Book picks similar to
A Place in My Heart by Mary Grossnickle
adoption
direct-work-with-children
social-work-books
Retelling the Stories of Our Lives: Everyday Narrative Therapy to Draw Inspiration and Transform Experience
David Denborough - 2013
The ways in which we understand and share the stories of our lives therefore make all the difference. If we tell stories that emphasize only desolation, then we become weaker. If we tell our stories in ways that make us stronger, we can soothe our losses and ease our sorrows. Learning how to re-envision the stories we tell about ourselves can make an enormous difference in the ways we live our lives. Drawing on wisdoms from the field of narrative therapy, this book is designed to help people rewrite and retell the stories of their lives.The book invites readers to take a new look at their own stories and to find significance in events often neglected, to find sparkling actions that are often discounted, and to find solutions to problems and predicaments in unexpected places. Readers are introduced to key ideas of narrative practice like the externalizing problems - 'the person is not the problem, the problem is the problem' -and the concept of "re-membering" one's life. Easy-to-understand examples and exercises demonstrate how these ideas have helped many people overcome intense hardship and will help readers make these techniques their own. The book also outlines practical strategies for reclaiming and celebrating one's experience in the face of specific challenges such as trauma, abuse, personal failure, grief, and aging. Filled with relatable examples, useful exercises, and informative illustrations, Retelling the Stories of Our Lives leads readers on a path to reclaim their past and re-envision their future.
Reunited: An Investigative Genealogist Unlocks Some of Life's Greatest Family Mysteries
Pamela Slaton - 2012
From the identical twins separated at birth, unknowingly part of a secret study on development, to the man who finally met his birth mother just in the nick of time, Reunited is a collection of these unforgettable moments, told by the woman who orchestrated and witnessed them first-hand. Both heartbreaking and inspiring, they will move anyone who knows the true life-affirming power of family.
The Case for Only Child: Your Essential Guide
Susan Newman - 2011
In major metropolitan areas like New York, 30 percent of families have a singleton. Throughout the country people are following suit. And it's no wonder why: The worrisome biological clock (secondary infertility; older mothers) Downtrodden job markets How mothers working affects everyone in the family Finances and housing and costs of education These are only the few things that parents today (and parents to be) contend with when deciding to start a family and determining whether or not to stop after one. The time is right for a book that addresses the emerging type of nuclear family, one that consists of a solo child. Popular Psychology Today blogger and parenting author of fifteen books, including the groundbreaking Parenting the Only Child, Susan Newman, Ph.D., grew impatient with the pervasiveness of only-child folklore masquerading as fact and offers the latest findings about the long-term effects of being raised as a singleton. In The Case for the Only Child, Newman walks parents (and future parents) through the long list of factors working for and against them as well as highlights the many positive aspects of raising and being a singleton. The aim of this book is to ease and guide parents through the process of determining what they want. Although each situation is unique, the profound confusion surrounding having a second child is similar. It is one of the most difficult and life-altering choices parents face. Adding to one's family dramatically changes one's life and the life of one's firstborn forever. What will a person give up in time, money, freedom, intimacy, and job advancement with another child in the household? What will they gain? The Case for the Only Child helps explore and resolve these perplexing questions.
Love You More: The Divine Surprise of Adopting My Daughter
Jennifer Grant - 2011
Following the invisible thread of connection between people who are seemingly intended to become family, journalist Jennifer Grant shares the deeply personal, often humorous story of adopting a fifteen-month-old girl from Guatemala when she was already the mother of three very young children. Her family's journey is captured in stories that will encourage not only adoptive families but those who are curious about adoption or whose lives have been indirectly touched by it. Love You More explores universal themes such as parenthood, marriage, miscarriage, infertility, connection, destiny, true self, failure and stumbling, and redemption.
Internal Family Systems Skills Training Manual: Trauma-Informed Treatment for Anxiety, Depression, PTSD & Substance Abuse
Frank G. Anderson - 2017
This new manual offers straight-forward explanations and illustrates a wide variety of applications. Easy to read and highly practical.Step-by-step techniquesAnnotated case examplesUnique meditationsDownloadable exercises, worksheetsIFS is Evidence-BasedThirty years ago, IFS creator Richard Schwartz, PhD, listened to his clients describing the behaviors and fears of their most extreme parts. He found that the inner world of all his clients was characterized by parts who had a positive intent for the client but had taken on extreme roles in an effort to be safe. He also discovered that these extreme parts would become less disruptive and more cooperative once their concerns were addressed and they felt safer.IFS views psychic multiplicity as the norm: we all have parts. In addition, every part has a good intention for the client, and every part has value. When clients listen to all their parts, they can heal their wounded parts.Today, IFS, which has established a legacy of efficiency and effectiveness in treating many mental health issues, is being heralded by Dr. Bessel van der Kolk as a treatment that all clinicians should know.
Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Volume One: Summary: Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada - 2015
This report, the summary volume, includes the history of residential schools, the legacy of that school system, and the full text of the Commission's 94 recommendations for action to address that legacy.This report lays bare a part of Canada's history that until recently was little-known to most non-Aboriginal Canadians. The Commission discusses the logic of the colonization of Canada's territories, and why and how policy and practice developed to end the existence of distinct societies of Aboriginal peoples.Using brief excerpts from the powerful testimony heard from Survivors, this report documents the residential school system which forced children into institutions where they were forbidden to speak their language, required to discard their clothing in favour of institutional wear, given inadequate food, housed in inferior and fire-prone buildings, required to work when they should have been studying, and subjected to emotional, psychological and often physical abuse. In this setting, cruel punishments were all too common, as was sexual abuse.More than 30,000 Survivors have been compensated financially by the Government of Canada for their experiences in residential schools, but the legacy of this experience is ongoing today. This report explains the links to high rates of Aboriginal children being taken from their families, abuse of drugs and alcohol, and high rates of suicide. The report documents the drastic decline in the presence of Aboriginal languages, even as Survivors and others work to maintain their distinctive cultures, traditions, and governance.The report offers 94 calls to action on the part of governments, churches, public institutions and non-Aboriginal Canadians as a path to meaningful reconciliation of Canada today with Aboriginal citizens. Even though the historical experience of residential schools constituted an act of cultural genocide by Canadian government authorities, the United Nation's declaration of the rights of aboriginal peoples and the specific recommendations of the Commission offer a path to move from apology for these events to true reconciliation that can be embraced by all Canadians.
Anxiety Disorders and Phobias: A Cognitive Perspective
Aaron T. Beck - 1985
Beck turned to information processing in order to understand the sources, consequences, and cures of anxiety disorders and phobias. In the first half of this classic text, Beck elaborates on the clinical picture of anxiety disorders and phobias and presents an explanatory model to account for the rich complexity of these phenomena. Cognitive psychologist Gary Emery then details the therapeutic principles, strategies, and tactics developed on the basis of the cognitive model of anxiety disorders and phobias.This fifteenth anniversary edition of the foundational work on cognitive therapy features a new introduction by Beck, in which he offers an up-to-date appraisal of the current state of cognitive therapy and its application to the treatment of phobias and anxiety.
The Politics of Education: Culture, Power and Liberation
Paulo Freire - 1984
. . . The book enlarges our vision with each reading, until the meanings become our own. Harvard Educational ReviewConstitutes the voice of a great teacher who has managed to replace the melancholic and despairing discourse of the post-modern Left with possibility and human compassion. Educational Theory
Why Therapy Works: Using Our Minds to Change Our Brains
Louis Cozolino - 2015
But why does it work? And why does it matter that we understand how it works?In Why Therapy Works, Louis Cozolino explains the mechanisms of psychotherapeutic change from the bottom up, beginning with the brain, and how brains have evolved—especially how brains evolved to learn, unlearn, and relearn, which is at the basis of lasting psychological change.Readers will learn why therapists have to look beyond just words, diagnoses, and presenting problems to the inner histories of their clients in order to discover paths to positive change. The book also shows how our brains have evolved into social organs and how our interpersonal lives are a source of both pain and power. Readers will explore with Cozolino how our brains are programmed to connect in intimate relationships and come to understand the debilitating effects of anxiety, stress, and trauma.Finally, the book will lead to an understanding of the power of story and narratives for fostering self-regulation, neural integration, and positive change.Always, the focus of the book is in understanding underlying therapeutic change, moving beyond the particular of specific forms of therapy to the commonalities of human evolution, biology, and experience.This book is for anyone who has experienced the benefits of therapy and wondered how it worked. It is for anyone thinking about whether therapy is right for them, and it is for anyone who has looked within themselves and marveled at people's ability to experience profound transformation.
