Understanding Emotions in Social Work: Theory, Practice and Reflection

As a social work student or practitioner it is essential to be able to understand, recognize and critically reflect on your own emotions and those of others. Consciously or unconsciously, emotions play an integral role in day-to-day decision making, assessments and relationship building, and a lack of emotional awareness and understanding can result in poor practice and a failure to think critically.

Practical and engaging, this book encourages you to consider the role of emotions in the light of your own experiences and practice contexts.

Key topics include:

• Understanding what emotions are and how they apply to social work practice
• Recognizing and reflecting upon the emotional content of practice
• Incorporating emotions in reflective journals, reports, case notes, critical incident analysis and academic writing
• Understanding the conscious and unconscious emotions at play in your practice and how these can impact upon the development of positive relationships
• Enhancing understanding of self and the importance of resilience
• Understanding the role of emotions in supervision, support and reflection

In addition, each chapter includes case studies, to make the link between theory and practice, reflective exercises to encourage the reader to consider the discussion from their own contexts and perspectives. There will also be key learning points to summarise the main ideas presented at the end of each chapter.

This is an invaluable book for all social work students and early career practitioners aiming to boost their self-awareness and personal wellbeing, and ultimately improve their practice.

“This is a timely publication that reinforces the centrality of emotions and emotional intelligence in social work practice – a must read for all aspiring and practising social workers.”
Gillian Ruch, Professor of Social Work, School of Education and Social Work, University of Sussex, UK

“This is a book for anyone involved in professional social work education and practice; one that will become a well-thumbed addition to the discerning practitioner’s library. “
Amanda M L Taylor, Senior Lecturer, School of Social Work, University of Central Lancashire, UK

“This book reinforces how social work is primarily a human interactive and relational practice in which emotion and affect have a pivotal role. I highly recommend Understanding Emotions in Social Work as an essential text for students, social workers, supervisors and managers.”
Associate Professor Kieran O’Donoghue, Head of School of Social Work, Massey University, New Zealand

"This is one of those books that you will keep on your desk and look back at time and time again. It is written in a very accessible style and is easily picked up. Dr. Ingram locates emotions within social work practice and guides the reader through a number of case study's and learning activities to explore this concept in-depth. This has been a very helpful text book during my final placement."
Darren Gibson, Social Work Student, Dundee University, UK