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AbstractIt is clear from the international social work literature that social workers experience high levels of stress and burnout due to the cognitive, emotional and physical demands of the profession. There are however no integrative theories, developed by social workers, on how this stress, burnout and its impact on the emotional and psychological well-being of social workers can be ameliorated and then improved. This article makes an original contribution to this literature by proposing the use of the clinically modified Buddhist psychological model, as a beneficial lens for understanding how to improve reflective practice in social work along with the feelings of stress, burnout, anxiety, low mood and well-being deficits that can result from social work practice. This paper will outline the rationale for the development of the clinically modified Buddhist psychological model, before outlining the theory itself and how it might support stress coping processes and reflective social work practice. This paper has significance for all social workers, social work students and social work educators, as it provides a theory which could help to inform improved reflective social work practice and self-care.

Summary Social Work Practice Pilots with adults was a government initiative in England (2011–2014) that created seven social work practices independent from local authorities/government. The stated aims were to reduce bureaucracy, promote professional discretion and expertise, and reduce the size of the public sector. The Social Work Practice Pilots were social work-led and comprised between five and 100 social workers and/or other professionals/non-professionals. This article describes how the methodology of appreciative inquiry was used to investigate how the Social Work Practice Pilots in England were developing as independent practices. Information was obtained through two, two-day site visits at each Social Work Practice Pilot, and two shared learning workshops with representatives from the Social Work Practice Pilots. Findings Social Work Practice Pilots were found to be developing in accord with the following four key aims of the pilots: (1) spend more time with clients (service users), (2) a more responsive service, (3) more control over the day-to-day management, and (4) think creatively about resource use. Social Work Practice Pilots reported a reduction in bureaucracy and an ability to create flexible practices that more appropriately met the needs of the communities. Applications The findings provide an initial indication of how social work practice could develop independently of local authorities and suggest possible benefits to staff and clients. The study demonstrated how the AI approach to research and consultancy can serve as a participative learning process when exploring social work practice. The strengths and limitations of the approach are discussed.

Social workers have an ethical responsibility to address the dynamics and consequences of oppression and to promote social justice. Working across cultures and identities requires expanding our comfort zones, owning our power and privilege, and engaging in active self-reflection that interrogates what we hold to be true. These are vital components of "critical consciousness" and critical approaches to practice. This paper presents a complex case example of a refugee Muslim family to articulate the processes that workers can use to deepen critical consciousness when working with clients. The authors describe ways to attend to the complex intersections (of gender, age, ethnicity, religion, immigration status, and socioeconomic status) in multicultural and socially just practice within complex agency and environmental contexts.

This paper presents immigrant cultural citizenship as a conceptual frame for applying postcolonial theories to social work practice with immigrants, using a case study based on the author's practice as a social worker at a community-based social service agency in the US. Postcolonial theories may help social workers to critique marginalising discourses that often reduce the immigrant experience to acculturation, to critically reflect on their role in reproducing or contesting such constructions, and to imagine creative and empowering interventions. The case of Mrs Moon, an Asian immigrant elderly client with depressive symptoms, illustrates an application of postcolonial theoretical framework to social work practice that generated a critical and contextual assessment and multi-level interventions (including individual treatment, community linkage and advocacy, and participation in collective political action), which made a transformative impact on the client and the social worker. The paper concludes with implications for postcolonial social work practice in the current climate of austerity and restrictive immigration measures.

As service populations have changed, social workers in Norway and the United States have attempted to respond to the needs of diverse cultures, which often include issues of religion and spirituality. Members of the Norwegian Union of Social Educators and Social Workers (FO) and the U.S. National Association of Social Workers (NASW) were sampled to explore attitudes and perceptions of social workers regarding the placement of religion and spirituality in practice. In general, U.S. social workers were more accepting of religion and spirituality than their Norwegian colleagues. Factors such as secularism, functional differences of church and state relations, and different historical trajectories in the social work profession's development in both countries may contribute to differences between the U.S. and Norway.