Social work students must develop a sound and critical understanding of human development and the processes and stages of growth through the life-course. Even more important however is how students apply this knowledge to their assignments and their practice. This text achieves this in several ways. It introduces the key concepts of human development and growth from childhood through adolescence and older age and then uses various pedagogical features to help students apply social and human development theories to practical day-to-day case examples. With this knowledge, students will be able to build and maintain successful relationships with service users, carers and other health and social care professionals. Key updates: More material on Life Story work More material on Wellbeing Greater emphasis on the links between theory and practice This book is in the Transforming Social Work Practice series. All books in the series are affordable, mapped to the Social Work Curriculum, practical with clear links between theory & practice and written to the Professional Capabilities Framework.