Psychodynamic Psychiatry in Clinical Practice
Glen O. Gabbard - 1990
Kept within arm's reach of all mental health professionals, this invaluable "one-stop" reference will prepare you to teach students and treat patients more effectively with its truly integrative psychodynamic approach.The author has meticulously updated every chapter of the previous edition, adding new illustrative case examples and discussing the most recent research findings and concepts in psychodynamic psychiatry. It introduces the basic principles of psychodynamic psychiatry and the four fundamental theoretical frameworks derived from psychoanalytic theory: ego psychology, object relations theory, self psychology, and attachment theory. Drawing on the latest breakthroughs in neuroscience to validate the latest psychodynamic thinking, the author includes neuroanatomical illustrations that highlight the need to integrate psychoanalytic theories of development with brain development and the impact of environment on gene expression.The eminently practical Psychodynamic Psychiatry in Clinical Practice is organized into three distinct sections based on DSM-IV diagnoses: - Section I, Basic Principles and Treatment Approaches in Dynamic Psychiatry, begins by laying a foundation in psychoanalytic theory. It focuses on how to apply psychoanalytic theory to specific types of evaluation and treatment, including psychodynamic assessment, brief therapy, individual and group psychotherapy, family and marital therapy, pharmacotherapy, and hospital/partial hospital treatment.- Section II, Dynamic Approaches to Axis I Disorders, covers the major psychiatric disorders and discusses how to apply psychodynamic understanding to the treatment of patients with these disorders.- Section III, Dynamic Approaches to Axis II Disorders, provides a psychodynamic understanding of personality disorders and covers in detail the principles of psychodynamic psychotherapy for these conditions.The fourth edition of Psychodynamic Psychiatry in Clinical Practice details the theory of psychodynamic psychotherapy and the adaptation of psychodynamic thinking to specific disorders. As such, it is an ideal companion to Dr. Gabbard's Long-Term Psychodynamic Psychotherapy: A Basic Text, which details the techniques of dynamic psychotherapy.The bestselling Psychodynamic Psychiatry in Clinical Practice is the definitive reference for training programs of all kinds at all levels. This new edition provides a clear synthesis of diagnostic understanding and treatment unmatched in the literature. Marked by Dr. Gabbard's distinctly lucid and compelling prose, it is the ultimate psychiatric guide for the busy clinician and mental health student.
From Poor Law to Welfare State: A History of Social Welfare in America
Walter I. Trattner - 1974
Trattner's From Poor Law to Welfare State has served as the standard text on the history of welfare policy in the United States. The only comprehensive account of American social welfare history from the colonial era to the present, the new sixth edition has been updated to include the latest developments in our society as well as trends in social welfare.Trattner provides in-depth examination of developments in child welfare, public health, and the evolution of social work as a profession, showing how all these changes affected the treatment of the poor and needy in America. He explores the impact of public policies on social workers and other helping professions—all against the backdrop of social and intellectual trends in American history. From Poor Law to Welfare State directly addresses racism and sexism and pays special attention to the worsening problems of child abuse, neglect, and homelessness. Topics new to this sixth edition include: -A review of President Clinton's health-care reform and its failure, and his efforts to “end welfare as we know it” -Recent developments in child welfare including an expanded section on the voluntary use of children's institutions by parents in the nineteenth century, and the continued discrimination against black youth in the juvenile justice system -An in-depth discussion of Charles Murray and Richard Herrnstein's controversial book, The Bell Curve, which provided social conservatives new weapons in their war on the black poor and social welfare in general -The latest information on AIDS and the reappearance of tuberculosis—and their impact on public health policy -A new Preface and Conclusion, and substantially updated Bibliographies Written for students in social work and other human service professions, From Poor Law to Welfare State: A History of Social Welfare in America is also an essential resource for historians, political scientists, sociologists, and policymakers.
