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Humanistic Social Work: Core Principles in Practice Payne, M. (2011). Chicago, IL: Lyceum Boohs.
THERE IS MUCH TO RECOMMEND ABOUT THIS BOOK. IT AVOIDS A NARrow understanding of social work as a bureaucratic practice or a merely technical undertaking. "Evidence based practice" is understood within a broad context of intelligibility among all those involved (Chapter 2), rather than based on strictly measurable outcomes. That intelligibility postulates a practice that is narrative and dialogical (Chapter 3), and suitable to the diversity of human life (Chapter 4) and its complexity (Chapter 5). Payne's humanistic approach is hospitable to an Ethics of Care, to fostering the creativity of worker and client (Chapter 6), and to the achievement of self-actualization as an important goal of the helping relationship (Chapter 7), goods that are more often than not removed from the horizon of the many variations of managed care or positivistic practice.
The book follows an uninterrupted humanistic tradition in social work. But it is a tradition that has lately been in retreat and in unfair competition with approaches more accessible to standardization, measurement, and procedural accountability. Hence, Payne's book is a welcome reminder of what is incommensurable and unbending in the helping process. He actualizes the tradition by incorporating in the humanistic paradigm concepts that came into vogue in the last quarter of the twentieth century, like Chaos Theory, Ethics of Care, Narrative Therapy, Strengths Perspective,...