Mark is a social worker with over thirty years post graduate practice experience. After two years university teaching experience at Swinburne and Deakin Universities, Mark is currently working on a Ph. D. on existential social work practice. Mark currently works casually at Deakin University in Arts/education in student support and is also completing a documentary on Australian writer Xavier Herbert. Mark is a committee member of the Victorian Association of Restorative Justice (www.varj.asn.au) and helped create the Youth Justice Group Conferencing Program from pilot project to statewide program along with other experts. Degrees held MSW (RMIT University 2008) BSW. BA. University of Melbourne.
existentialsocialwork
The lived experience of social work
existentialsocialwork 
Hi there Mark!
I chanced upon your blog while googling on Existential Social Work.
I’m a social worker from Singapore who has taken a great interest in how Existential thinking can inform our work as social workers and clinicians. However, much of the literature on Existential Psychology is focused on psychotherapy and not so much social work practice. I’m very excited to hear you are doing a PhD on existential social work practice!
I’ve also recently started a small venture to promote Existential psychology among practitioners and the general public in Singapore. You can take a look at my website thepause.sg or fb.com/thepause.sg.
I hope we can get in touch! Please drop me an email! 🙂
Rgds
Liren
Hi Liren, Thanks for your comment. I will check out your website. I have just finished attended a week long training by Professor Mick Cooper on existential psychotherapies and on developing relational depth in Sydney and Melbourne which was great! I agree that the implications for social work practice is really important and forms a significant part of the Ph D. I am very keen to form international contacts with social workers who are interested in this area of development. Thanks
Hi there Mark! Thanks for your quick reply! Wow, yes I read about the trainings by Prof Cooper on the website of Centre for Existential Practice. Are you affiliated to them?
I have found my own work deeply enriched by existential thinking, but so far it’s been very hard for me to concretise my thoughts into ideas which can be more easily translated and taught. Do you know of any material which I can get my hands on in this area relating Existential ideas to Social Work?
Rgds
Liren
Liren
The leading existential social work writer in the world today would be Neil Thompson. His website is here http://www.avenueconsulting.co.uk/neil-thompson.html
Niel has a sartrean approach and built his “anti-discriminatory” practice approach using sartre’s mature social thought. Neil does not say much about the existential therapy movement. Donald Krill in the USA is most associated with the existential approach in social work there and his approach does not appear to make much distinction between therapy and social work. There are social work writers who have incorporated a logotherapy approach. Hope this helps you get started.
Hi Mark,
I am soon to graduate my social work studies and wonder if you could provide some reading suggestions for a beginner interested in existential social work, please?
Hi Melinda Thanks for your interest. The two key high profile and identified Existential Social Work writers are Donald Krill in the USA and Neil Thompson in the UK. As you are at University I am sure you will be able to access much of their work. Thompson is a prolific author and Sartre is his main inspiration as an existential writer. He is probably most well known for his anti-discriminatory social work model often described as PCS model, which I think is partly inspired by sartre’s existential marxist writings from 1950-1980’s. Krill is more eclectic and has a more therapeutic bent. Thompson write his book “existential social work ” in 1993 or thereabouts but all his recent publications make reference to his existential metatheory such as Theorising Social Work Practice. Krill’s books are fairly dated too, but he is still writing on the topic. I am writing a book at the present on it. Thanks