ELIZABETH TRACY

Person-Environment Practice -- Elizabeth M. Tracy

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PERSON-ENVIRONMENT PRACTICE
THE SOCIAL ECOLOGY OF INTERPERSONAL HELPING

Susan P Kemp, James K. Whittaker, and Elizabeth M. Tracy

This book offers both an affirmation and a challenge to direct social work practice. It addresses a core but long-neglected dimension in social work and human services: accurate environmental assessment and strategic environmental intervention. The text provides a coherent critique and overview of environmental intervention congruent with the demands of such emergent areas as practice with personal social networks, empowerment practice, practice from a strengths perspective, and multicultural practice. It draws on the work of seminal contributors in social work practice and social science.

The primary audience for Person-Environment Practice is the great majority of social workers whose helping efforts extend to individuals, families, groups, and neighborhoods. Its primary aim is to examine each of these levels critically, through the prism of "environment," and to offer practical suggestions for both assessment and intervention. The authors provide a conceptual framework for understanding environmentally oriented practice; explore its theoretical, historical and empirical underpinnings; and provide extensive information on environmental assessment and intervention, including assessment and intervention with personal social networks.

Kemp, Whittaker, and Tracy write from a rich and varied background of direct practice, research, and teaching. They write out of the conviction that interpersonal practice properly oriented to proximate and distal environments makes an important difference in the lives of clients in distress - a contribution that complements but cannot be replaced by macro level intervention. This book will be of interest to all involved with the implementation, evaluation, or teaching of contemporary social work practice.