ABSTRACT
This chapter explores where spirituality/religion has been located in social work practice and how has this changed over time. Historically, social work had close connections to religious institutions, but with the development of more secular expectations, social work in most Western countries disengaged from these. Over the last twenty or so years, there has been greater interest in including the spiritual and religious in social work, partly because of different individual and community expectations, related community change, interest from service users including refugees and asylum seekers. However, much social work training still doesn’t include the spiritual or religious, consequently leaving graduates often lacking confidence in engaging in these areas of practice.
