ABSTRACT
Social workers already have a lot of knowledge and skills in engaging with families, enabling them to clarity what they want to change and working collaboratively on issues identified by them. This chapter reinforces and extends this to including spirituality and religion, including what people over centuries, traditions and cultures have found useful skills and practices for embedding spirituality in life and practice. The critical spirituality theoretical framework identified in chapter three underpins this, complemented by narrative and strengths approaches. The kinds of question that can help you engage where appropriate as you engage with others, work together on assessment and seeking change are outlined. Finally, the chapter suggests a number of spiritual practices that can help with embedding the spiritual, paying attention to what is meaningful for both workers and the individuals and families they work with. Examples include meditation or prayer, the use of silence, paying attention to what nurtures you spiritually and recognising the value of integrating spiritual practices into life. Such practices can foster the self-care benefits of embedding spirituality for practitioners as well as those they work with.
