Social work practice in a country town or small remote community several hours' drive from the nearest centre is very different from practice in the city. Social Work in Rural Australia offers an introduction to the challenges and rewards of professional practice in rural and remote areas.
The authors explore the practical implications for social workers in non-urban regions, including teamwork with professionals from other fields, working with various sub-groups in communities and across distance with other social work colleagues, the diversity of rural livelihoods and lifestyles, and increasingly pressing environmental issues. Social work theories and case studies demonstrate how enabling practice can promote clients' and communities' ability to deal with some of the challenges of housing, youth unemployment, child protection, ageing, mental health, disability and the obstacles faced by Indigenous, migrant and refugee populations, in specific geographical settings.
Social Work in Rural Australia encourages students and practitioners towards a holistic and contextual engagement with rural communities in current and newly developing fields of social work practice.
'This accessible text integrates the theory and practice of social work in often overlooked rural and remote regions. The case studies offer students and practitioners practical insights and celebrate rural practice as both unique and enriching.' - Alana Johnson, 2010 Victorian Winner RIRDC Rural Women's Award, Family Therapist and Social Worker
PART I: INTRODUCTION
1 Understanding rurality: A conceptual framework - Jane Maidment
PART II: RURALITY, TOPOGRAPHY AND POPULATIONS
2 Making a living in diverse rural and remote communities - Uschi Bay
3 Collaborating within and across interprofessional teams - Liz Beddoe and Mollie Burley
PART III: FIELDS OF PRACTICE IN RURAL SETINGS
4 Securing affordable housing in rural and remote towns - Uschi Bay with Yvonne Jenkins
5 Developing new approaches to mental health in farm settings - Jane Maidment
6 Employing and supporting young people's belonging in rural towns - Lesley Chenoweth
7 Caregiving in small rural and regional towns - Wendy Bowles
8 Dealing with violence: Families living in rural settlements - Robyn Mason
9 Analysing criminalisation in rural community contexts - David McCallum
10 Integrating migrants and refugees in rural settings - Linda Briskman
11 Governing homelands in desert Australia - Uschi Bay
12 Engaging with sea-change and tree-change families over time - Sarah Wendt
13 Facilitating intergenerational dialogue: Ageing in rural places - Jeni Warburton and Suzanne Hodgkin
14 Addressing the effects of climate change on rural communities - Margaret Alston
PART IV: FUTURE AGENDA FOR SOCIAL WORK
15 Rural practice: An agenda for the future - Jane Maidment and Uschi Bay
Bibliography
Index
Biography
JANE MAIDMENT is a senior lecturer in Social Work at Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology and has taught at Australian universities. She is co-author of Mapping Knowledge for Social Work Practice and co-editor of Practice Skills in Social Work and Welfare. USCHI BAY is a senior lecturer in the Department of Social Work at Monash University.
