Being with Older People

The authors of this volume take as their starting point "striking moments" in their practice with older people, their families and other practitioners. They integrate these with current systemic thinking to offer new perspectives on working with older people in a range of physical health, mental health and social care contexts. This book is practice led and contains a wealth of examples that will be familiar both to practitioners working with older people and to older people themselves and their families. The authors, all experienced clinicians, place an emphasis on how systemic and narrative approaches might relate to these real world dilemmas and point to ways forward in working with older people in a world where social isolation, ageism and discrimination are commonplace.

Eleanor Anderson

Foreword , Who are we in this Work? , Introduction: being with older people-a systemic approach , How do we begin? Working with older people and their significant systems , Using our selves in work with older people , Creating contexts for talking and listening where older people feel comfortable and respected , Older people and their significant systems: meeting with families and networks , Working with older people in contexts of difference and discrimination , Moving from problems to possibilities with older people , Sustaining the ethics of systemic practice in contexts of risk and diagnosis , Introducing systemic approaches into our services for older people , How do we end? Drawin our work with older people to a close , Afterwords Working with elders: inspiring the young