Practice Imperfect: Reflections on a Career in Social Work

Diana Coholic is an assistant professor in the School of Social Work,
Laurentian University.

In this autobiographical work, the author discusses and reflects on her
40-year social work career in England, Canada, and Barbados. As a black
social worker, Rambally practised at a time when anti-oppressive
approaches and an emphasis on diversity had not yet emerged as strong
themes within the profession. She was one of the founding members of the
Association of Black Human Service Workers, which was instrumental in
helping to sensitize social services in Montreal to the need for
culturally appropriate practices.

Rambally emerges as a determined, tenacious, and courageous woman.
While her career began with welfare work with immigrants in post–World
War II London, she had higher aspirations for herself. She earned a
Master of Social Work degree at McGill at a time when the casework
approach and psychoanalytic theory were prominent perspectives. While
most of her practice occurred in the areas of foster care and adoption,
toward the latter part of her career she was offered an opportunity to
live in Barbados and teach field education at the University of the West
Indies. She makes some interesting observations about the status of
field education and practice within academe. The few case examples she
includes in the book help to foster thought about the realities of
social work practice.

Practice Imperfect should be of interest to social work students,
practitioners, and educators.