of Resilience Chapter 3 - Valuing Our Own Health and Wellbeing and Improving Work/Life Balance Chapter 4 - Time Management Chapter 5 - Making Effective use of New Technology and New Work Styles to Enhance Practice Chapter 6 - Facing up to Conflict, Discrimination and Bullying in the Workplace Chapter 7 - Making the Most of Supervision and Other Sources of Support Chapter 8 - Leading and Following for Effective and Efficient Practice Chapter 9 - Choosing Mindful Practice and Building a Resilient Career

Social work is not an easy profession: . Jim Greer's book provides an excellent review of this area, which will be essential reading for all those wanting to build a long-lived career. It combines a thorough review of the evidence with practical exercises and examples that make this much more than a textbook - it is more like a survival manual. I would recommend it to any student or social worker. -- Donald Forrester The world is never how it should be or how we want it to be, but this book helps in getting through. -- Chris Yuill This book is a 'must-read' for anyone involved in people-work. Its contents are both a challenge and a gift to busy overstretched practitioners. -- Bernard Moss