Trauma, Spirituality, and Posttraumatic Growth in Clinical Social Work Practice

Trauma and the exposure to traumatic events is part of life, making the need for current and informed social work research and training in this area essential. Trauma, Spirituality, and Posttraumatic Growth in Clinical Social Work Practice highlights unique and diverse circumstances throughout a client’s lifecycle where trauma is experienced, how one’s spirituality is awakened or activated, and how this experience can intersect with interventions toward posttraumatic growth (PTG). More than just a primer on trauma effects, the book offers social workers insights into how to properly assess current resources and individual levels of distress. It also provides practical strategies on how spirituality and spiritual practices can be integrated into psychotherapeutic interventions at various levels of social work practice.

Addressing the impact of trauma-related events and emphasizing the importance of spirituality, the book will inspire and provide transferable knowledge that social workers can use to meet the unique needs of the clients, families, and communities they serve.

Heather M. Boynton is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Calgary, an adjunct professor of Kinesiology at Lakehead University, a faculty member at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, and Vice President of the Canadian Society for Spirituality and Social Work.
Jo-Ann Vis is an associate professor in the School of Social Work at Lakehead University.