Substance use is now a common concern for all aspects of social work practice, especially when working with mental health and vulnerable families. This volume presents evidence from a number of major studies which examine the current state of social work education in relation to substance use. These contextual considerations are complemented by specific applied analyses which explore classroom, methodological, practice and theoretical considerations within both the UK and America. This book provides a strong evidence base for the effectiveness of appropriately-targeted education and support given to social workers. It is based on a special issue of the journal Social Work Education.

Foreword Preface Part I: Context 1. The Extent and Nature of Practitioners, Encounters with Alcohol and Other Drug Use in Social Work and Social Care Practice 2. The Nature and Extent of Substance Use Education in Qualifying Social Work Programmes in England 3. The Development of Employment-Based Education on Substance use for Social Workers in England: Embedding Substance use Training in Frameworks of Continuing Professional Development 4. Employment-Based Training on Alcohol and Other Drugs in England: Bridging the Gap 5. Whose Responsibility is it? A Call for the Integration of the Knowledge of Substance Misuse in Social Work Education, Practice and Research 6. Incorporating Substance Use Content into Social Work Curricula: Opioid Overdose as a Micro, Mezzo, and Macro Problem Part II: Theory and Methodology 7. Towards a Comprehensive Typology of Knowledge for Social Work and Alcohol 8. Implementing Rigorous Survey Methodology within Contexts of Social Work Education, Training and Practice: A Case Study in Substance Use Part III: Application in fields of social work practice 9. Substance Use and Disabilities: Experiences of Adults' Social Care Professionals and the Implications for Education and Training 10. Working with Older People with Alcohol Problems: Insight from Specialist Substance Misuse Professionals and their Service Users 11. Provider Preparedness for Treatment of Co-occurring Disorders: Comparison of Social Workers and Alcohol and Drug Counselors 12. Working on Treatment Teams: Educating Social Work Students to Function as Addiction Specialists within Interdisciplinary Groups 13. US Social Work Students' Attitudes Shift Favorably Towards a Harm Reduction Approach to Alcohol and Other Drugs Practice: The Effectiveness of Consequence Analysis 14. Learning from the research process: discussing sensitive topics as a cultural outsider Part IV: Reflection 15. Social Work and Drug Use Teaching: A Personal View from Lancaster University

Dr Hilda Loughran is the Director of Social Work at University College Dublin, Ireland. Her main research interests and teaching areas are in substance use and social work, and drug policy analysis.

Dr Wulf Livingston is Senior Lecturer in Social Work at Glyndwr University, UK. His primary research interests are alcohol, knowledge acquisition, and recovery and service user involvement. He is also Chair of the New Directions in Study of Alcohol group and supports the British Association of Social Workers Special Interest Group.