Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute Community Engagement and Outreach Specialist Rachel Forbes was recognized with the 2025 Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) Book Award Honorable Mention for her work on “Ecosocial Work: Environmental Practice and Advocacy.”
Edited by Forbes and Institute for Social Work and Ecological Justice Director Kelly Smith, the book examines the need for social workers to proactively engage with clients and communities and respond to the growing impacts of environmental injustices in the face of the accelerating climate crisis. The book encourages readers to consider how simultaneously protecting the planet while meeting the historical aims of the profession advances the values and ethical mandates social workers abide by. Designed to foster critical thinking, the book offers hope and possibility for a just environmental future.
Forbes was honored during a Jan. 18 ceremony at the 2025 SSWR Conference in Seattle, Washington. The SSWR lauded Forbes and Smith for for “outstanding scholarly contributions that advance social work knowledge.”
The SSWR is the premier organization dedicated to the advancement of social work research. Its membership includes faculty in schools of social work and other professional schools, research staff in public and private agencies, and masters and doctoral students from around the world.
The book was published in 2023 by NASW Press, a division of the National Association of Social Workers. Read a review published in the Journal of Social Work in Mental Health.