Abstract
Reviewed by: Mary S Carlsen, St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN, USA
Viviene Cree invited 23 social workers to reflect on their journeys through the social work profession. Authors describe their motivations, preparation, and a typical day or week of work, followed by a vision of social work’s future. Their stories capture experiences that span global practice and education; some solely in their home countries, and others across multiple cultural contexts. Authentic self-disclosure invites readers to consider diverse paths to social work, including desires to challenge oppression and strengthen individuals and communities. Writers include an asylum seeker, a school leaver, and a poet survivor of the mental health ‘system’. Many poignantly describe coming to terms with racial identity, class, and privilege.
This book expands on Becoming a Social Worker (Cree, 2003), from the United Kingdom; its addition of stories from diverse countries is a welcome advancement. It enriches the literature on real-life, authentic stories about social work’s complexity, which includes Grobman’s Days in the Lives of Social Workers (2011) and The Call to Social Work: Life Stories (LeCroy, 2002). Certain essays could supplement Indigenous Social Work around the World (Gray, Coates, & Yellowbird, 2008).
Each chapter follows a similar outline; some are more engaging than others. But for anyone practicing or considering social work, each journey into and through the field is useful in discerning one’s ‘fit’ for the profession. They succeed in countering the notions that social work is ‘invisible’, or ‘detested’ (pp. 1–2). Cree’s collection illustrates the profession’s global roles to empower people and challenge structural inequalities that prevent human flourishing.
These stories stimulate the reader. They bolster professional commitment to anti-oppressive practice, describing the vital importance of madrasahs and other faith-based organizations for children and the respect others have for Solomon (1976) and Alinsky (1971). Authors illustrate systems theory with Zimbabwean extended families and contrast Maslow’s hierarchy of needs in developed and developing societies. Readers’ cultural knowledge expands with new terms (‘agony aunt’, p. 132) and how Maori community practice combines worldviews: ‘mainstream social work, Maori Awhi Whanau, and Christian pastoral care’ (p. 190). Writers intersperse concepts from multiple languages. Readers also learn that central western practice ideas, such as boundaries, are foreign, even inappropriate, in diverse cultural contexts.
The book’s terminology and perspectives are familiar to readers from contexts heavily influenced by western social welfare. One writer illustrates how western social work is not fully appropriate for Nigeria, while acknowledging that partnerships with western institutions will help establish professional social work. A few authors describe indigenous concepts and practices; more of these would strengthen a future edition.
Each social worker offers ideas for the future including scholarship, reflective practice, and collaborative action research. While most authors are positive – even optimistic – about social work, their ideas lack specificity and depth. The profession needs a stronger injection of theory, practice, and policy than the authors provide. Islam’s assertion is a notable exception: developing (religion and native culture) and developed (democracy and minority rights) countries must learn from each other.
The book’s audience is broad. It includes educators who advise budding practitioners or those looking to pursue social work from other careers. The book can complement introductory texts. One author states, ‘social work was not my first choice of career’ (p. 204), and then describes work with youth in different countries, providing a realistic picture of international social work for students who may presume it is glamorous. As Cree compares the narratives, she notes that while the writers have divergent reasons for coming to the field, all seem to have a vocation, a ‘desire to bring about change in individuals and society’ (p. 214). She rightly claims that each story illustrates why social work is more than just a series of service positions; it requires strength of character, integrity, perseverance, self-care, and love for humanity – not traits central to all professions. While this concept is not new, she provides insight that becoming a social worker has no fixed beginning or end-points; it is a process through life. Any student anywhere will appreciate this text. And current practitioners who relish reminders about the worth of social work will feel renewed after entering the lives of people who share their social work passions.