Introduction

My hope in creating this open source text is to provide a practical resource for students to develop a basic knowledge of various techniques and skills currently  used in the social work field. In the spirit of collaboration and reclaiming our education, this is a text that is put together by students for students. It is not an all encompassing educational guide to therapy. It is meant to be a base. Something to stand on and work from.

That being said, everyone is coming into this work with different and important experiences. I hope this text becomes a living, breathing, combination of evidence based practices, and of practice based evidence that reflects the ever changing landscape that is social work. For this to work, students will be the ones who critique, update, and edit this text. This brings in opportunities for students to amplify their critical thinking skills; expand their knowledge; research current techniques and skills; explore new ideas and techniques; create space for marginalized voices; and utilize assignments in a way the contributes to the learning of all students.

This is your work. I ask that folks please edit this! If there is out of date information, remove it or change it. If there’s language that could be better, change it. Open source texts give us a unique opportunity to change things as they are happening. And please, add your name to any work that you contribute to. It’s so important that our work as students is recognized and celebrated.

Tucker Hardy