How to be a Social Worker

Developing your Professional Identity

De: Priscilla Dunk-West

This book equips social work students with the tools to develop a social work identity. It provides a critical examination of the knowledge base of social work – from human growth and development to social work research – and explores how a practitioner's own values, principles and experience combine to shape their social work identity and practice alongside this.

Linked to a range of core modules on pre-qualifying social work programmes but written also for those practitioners committed to nurturing their own social work identities, this is a must-have from one of social work's most up-and-coming authors that brings together all areas of the classroom and practice curriculum to make learning a novel, creative and interactive process.

New to this edition:

• Addresses themes and issues that have become more relevant in contemporary practice such as anti-racism, ageism, adultification, AI and digital social work, gender identity, sexuality and the political context of social work.
• More on task-centred practice, relationship-based practice, trauma-informed practice and anti-oppressive practice.
• New content on bureaucracy, burnout and self-care, spirituality, as well as grief and loss.
• Discussion on responding to reluctant service users or challenging situations.
• New reflections and case study examples.

©2026 Priscilla Dunk-West (P)2026 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc