This comprehensive and much-needed resource is for professionals and students in social care, who are required to engage with the spiritual dimension of their therapeutic work with clients. The authors, show how they have developed ways of applying their own and their clients' spirituality in their practice.

Weaving together interdisciplinary theory and research, as well as the results from a national survey of practitioners, the authors describe a spiritually oriented model for practice that places clients' challenges and goals within the context of their deepest meanings and highest aspirations. Using richly detailed case examples and thought-provoking activities, this highly accessible text illustrates the professional values and ethical principles that guide spiritually sensitive practice. It presents definitions and conceptual models of spirituality and religion; draws connections between spiritual diversity and cultural, gender, and sexual orientation diversity; and offers insights from Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Indigenous religions, Islam, Judaism, Existentialism, and Transpersonal theory. Eminently practical, it guides professionals in understanding and assessing spiritual development and related mental health issues and outlines techniques that support transformation and resilience, such as meditation, mindfulness, ritual, forgiveness, and engagement of individual and community-based spiritual support systems.

This practical guide considers spiritual care as an explicit component of health and social care and takes into account not only religious, cultural and spiritual views but also the value of music, art and other creative therapies.

Offering a focus that is lacking (or not clearly evident) in most spirituality books, Dudley addresses specific ways of incorporating spirituality into practice and integrates many of the contributions of other writers into an overall eclectic practice approach. His approach revolves around many of the core competencies of the EPAS accreditation (CSWE, 2008). Most of the core competencies are addressed with an emphasis on professional identity, ethical practice, critical thinking, diversity, practice contexts, and, a major practice framework of the book, the practice stages of engagement, assessment, intervention, and evaluation.

Social work in modern society requires practitioners to be culturally and spiritually sensitive. This book explores the often challenging relationships between spirituality, religion and social work. It considers the skills, knowledge and values that are required to incorporate a spiritual awareness into social work practice and in doing so explores in greater depth the social worker/service user relationship. By using case studies, reflective exercises and other learning features, students will begin to appreciate and understand the importance of a spiritually sensitive approach to their social work practice.

Die Studies in Spiritual Care (SCC) versammeln aktuelle Beiträge zur internationalen Forschung zur interprofessionellen Praxis der Spiritual Care. Das thematische Feld reicht von Einzelstudien zu besonderen Bereichen von Spiritual Care bis hin zu grundlegenden und programmatischen Beiträgen zum Selbstverständnis des neuen Praxis- und Forschungsgebiets und seiner wissenschaftlichen und gesundheitspolitischen Verortung. Die Reihe zeichnet sich durch ein interdisziplinäres Profil aus und bildet eine Publikationsplattform für den internationalen Spiritual Care Diskurs. Neben fachspezifischen Monografien stehen interdisziplinäre Studien und thematisch fokussierte Sammelbände. Adressaten der SSC sind im Bereich von Spiritual Care tätige Fachleute sowie Studierende, Forschende und ein akademisch interessiertes Fachpublikum aus Medizin, Seelsorge, Pflege, Psychotherapie und Sozialarbeit.

In the last fifteen years, the field of palliative care has experienced a surge in interest in spirituality as an important aspect of caring for seriously ill and dying patients. While spirituality has been generally recognized as an essential dimension of palliative care, uniformity of spiritual care practice has been lacking across health care settings due to factors like varying understandings and definitions of spirituality, lack of resources and practical tools, and limited professional education and training in spiritual care. In order to address these shortcomings, more than forty spiritual and palliative care experts gathered for a national conference to discuss guidelines for incorporating spirituality into palliative care. Their consensus findings form the basis of Making Health Care Whole. This important new resource provides much-needed definitions and charts a common language for addressing spiritual care across the disciplines of medicine, nursing, social work, chaplaincy, psychology, and other groups. It presents models of spiritual care that are broad and inclusive, and provides tools for screening, assessment, care planning, and interventions. This book also advocates a team approach to spiritual care, and specifies the roles of each professional on the team. Serving as both a scholarly review of the field as well as a practical resource with specific recommendations to improve spiritual care in clinical practice, Making Health Care Whole will benefit hospices and palliative care programs in hospitals, home care services, and long-term care services. It will also be a valuable addition to the curriculum at seminaries, schools of theology, and medical and nursing schools.