Social Work in the Age of Disconnection

Michael Jarrette-Kenny DSW, LCSW is a Psychotherapist and adjunct faculty member at Bergen New Bridge Medical Center’s Psychiatric Residency Program. Miriam Jaffe, is an Associate Teaching Professor at Rutgers University, where she teaches writing. This is her fifth edited collection of case studies in Social Work.

• 1.Are you ‘Following’ Me?: Gen Z’s Emotional Intelligence in Online Activism 2.On the Online Self as an Extension of Personhood 3."Hi, I Can Hear You:" Facilitating Telephone-Based Caregiver Support Groups 4.Identity, Technology, and the Shaping of a Self 5.Connection and Separation Reconsidered: Challenges and Opportunities in the New World of Digital Communication 6. The Disembodied Self and The Future of Psychotherapy 7.The Role of Technology in Community Mental Health: A Strengths-Based Approach 8. Addressing Social Injustice in Social Work Practice: The Clinical Advocacy Model 9. Our Illusion of Separateness: Teaching Social Justice to Social Work Students

‘This is a sly book. It allegedly describes psychotherapy in the virtual age of COVID-19. But what these case studies really wonder is whether the human being is evolving into a new creature altogether. The narratives depict several paradoxes—male/female, disembodied/embodied, connection/disconnection, virtual/real, cases/stories—in our lives. These binaries, and the suffering endured by those trapped in them, are gradually revealed as fluid states. Gen Zs are not inalterably damaged by their extensive digital lives. Transgender identities herald categories yet unimaginably expansive. Case reports are indeed well-written stories. The gift of the paradox of social work is unveiled—the social life is seamlessly entwined with the work life, all of it relational, all of it formative of the self. A limitless horizon of possibilities appears, making room for ways of being awaiting our creative discovery.’Rita Charon, Division of Narrative Medicine, Columbia University‘Herein, our frontline, essential workers voice what they learned during the pandemic. These experienced scholar-practitioners teach readers how to bridge new divides in our increasingly digital and socially fragmented world. You'll find opportunities for optimism, reflection, and discussion on every page.’Widian Nicola, LCSW, DSW, NASW-NJ President, Assistant Professor, Seton Hall University