This accessible manual provides both students and health and human services professionals with a wealth of information about the issues and challenges facing families. Drawing from clinical and sociological perspectives and employing an empowerment approach, Spindel provides practical strategies for promoting resilience and positive family functioning.The chapters cover a wide spectrum of topics, including diverse family structures, healthy and unhealthy forms of communication, family culture and beliefs, couple dynamics, addiction, and developmental and psychiatric disabilities. The book also pays special attention to military families, the effects of violence and trauma, and professional ethics and self-care.Working with Families is an indispensable resource for students of social services, child and youth work, and early childhood education, as well as for faculty and practitioners in the helping professions.

Dr. Patricia Spindel has worked with children, adolescents, and families for over thirty-five years. She taught at both the University of Guelph-Humber and the Humber College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, where she also coordinated the Social Services Worker Program and was an Associate Dean of Health Sciences.

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"I am quite impressed by the amount of relevant Canadian research.… I would definitely teach with this book."
—Meredith Pilley, Social Worker Program, Fleming College

"The Canadian family is complex and diverse. This book presents the founding principles of family work and provides the reader with theoretical frameworks and personal examples in a thorough and thoughtful manner."
—Kelsey Shay Regnier, Child and Youth Care Program, Red River College

"Working with Families is an excellent textbook. It is incredibly up-to-date and provides academic and theoretical information in an accessible manner."—Angie Murie, Social Service Worker Program, Humber College