Involuntary clients are required to see a professional, such as juveniles on probation, or are pressured to seek help, such as alcoholics threatened with the desertion of a spouse. For close to two decades, Strategies for Work with Involuntary Clients has led in its honest analysis of the involuntary transaction, suggesting the kind of effective legal and ethical intervention that can lead to more cooperative encounters, successful contracts, and less burnout on both sides of the treatment relationship. For this second edition, Ronald H. Rooney has invited experts to address recent theories and provide new information on the best practices for specific populations and settings. He also adds practical examples and questions to each chapter to better facilitate the involvement of students and readers, plus a section on motivational interviewing.

Many social workers are employed in positions where they deal with involuntary clients. These positions are demanding, and require a specific set of skills. The new edition of this successful book provides an accessible and practical guide for managing difficult and sensitive relationships and communicating with reluctant clients. The author directly links theory to real-life by adopting a jargon-free and accessible guide to working in partnership with involuntary clients. Written in a lively and engaging style, the book is richly illustrated with case examples drawn from a variety of service-user groups, thus ensuring its relevance across the whole curriculum. The author's integrated and systematic approach promotes prosocial values; emphasizes clarifying roles; and deals with issues of authority and goal-setting. Fully revised and updated throughout, the book also includes discussions of key themes such as evidence-based practice, risk assessment, legislation and multidisciplinary working. These changes bring the text up-to-date with current issues in social work education and practice. The result is an invaluable practical guide for social work and social care students and professionals to working with both clients and their families.

Involuntary clients who are legally mandated to find counseling or who are strongly pressured by friends or family members to "seek help" create unique situations that social workers and other professional counselors have tended to ignore or overlook. The first comprehensive and practical methodology for work with involuntary clients.

Too often in practice, there is a tendency to pathologize clients, requiring a diagnosis as part of the helping relationship. Suppose, however, that most of the client problems that social workers encounter have more to do with the vagaries of life and not with what clients are doing wrong. This powerful idea is the philosophy behind the strengths-based approaches to social work. This groundbreaking practice handbook takes this concept one step further, combining the different strengths-based approaches into an overarching model of solution-oriented social work for greater impact. The strengths perspective emphasizes client strengths, goal-setting, and a shared definition of positive outcome. Solution-focused therapy approaches ongoing problems when they have temporarily abated, amplifying exceptions as solutions. This natural but rarely explored pairing is one component in the challenging and effective practice framework presented here by the authors, two seasoned practitioners with over 50 years of combined experience. By integrating the most useful aspects of the major approaches, a step-by-step plan for action emerges. With this text in hand, you will: - Integrate elements from the strengths perspective, solution-focused therapy, narrative therapy, and the strategic therapy of the Mental Research Institute (the MRI approach) into an effective and eclectic framework - Build and practice your skills using case examples, transcripts, and practical advice - Equip yourself with the tools you need to emphasize clients' strengths - Challenge the diagnosis-first medical model of behavioral health care - Collaborate with clients to get past thinking (first-order change), and more to acting "outside the box" (second-order change) - Learn to work with a wide variety of clients, including individuals, groups, and families; involuntary clients; clients with severe mental illness; and clients in crisis For any student or practitioner interested in working with clients towards collaborative and empowering change, this is the essential text.

This timely update presents modern directions in systemic therapy practice with couples and families, focusing on clinical innovations from Italy, Portugal, and Spain. Top therapists discuss their breakthrough family work in treating familiar pathologies such as depression, borderline personality disorder, infidelity, and addictions, providing first-hand insight into meeting relational dysfunction with creativity and resourcefulness. The book applies novel conceptualizations and fresh techniques to complex situations including multi-problem families, involuntary clients, disability-related issues, anorexia, love and sex in aging, and family grief. From tapping into the strengths of siblingship to harnessing the therapeutic potential of the Internet, the book’s cases illustrate the rich variety of opportunities to improve client outcomes through systemic couple and family therapy. This practical guide: Demonstrates strategies for therapists to improve practice Exemplifies methods for reducing the gap between clinical theory and practice Identifies multiple dimensions of systems thinking in case formulation and therapy Offers new insights into treating classic and recent forms of psychopathology Provides a representative picture of couple and family therapy in southern Europe Clinical Interventions in Systemic Couple and Family Therapy is of particular relevance to practitioners and clinicians working within couple and family therapy, and is also of interest to other professionals working in psychotherapy and professional mental health services.

Life can be a struggle for some families and support from skilled human service workers can make a real difference. Collaborative Family Work offers practical strategies for working with families, always emphasising the importance of collaboration in assisting them in developing strategies to learn new skills and improve their lives. Chris Trotter explains how to identify strengths, assist families in setting goals, articulate strategies for change and develop methods of ongoing evaluation. He offers a systematic overview of family work models and theories, from long-term therapeutic and narrative approaches to short-term solution-focused and mediation models. His evidence-based model for family work draws on extensive field research and observation with experienced professionals. Collaborative Family Work is a valuable reference for professionals seeking to enhance their professional skills, and an essential text for students in the human services. 'Chris Trotter addresses the ''how'' of practice in a field that is often stronger on general principles than it is on practical detail.' - Dr Chris Beckett, University of East Anglia, UK