Reflections on a Life in Social Work

by Olive Stevenson

Preface by Professor Phyllida Parsloe & Sara Glennie Shevenell. Foreword by Professor Harry Ferguson. Olive Stevenson is one of the foremost social work educators of her generation; an inspiring tutor, a compelling lecturer and an inquiring and persistent researcher. For more than fifty years she taught hundreds of social workers at the Universities of Bristol, Oxford, Keele and Liverpool and latterly the University of Nottingham, and inspired many others throughher work. Her professional life spanned the years during which the role and task of social work was vigorously debated. This memoir knits together many disparate parts of a life spent in public service and reflects honestly on some key questions for the author and for the What early influences shaped an enduring commitment to social work; What role did class and religion play in shaping a personal and public morality; How did major events such as the Maria Colwell Inquiry (1973) shape public attitude and public policy in relation to child protection; Who and what influenced the profession s ambivalent engagement with psychoanalytic ideas With characteristic candour and clarity, Olive tackles these questions and more in a book that will be of interest to practicing social workers, social work educators and anyone interested in understanding the story behind the headlines that are, too often, deeply critical of the motives and practice of social workers.

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Aimee Georgeson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating to hear from a woman born in 1930 and lived through so much change & progress in our understanding of the 'inner' world. Olive is honest about her faults and her trouble in relationships as a gay woman, she is an outspoken, bright woman and she makes no apology!!