Substance Abuse Intervention, Prevention, Rehabilitation, and Systems Change: Helping Individuals, Families, and Groups to Empower Themselves (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780231102360)

This book is the first to utilize the empowerment approach of social work practice with substance-abusing clients, bridging clinical, community, and social policy approaches in order to place individual addiction in its sociopolitical context. As Lorraine Gutiérrez points out in her foreword, the book "challenges us to transform our thinking about substance abuse and move beyond our existing focus on individual deficits." Arguing that pathology-focused definitions of substance abuse tend to transform people into their problems, Freeman instead advocates for strengths-centered policies and regulations as the means to empower clients, communities, and society as a whole.

Freeman outlines basic empowerment principles and practices, then details the service delivery processes; offers a context for power, policy, and funding decisions; and examines the needs of special populations. Case examples supplement each chapter, and the final part examines four exemplary programs that demonstrate the empowerment process in action.

Author: Edith Freeman
ISBN-10: 0231102364
ISBN-13: 9780231102360
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Language: English
Published: 09/26/2001
Pages: 480
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 2.01lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 1.25d

Review Citation(s):
Scitech Book News 12/01/2001 pg. 110