In this book, Regina Abeld chooses the imbalance between the high importance of the social worker-client relationship and the marginalization of the topic in both practice and theory as her starting point. In exploring this central theme, the author presents an approach that is both empirically practical and conceptually theoretical. She draws on the empirically gathered perspectives of clients in community psychiatry and addresses the desiderata of a modern or postmodern theory of social work. These are connected with metatheoretical considerations regarding the concepts of "habitus" and "identity," as well as references to ethics, ultimately culminating in a conceptual description of "integral professional relationship design.".