Ann Burack Weiss

When she started working with the aged more than forty years ago, Ann Burack-Weiss began storing the knowledge and skills she thought would help when she got old herself. It was not until she hit her mid-seventies that she realized she had packed sneakers to climb Mount Everest, not anticipating the crevices and chasms that constitute the rocky terrain of old age. The professional gerontological and social work literature offered little help, so she turned to the late-life works of beloved women authors who had bravely climbed the mountain and sent back news from the summit. Maya Angelou, Colette, Simone de Beauvoir, Joan Didion, Marguerite Duras, M. F. K. Fisher, Doris Lessing, Mary Oliver, Adrienne Rich, May Sarton, and Florida Scott-Maxwell were among the many guides she turned to for inspiration. In The Lioness in Winter, Burack-Weiss blends an analysis of key writings from these and other famed women authors with her own wisdom to create an essential companion for older women and those who care for them. She fearlessly examines issues such as living with loss, finding comfort and joy in unexpected places, and facing disability and death. This book is filled with powerful passages from women who turned their experiences of aging into art, and Burack-Weiss ties their words to her own struggles and epiphanies, framing their collective observations with key insights from social work practice.

When she started working with the aged more than forty years ago, Ann Burack-Weiss began storing the knowledge and skills she thought would help when she got old herself. It was not until she hit her mid-seventies that she realized she had packed sneakers to climb Mount Everest, not anticipating the crevices and chasms that constitute the rocky terrain of old age. The professional gerontological and social work literature offered little help, so she turned to the late-life works of beloved women authors who had bravely climbed the mountain and sent back news from the summit. Maya Angelou, Colette, Simone de Beauvoir, Joan Didion, Marguerite Duras, M. F. K. Fisher, Doris Lessing, Mary Oliver, Adrienne Rich, May Sarton, and Florida Scott-Maxwell were among the many guides she turned to for inspiration. In The Lioness in Winter, Burack-Weiss blends an analysis of key writings from these and other famed women authors with her own wisdom to create an essential companion for older women and those who care for them. She fearlessly examines issues such as living with loss, finding comfort and joy in unexpected places, and facing disability and death. This book is filled with powerful passages from women who turned their experiences of aging into art, and Burack-Weiss ties their words to her own struggles and epiphanies, framing their collective observations with key insights from social work practice.

The growing population of aging Americans is bringing with it thousands of new workers into agencies serving the elderly each year. Now, the need for supervisors to administer and train staff in programs for older persons is increasing as well. This is a practical, "how-to" guide for the supervision of case managers, personal care providers, and interns working in community services and long-term care of ill or disabled older persons. This updated edition expands its focus by offering the latest, up-to-date ideas and proven "practice wisdom" for handling many of the field’s most common problems. Filled with direct and composite case examples, this useful guide looks at concerns central to the changing field of practice. Part one gives an overview of the social work perspective. Parts two and three consider practice and administrative issues. Supervision of interns is covered in part four, and part five expands the scope of original edition by discussing the similarities and differences between home care and long-term care settings. Chapters include coverage of: dual emphasis on person and environment treatment with dignity and respect stages of helping, learning, and teaching negotiating the balance between dependence and independence styles of learning and teaching tuning in and anticipatory empathy assessment, case planning, on-going work, and termination empowerment, mediation, and advocacy the supervisor as "middle management" staff development the supervisory conference and recording requirements evaluation in group supervision home care residential care Gerontological Supervision is an invaluable resource for supervisors with or without MSWs and RNs, as well as case managers, personal care providers, interns, and educators and students in social work.

The growing population of aging Americans is bringing with it thousands of new workers into agencies serving the elderly each year. Now, the need for supervisors to administer and train staff in programs for older persons is increasing as well. This is a practical, "how-to" guide for the supervision of case managers, personal care providers, and interns working in community services and long-term care of ill or disabled older persons. This updated edition expands its focus by offering the latest, up-to-date ideas and proven "practice wisdom" for handling many of the field’s most common problems. Filled with direct and composite case examples, this useful guide looks at concerns central to the changing field of practice. Part one gives an overview of the social work perspective. Parts two and three consider practice and administrative issues. Supervision of interns is covered in part four, and part five expands the scope of original edition by discussing the similarities and differences between home care and long-term care settings. Chapters include coverage of: dual emphasis on person and environment treatment with dignity and respect stages of helping, learning, and teaching negotiating the balance between dependence and independence styles of learning and teaching tuning in and anticipatory empathy assessment, case planning, on-going work, and termination empowerment, mediation, and advocacy the supervisor as "middle management" staff development the supervisory conference and recording requirements evaluation in group supervision home care residential care Gerontological Supervision is an invaluable resource for supervisors with or without MSWs and RNs, as well as case managers, personal care providers, interns, and educators and students in social work.

