Autumn Gold, inspired by true events, celebrates the indomitable courage and wisdom embodied by young biracial lawyer Vashti Warner while facing her impending death. At age thirty-four, Vashti radiates good health. An excellent litigator in a district attorney's office, she seeks to make a difference in the lives of people who are disadvantaged or feel alienated from society. Intelligent, athletic, and highly social, she sees challenges as opportunities for growth and yearns to li...

Service user involvement in research can range from the extremes of being the subject, to being the initiator or investigator, of a research study. The activity of the professional researcher can also range from being the person undertaking the research, to being a partner with, or mentor to, service users. This broad scope of levels of involvement is reflected in the contributions in this book, both in the research experiences reported and in the writing of the chapters themselves.

This unique text is the first to explore leadership in the context of healthcare systems across Europe. It investigates leadership and management learning against the backdrop of increasing European parliamentary influence, the expansion of EU membership, and the increasing number of patients, staff, governments and healthcare employers viewing Europe as a single market for healthcare provision and employment.Written by leading authority Neil Goodwin, this timely book provides an a...

Mental health social work is at an impasse. On the one hand, the emphasis in recent policy documents on the social roots of much mental distress ,and in the recovery approaches popular with service users seems to indicate an important role for a holistic social work practice. On the other hand, social workers have often been excluded from these initiatives and the dominant approach within mental health continues to be a medical one, albeit supplemented by short-term psychological intervent...

The growing older people population and their increasing needs for care is now presenting significant difficulties to both national government and local authorities because of constriction of formal caregivers and family units. Inevitably a change of this magnitude within the complex system in which older people services operate everywhere attracts a range of responses from the very enthusiastic to the very dismissive and hostile response. Thus, family directed support care system would pr...

This workbook provides ideal preparation for students wanting to become self aware and self evaluative before moving into practice for the first time.

This important book examines issues affecting the sustainability and spread of new working practices. The question of why good ideas do not spread, ‘the best practices puzzle’, has been widely recognized. But the ‘improvement evaporation effect’, where successful changes are discontinued, has attracted less attention. Keeping things the way they are has been seen as an organizational problem to be resolved, not a condition to be achieved. This is one of the first major studies of the susta...

This engaging and accessible text offers a concise overview of social work which will appeal to anyone needing a quick introduction to social work as a discipline. It contains essential information for all prospective and new social work students, the theories and policy and practice frameworks as well as current issues facing social work today. Illustrated with many examples from practice, it covers social work with many service user groups including children and families, adults, older p...

Managing Health Service: Concepts and Practice 2nd edition E-book provides a valuable practice resource for the health service management students and managers. While new concepts and strategies of multidisciplinary health service management and leadership have been added, the focus remains on providing comprehensive coverage of management topics and issues faced by health services managers.The text is arranged according to six major themes - health service managers and the changing...

What does working in partnership look like in practice?Getting multi-agency working right is an exciting but challenging goal in early years care and education; this book suggests ways to draw together the different professional ideas, methods and targets.Enhancing the delivery of services to children, parents and communities is essential if we are to address the detrimental effects of poverty and exclusion. Looking at the Birth to 8 age range and drawing on interviews with...

′Wow, this book has some inspiring ideas... It comes at a perfect time as schools try to mesh school improvement with performance management, new standards for various career stages and staff development... Well written, with an attractive layout and a consistently clear voice, it draws on wide and up-to-date research and writing from all parts of the United Kingdom... There are no easy answers in this book, but plenty of powerful ideas that might help us ask useful questions about how CPD...

This much-needed book examines the implications of the 'Every Child Matters' (ECM) national and local framework for working with children. It analyses the key issues from the perspective of the different professions that make up the 'new children's workforce' and explores interprofessional considerations.The book includes practice issues and case examples from health, education, social work, playwork, children's centres and early years, and considers the opportunities and challenge...