PART II: PRACTICE APPROACHES AND COMPETENCIES

The second section of this textbook builds on the foundations explored in the first section through ideas and concepts shared in four chapters. Each of these chapters further identifies practice competencies required in rural and northern social work practice, and highlights particular approaches that are effective in such settings.

Chapters 4 and 7 bookend the discussions in this section with an exploration of wellness from a trauma-informed perspective. In chapter 4 the authors explore the potential impacts of isolation and secondary trauma, and identify competencies that social workers should develop in order to protect their own wellness, as well as the wellness of clients and communities. Chapter 7 defines the concepts of burnout, vicarious trauma, and compassion fatigue, and examines the approaches that social workers can employ in order to promote mental wellness and build resilience. Chapter 5 explores an intersectional and trauma-informed approach to anti-oppressive practice by focusing on relationships and relationality. Finally, chapter 6 delves deeper into social work competencies that are required and relevant to ensure that care provided by social workers is trauma- and violence-informed.

Each of the chapters in this section further connects back to the concepts of reflexivity, and the importance of recognizing and understanding contexts that were explored in the first three chapters.