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WHAT WORKS IN BUILDING RESILIENCE?

Tony Newman, Barnardo's

ISBN 1904659020, £11.99

Star Rating: 4/5

Small enough to fit into your bag to read on the bus to work, this book is also stimulating enough to make you miss your stop, writes Joanna McCann.

A valuable addition to Barnardo's What Works? series, the book brings together key studies and their findings on resilience in children. It addresses the questions of what resilience is and why it is important to child welfare, why some children are more successful than others at overcoming stressful episodes, and how child welfare services can promote resilience.

Each chapter ends with a useful summary of key messages for practice. The prologue, written by American academics in the field is not as accessible as the main text and was more digestible when read as an epilogue.

With bite-sized summaries of key research studies and on-line resource list, this is an essential reference book for social workers. It will also be of interest to foster carers, residential staff and others to inform their work with children, their families and communities.

Joanna McCann works for the National Children's Bureau and is an independent trainer and consultant.