Social Work themed books….

Social Work themed books….

I have read a few books over the last few years that I guess are related to themes from social work or issues that we, as social workers, might engage with; including homelessness, substance misuse and addiction.

I thought I’d write a couple of lines about these books and please do add any recommendations if you have them.

1. No and Me by Delphine de Vigan

It’s not quite boasting when I say I read this book in 24 hours. It’s a small book, with large writing and I loved it. It tells the story of a child who meets a homeless girl, No, at a station while doing a school project on homelessness. She brings No to live with her own family, who themselves have family problems of their own. Without going into detail, what I loved was the charm and innocence of the story; homelessness through the eyes of a child, who asks so many of the questions, we as adults often take for granted. Strongly recommend.

2. Wasted by Mark Johnson

Many of you may have read Mark Johnson’s book. He’s now the found of the charity User Voice and often writes for the Guardian. This is his tale of his descent into addiction, criminality and homelessness – all the more astonishing when you know where he is in his life now.

3. Stuart: a life backwards by Alexander Masters

Another story of homeless life, this book is written by a writer who becomes friends with Stuart, a homeless man and tells his story backwards, from the present day, back to his life when he was 12.

4. A million little pieces by James Frey

Another account of the rehabilitation process after drug and alcohol addiction. There was a big controversy over whether this was really autobiographical or not, but personally I don’t think it matters at all.

5. All in a Day's Work: One Woman's Story from the Front Line of Child Protection By Becky Hope

This is not the real name of the author, who uses a pseudonym to write her account of life as a child protection social worker. I read this before I made my career change and I just felt that it gave me quite a good depiction of the detail of the job and also a non judgemental understanding of how the situations can arise; the cycles of abuse and deprivation that go through generations.