ABSTRACT
In this chapter the author reflects on some of the major events and individuals who influenced his views of social work practice, in particular the ideas of Bertha Reynolds. In so doing, he finds the similarities in issues and interventions that span a career lasting over half a century. This example illustrates the process whereby practice principles may come to be accepted as guidelines for practice. These principles, and the rules they generate, inform and justify our professional acts. To help clients achieve a survival standard, social workers needed to broaden their practice skill, aiming at mastery of techniques that promote resource development. In 1929, Porter Lee described what he viewed as a normal social process— the move from a cause sought and won to a function that realized in practice the intentions contained in the cause. He contrasted the zeal that inspired a cause with the intellect that assured the success of the function.
