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This article explores synergies between surrealism and posthumanism, including ways of knowing the world in ways that simultaneously value and decenter the human, and inspire much-needed creative thinking about reworlding the planet. These are playful ways of knowing that embrace chance, accept paradox, and question conventional understandings of time. Such ideas are explored through the example of an arts-based research project at a community farm in Lancashire, United Kingdom. The project’s “surrealist sensibility” resulted not only in encouraging participants’ creativity but also in opening them up to encounters with the more-than-human and providing acknowledgment of how connected we really are. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During military deployment, soldiers can become part of a system of people and experiences in their assigned military unit that may rival the importance of relationships and experiences within their natural families at home. Following deployment, returning soldiers may face the challenges of managing membership in two complex and powerful family systems, each with its own unique priorities, rules of engagement, and demands for the soldier’s attention and participation that may not always be compatible. Achieving a mutual understanding of the system of close relationships formed around military deployment and incorporating this new “unit family” system into a couple’s marital relationship and natural family system becomes a task that is important and, possibly, essential to successful family reintegration after deployment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Summary: This article critically examines the problematic status of ideology (and discourse) with regard to social work, and, in relation, questions any contested elevation of sociological theories which suggest we now live in a ‘post-hegemonic’ age. Three types of ideology relating to social work are explored, and it is proposed that such case examples (among others) have, and continue to, maintain a significant influence within state social work. Examples include the role of science, neo-liberalism and professionalism. Each is examined through the work of Althusser, Gramsci and Foucault to underline their significance.• Findings: Within social work there is evidence to support aspects of the social or political fragmentary trends stressed by advocates of a post-hegemony thesis. However, here it is argued instead that reliance upon hegemony has actually increased rather than disappeared as social work has become less structured, more uncertain and increasingly dependent upon unpredictable markets of social care.• Applications: Critical yet careful analysis of the relationship between ideology and social work can help us to increase understanding of social work practice and education. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Hurricane Katrina has profoundly altered the lives of New Orleans residents as they continue for years following the storm to attempt to rebuild their community and their lives. Natural disaster literature has historically focused on the impacts on individuals and correlating variables. Significant literature gaps exist regarding family systems and disaster and analysis of the relationship of social class to recovery. Further, social class has traditionally been examined solely as it relates to socioeconomic status. This qualitative investigation situated in an emancipatory paradigm investigated the relationship between social class and family changes for seven families recovering from Hurricane Katrina. Participants self-identified as members of marginalized social classes. Cross-case themes emerging as significant in the process of familial recovery included Relationship to Community, Interpersonal Relationships, Constructions of Class, and Growing and Changing. Study conclusions revealed significant shifts in family identities evolving around participant geographic connectivity to kinship networks, perceptions of social class status, and levels of cohesion between individual and relational domains within a family. Implications for professionals in the fields of disaster preparedness and recovery are outlined, with emphasis on the connection between practice and study findings. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Over recent years in the UK there has been growing interest in the potential for routinely collected NHS (National Health Service) patient data to be used for secondary purposes, facilitated by the potential of increasingly sophisticated electronic databases. This article is based on a critically reflective literature review which analyses the key debates pertaining to this issue. The work arose in the context of a programme of research concerning routine patient data use in neonatal care. The article includes analysis of commentary (opinion and ethical inquiry) as well as empirically derived claims. It aims to deconstruct the knowledge assumptions on which relevant research studies have been based or are proposed and it also incorporates ontological position and moral argument. Results are presented according to three predominant debates: the prevailing claim that all health research benefits civic society; the varieties of informed consent and choices open to patients regarding secondary uses of their data; and the ‘rights and responsibilities’ of patients when it comes to their data being used for research purposes. It examines the relevance of these themes specifically to the neonatal context and the implications for our own research, concluding that employing an alternative ethical model to the traditional professional one might be useful in order to provide a further perspective on the issue. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study explored the mechanisms at play as new family counselors are learning to apply a systems approach. A qualitative case study was used to investigate the experiences of nine family counseling interns over two semesters of internship through the lens of constructive developmental theory. The findings extend our understanding by providing students' accounts of the ways by which disequilibrium preceded development when accommodation was stimulated, and the outcomes when assimilation occurred. It also generated data about positive emotional response to clients that is new and intriguing and which may impact developmental growth. Implications for counselor education that incorporate developmental considerations are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Race and culture continue to be conceptualized within a polarized, Black-White dichotomy in U.S. education, rendering the Latino population a silenced minority. Partnerships, when developed with intentionality and critical consciousness, provide a vehicle for inviting the participation of all families. This article offers school counselors a template for developing inclusive partnerships involving Mexican immigrant families. Suggestions for future research are shared in hopes of further illuminating the complexities and benefits of effectively engaging immigrant families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The considerable number of essential skills identified in the literature creates a challenge for family therapist instructors and supervisors who must develop a coherent curriculum for clinical training and supervision. This study used a modified Delphi method to obtain a consensus from experienced structural family therapists concerning the most essential skills needed by novice structural family the rapists. The therapists concluded that relational skills are of primary importance to establish a therapeutic relationship that would facilitate the structural interventions. A critical component of the relational factor was the ability of the novice therapist to provide a vision of hope to clients and establish expectancy for change. The study provides an added dimension to understanding the essential training needs of novice structural family the rapists from the practitioner's perspective and brings research in essential skills for novice therapists closer to actual clinical practice. Implications for further research and clinical training are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Home-based counseling is an incredibly demanding intervention, yet little is known about the counselors providing this important service. This study sought to profile ego development, conceptual complexity, and supervision satisfaction for 120 home-based counselors. Counselors scored at moderate levels on measures of both ego development and conceptual level. Most counselors (74.2%) reported dissatisfaction with supervision because they are "undersupervised." Implications for using a cognitive developmental framework for training and supervising home-based counselors are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strategies are needed that assist both current practitioners and counselors-in-training in working safely and effectively with potentially aggressive young people and their families. To emphasize with at-risk client families the seriousness of violence, all or part of an initial or early counseling session with an at-risk family should be devoted exclusively to prescribed risk assessment and crisis planning processes. This safety session is intended to reduce the risk of client violence by opening a forthright dialogue regarding the risk of violent behavior, specifying appropriate behavior and setting limits and consequences for noncompliance. The specific framework for a safety session and a case study illustrating its application are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A systemic perspective applied to school-based problems examines the interaction patterns between the home and school; the ecological view examines the contextual variables that affect child development. This article presents a home-school collaborative-consultation model for family counselors that combines a systems-ecological approach with solution-focused, problem-solving strategies in order to facilitate home-school problem-solving meetings. School personnel often perceive the child as the source of the problem, which limits the scope of their interventions and ignores the potentially positive effect of involving families in the problem-solving process. A need exists for mediators who think systemically and can facilitate productive relationships between families and schools. A case study illustrating the application of this model is presented and implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]