Casework

Mary E. Woods received her MSW from the Columbia University School of Social Work. She recently retired after ten years as Adjunct Associate Professor at Hunter College School of Social Work in New York City and over twenty years as an independent clinical practitioner with individuals, couples, families, and groups. In addition to her private practice, Ms. Woods had an extensive practice of consultation to other clinicians and with several social agencies. She has served as a field instructor, training director, and program developer during her seven year tenure in a family service agency, and she planned and directed a store-front counseling service to clients who had difficulty traveling to the agency's main facility. She is the author or co-author of several articles and chapters, including "Psychosocial Theory and Social Work Treatment" in Francis J. Turner's Social Work Treatment, and "Personality Disorders" in Francis J. Turner's Adult Psychopathology II (due in 1999). Florence Hollis was the sole author of the first two editions of Casework: A Psychosocial Therapy. She did her undergraduate work at Wellesley College, received her master's degree from Smith College School of Social Work in 1931, and earned her doctorate from Bryn Mawr School of Social Work and Social Research in 1947. Through the depression years, she worked at family agencies in Philadelphia and in Cleveland, where she taught part-time at Western Reserve University. She was the editor of the Journal of Social Casework during the 1940s, and in 1947, she joined the teaching staff at Columbia University School of Social Work. While at Columbia, she developed her typology of casework procedures, which became the basis for ongoing and rigorous research into worker-client communication and the casework process. Over the course of her career, she published three books and over forty articles on casework. As a part of her busy life, Dr. Hollis saw clients on a regular basis; she considered it essential to the successful performance of her other professional roles.