Assessing and Promoting Resilience in Vulnerable Children 3 volume set: The Early Years, The School Years, Adolescence

This practical resource for work with vulnerable adolescents shows ways of promoting resilience and encouraging pro-social behaviour. Discussing concerns associated with adolescence such as peer pressure and moral responsibility and family and peer relationships, the authors suggest ways for practitioners to engage with and support young people who may have social or family problems. Focusing on different areas in which resilience can be cultivated, this practical guide offers an applied perspective on procedures of need assessment and intervention. Grounded in theory and developed through work within real cases, it offers guidance for continuing support and will be an invaluable source of encouragement and instruction for social workers working with young people in troubled circumstances.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements 1. Introduction to Resilience. 2. When and How to use Workbook. 3. Secure Base. 4. Education. 5. Friendships. 6. Talents and Interests. 7. Positive Values. 8. Social Competencies. 9. Intervention. 10. Case Studies. Appendix. Bibliography. Index

About the Author :
Brigid Daniel is Professor of Social Work at the University of Stirling. She has worked with children and families in local authority social work and at the Centre for Child Care and Protection Studies at Dundee University. Sally Wassell is an independent consultant and trainer in childcare and an associate lecturer at Dundee University. Together with Robbie Gilligan, the two wrote Child Development for Child Care and Protection Workers, also published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Review :
(Review for the 3 Volume Set) 'The workbooks are easy to read and use the same format in each volume. They explain resilience theory and encourage practitioners to place intervention and assessment within ecological framework. This entails considering what resources might be available to the child at each of three levels: child, family relations and wider community... The workbooks would be invaluable to parents/carers/foster families and those practitioners who have little child development knowledge. For students and occupational therapists who are new to working with children, they would be a very useful adjunct to learning, to the advanced practitioner they would be a refreshing revisit to child development in relation to occupational lifestyle.' These three workbooks are a welcome and important addition to the tools available to childcare social workers, foster carers, residential workers and others involved in assessment and direct work with children and young people. Each book stands alone and could be used to inform and illuminate work with a particular child. Taken as a set they are a rich and lasting resource. This is a very easy to read and understand book. The assessment section sets out the theory behind an area that resilience can be fostered, i.e. social competence or education, in an easily understandable way and then provides a framework for assessing resilience in that area through questions and practical methods. All is done within Brofenbrenner's ecological framework, which gives a good sociological context to the work. Interventions are given as practical examples and principles of the work.