Abstract
Reviewed by: Maggie Jackson, Teesside University, England
DOI: 10.1177/1468017318754737
This is a very informative and well set out book offering case examples with applied theory. The preface explains that the book aims to cover a range of skills and knowledge that will be needed both to support families and to aid inter-professional working using an ecological framework. The book is set out in eight chapters, the first seven covering a different aspect of working with families, with the final, and perhaps least interesting chapter, looking at the use of supervision. My comment that chapter eight is the least useful is simply that it seems to be an add-on and the other chapters are by contrast so useful that this seems to be an unnecessary section which is very brief and thus would have been better left out.
From the first chapter this book offers an honest and clear approach to work with families, noting on p. 1 that “though lip service is often paid to “work with families”, this is often work with a child and/or parent…”. This will not come as a surprise to anyone working in the field but is a refreshing comment to read and one that allows each chapter to focus on the complexity of actually working with the whole family – whoever that may mean.
Each chapter is set out with a brief overview of what you can expect to read therein followed by a case study to which the policy and theory are then applied. Each chapter also contains short “footnotes” headed “research focus” which point towards further reading for more in-depth understating of the issue under discussion. The chapters consider the interweaving of the more commonly taught psychological approaches to dealing with individuals and sets these within the context of social policy, legislation and wider critical debate. What I found particularly useful in these “research focus” sections is that they reference journal articles – not unusual for academics to be aware of but (from my own experience), a resource often ignored by practitioners – and students!
Chapter four looks at the idea of “being supportive” and considers this in a very practical and honest way stating that “being supportive is not primarily a matter of learning techniques…” (p. 68). The chapter then continues to consider communication, relationship dynamics, family roles and the impact of the worker.
In chapter seven, the author tackles the concept of “remaining vigilant” and considers the difficult task of being open-minded but gaining an accurate picture of the family. Here we read not simply about being non-judgmental, as O’Sullivan sets this within the context of making sense of wider societal issues and talks about the problem of seeing “surface over depth” (p. 144). He covers many of the pitfalls commonly seen in working with families, such as unrealistic optimism, start again syndrome and confirmation bias – none of these are unfamiliar but here they are well contextualised and considered in a practical way as they are applied to a specific case.
This book is never simplistic but is clear and well researched, tackling complex ideas and explaining and exploring them with clarity. I had not been aware of this series of books (Practical Social Work Series published in association with British Association of Social Workers) before being sent this one to review, although a colleague commented that she had always found them really useful and well written I am now a convert to this series and intend to make my students converts too.