How to Be a Social Worker: Developing Your Professional Identity

When studying social work, it can be difficult to find the time to step back and think about what it actually means to be a social worker. Now in its third edition, How to Be a Social Worker critically examines the knowledge base of social work and encourages you to explore how your own values and experience combine to shape your personal social work identity.

This book will deepen your sociological understanding of social work themes and contexts while further examining what it means to develop a professional identity in practice. Inspiring reflexive thinking throughout, it will equip you with the tools to actively apply theory to practice and consider the ways your social work identity can be maintained when working alongside other professional groups.

New to this edition:
- Addresses pressing themes and issues in contemporary practice, such as understanding new forms of inequality in a changing world
- Expands coverage of approaches in practice, including task-centred, relationship-based, trauma-informed and anti-oppressive approaches
- Introduces new discussions which explore how to navigate technological change including AI, working in varying organisational contexts, bureaucracy, burnout and self-care, spirituality and grief and loss
- Offers guidance on working with reluctant service users and challenging professional situations

Encompassing a wide range of skills-based topics and supported by new practical exercises and case studies, this introductory textbook is the perfect companion for students and newly qualified practitioners.

• Publication date: 1 October 2026
• Page count: 240
• Dimensions: Height 234 mm; Width 156 mm
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
• Format: Hardback
• ISBN-13: 9781350541924