Islam and the West
Bernard Lewis - 1993
Eminent French historian Robert Mantran has written of Lewis's work: How could one resist being attracted to the books of an author who opens for you the doors of an unknown or misunderstood universe, who leads you within to its innermost domains: religion, ways of thinking, conceptions of power, culture--an author who upsets notions too often fixed, fallacious, or partisan. In Islam and the West, Bernard Lewis brings together in one volume eleven essays that indeed open doors to the innermost domains of Islam. Lewis ranges far and wide in these essays. He includes long pieces, such as his capsule history of the interaction--in war and peace, in commerce and culture--between Europe and its Islamic neighbors, and shorter ones, such as his deft study of the Arabic word watan and what its linguistic history reveals about the introduction of the idea of patriotism from the West. Lewis offers a revealing look at Edward Gibbon's portrait of Muhammad in Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (unlike previous writers, Gibbon saw the rise of Islam not as something separate and isolated, nor as a regrettable aberration from the onward march of the church, but simply as a part of human history); he offers a devastating critique of Edward Said's controversial book, Orientalism; and he gives an account of the impediments to translating from classic Arabic to other languages (the old dictionaries, for one, are packed with scribal errors, misreadings, false analogies, and etymological deductions that pay little attention to the evolution of the language). And he concludes with an astute commentary on the Islamic world today, examining revivalism, fundamentalism, the role of the Shi'a, and the larger question of religious co-existence between Muslims, Christians, and Jews. A matchless guide to the background of Middle East conflicts today, Islam and the West presents the seasoned reflections of an eminent authority on one of the most intriguing and little understood regions in the world.
Mohawk Interruptus: Political Life Across the Borders of Settler States
Audra Simpson - 2014
Combining political theory with ethnographic research among the Mohawks of Kahnawà:ke, a reserve community in what is now southwestern Quebec, Audra Simpson examines their struggles to articulate and maintain political sovereignty through centuries of settler colonialism. The Kahnawà:ke Mohawks are part of the Haudenosaunee or Iroquois Confederacy. Like many Iroquois peoples, they insist on the integrity of Haudenosaunee governance and refuse American or Canadian citizenship. Audra Simpson thinks through this politics of refusal, which stands in stark contrast to the politics of cultural recognition. Tracing the implications of refusal, Simpson argues that one sovereign political order can exist nested within a sovereign state, albeit with enormous tension around issues of jurisdiction and legitimacy. Finally, Simpson critiques anthropologists and political scientists, whom, she argues, have too readily accepted the assumption that the colonial project is complete. Belying that notion, Mohawk Interruptus calls for and demonstrates more robust and evenhanded forms of inquiry into indigenous politics in the teeth of settler governance.
Settler: Identity and Colonialism in 21st Century Canada
Emma Battell Lowman - 2015
But what does it mean to be Settler? And why does it matter?Through an engaging, and sometimes enraging, look at the relationships between Canada and Indigenous nations, Settler: Identity and Colonialism in 21st Century Canada explains what it means to be Settler and argues that accepting this identity is an important first step towards changing those relationships. Being Settler means understanding that Canada is deeply entangled in the violence of colonialism, and that this colonialism and pervasive violence continue to define contemporary political, economic and cultural life in Canada. It also means accepting our responsibility to struggle for change. Settler offers important ways forward -- ways to decolonize relationships between Settler Canadians and Indigenous peoples -- so that we can find new ways of being on the land, together.This book presents a serious challenge. It offers no easy road, and lets no one off the hook. It will unsettle, but only to help Settler people find a pathway for transformative change, one that prepares us to imagine and move towards just and beneficial relationships with Indigenous nations. And this way forward may mean leaving much of what we know as Canada behind.
The Promise
Sam Vickery - 2016
You won't be able to put The Promise down! Have you ever found something you should have given back? A watch? A purse? How about a baby? When Saraya Mathews finds a baby boy on the streets of London, she knows she should hand him over to the authorities. But Saraya has spent her whole life searching for something meaningful and as soon as she holds him in her arms, something shifts inside her. This baby is meant to be hers. She knows it. But you can't keep what's not yours. Can you? REVIEWS: "An addictive short novel dealing with maternal love and ethical questions in unexpected ways. I read the whole thing in one sitting. Highly recommended." "You can't help but get sucked right in to the storyline. There is every emotion in this book and I felt it right along with the characters. I couldn't put it down. Every parent wants to protect their child, and this story is about the ultimate protection, the ultimate distance a parent can go for that protection. I simply love this book." "A truly compelling read. Had me gripped throughout with its powerful story full of raw emotion!!" "An amazing story full of raw emotions that have you gripped throughout the whole story making it difficult to put it down."