Ann Burack-Weiss explores a rich variety of published memoirs by authors who cared for ill or disabled family members. Contrary to the common belief that caregiving is nothing more than a stressful situation to be endured, memoirs describe a life transforming experience-self-discovery, a reordering of one's priorities, and a changed view of the world. The Caregiver's Tale offers insight and comfort to individuals caring for a loved one and is a valuable resource for all health care professionals. Identifying common themes, Burack-Weiss describes how the illness career and social meaning of cancer, dementia, HIV/AIDS, mental illness, and chemical dependence affect the caregiving experience. She applies the same method to an examination of family roles: parents caring for ailing children, couples and siblings caring for one another, and adult children caring for aging parents. Jamaica Kincaid, Sue Miller, Paul Monette, Kenzaburo Oe, and Philip Roth are among the many authors who share their caregiving stories. Burack-Weiss provides an annotated bibliography of the more than one hundred memoirs and an accompanying chart to help readers locate those of greatest interest to them.

Ann Burack-Weiss explores a rich variety of published memoirs by authors who cared for ill or disabled family members. Contrary to the common belief that caregiving is nothing more than a stressful situation to be endured, memoirs describe a life transforming experience-self-discovery, a reordering of one's priorities, and a changed view of the world. The Caregiver's Tale offers insight and comfort to individuals caring for a loved one and is a valuable resource for all health care professionals. Identifying common themes, Burack-Weiss describes how the illness career and social meaning of cancer, dementia, HIV/AIDS, mental illness, and chemical dependence affect the caregiving experience. She applies the same method to an examination of family roles: parents caring for ailing children, couples and siblings caring for one another, and adult children caring for aging parents. Jamaica Kincaid, Sue Miller, Paul Monette, Kenzaburo Oe, and Philip Roth are among the many authors who share their caregiving stories. Burack-Weiss provides an annotated bibliography of the more than one hundred memoirs and an accompanying chart to help readers locate those of greatest interest to them.

This unique book clearly depicts a need for supervision in gerontological social work settings and provides a framework for approaching supervision. Grounded in two distinct bodies of literature, social work supervision and gerontological social work, this important book thoroughly examines present gerontological practice and principles and focuses on the stages and styles of helping, and teaching case workers to improve agency efficiency. Gerontological Social Work Supervision assumes some gerontological knowledge and experience with aging on the part of the supervisor, yet provides an abundance of informative and practical methods to aid agency success rates with their clients. The authors discuss the supervisory position as a positive asset in all aspects of case work and management. Throughout the chapters, the value of a supervisor is compounded, whether the supervisor is helping a worker in seeing a broader scope of the field of social work with the elderly, providing guidance through gray areas of ethics, or teaching practice skills for work with individuals, groups, or families, the need for an involved and prepared case worker supervisor becomes increasingly clear through the theories and scenarios presented. Extensive examples and helpful considerations make this an invaluable book for agency supervisors and workers. An entire chapter is devoted to providing supervision in the educational arena, promoting a greater awareness of gerontological social work in students preparing for the field. The appendices are packed with lists of additional works on supervision in social work, bibliographies of selected readings in case management, entitlement, long term care, and family caregiving.

This unique book clearly depicts a need for supervision in gerontological social work settings and provides a framework for approaching supervision. Grounded in two distinct bodies of literature, social work supervision and gerontological social work, this important book thoroughly examines present gerontological practice and principles and focuses on the stages and styles of helping, and teaching case workers to improve agency efficiency. Gerontological Social Work Supervision assumes some gerontological knowledge and experience with aging on the part of the supervisor, yet provides an abundance of informative and practical methods to aid agency success rates with their clients. The authors discuss the supervisory position as a positive asset in all aspects of case work and management. Throughout the chapters, the value of a supervisor is compounded, whether the supervisor is helping a worker in seeing a broader scope of the field of social work with the elderly, providing guidance through gray areas of ethics, or teaching practice skills for work with individuals, groups, or families, the need for an involved and prepared case worker supervisor becomes increasingly clear through the theories and scenarios presented. Extensive examples and helpful considerations make this an invaluable book for agency supervisors and workers. An entire chapter is devoted to providing supervision in the educational arena, promoting a greater awareness of gerontological social work in students preparing for the field. The appendices are packed with lists of additional works on supervision in social work, bibliographies of selected readings in case management, entitlement, long term care, and family caregiving.