Spirituality and Social Care : Contributing to Personal and Community Well-being

This comprehensive and much-needed resource is for professionals and students in social care, who are required to engage with the spiritual dimension of their therapeutic work with clients. The authors, show how they have developed ways of applying their own and their clients' spirituality in their practice.

This comprehensive and much-needed resource is for professionals and students in social care, who are required to engage with the spiritual dimension of their therapeutic work with clients. The authors, who include social workers, mental health professionals, religious professionals and academics, show how they have developed ways of applying their own and their clients'' spirituality in their practice. They describe their work in an international range of human service contexts including:* working with grief and loss* community development work* working across cultures* social justice work* social work teaching and learning.The client groups they cover include children, older people, individuals with learning disabilities, and ethnic minority and indigenous groups. Drawing on theological and philosophical ideas from different cultures, this much-needed resource gives guidance on and examples of practice that together enable the reader to explore and develop the role of spiritual awareness in their work. It is an essential resource for all those training or practising in social work, mental health, pastoral care and counselling.