Now available
The Field Guide to Frontline Care
Some of the hardest parts of frontline work are rarely taught. How do you hold a boundary without punishing someone? Respond to anger without escalating it? Stay compassionate without becoming overinvested? Keep showing up without hardening?
The Field Guide offers practical tools for the moments that don’t make it into training manuals or case conferences.
Inside you’ll find short, shift-tested chapters on communication, boundaries, conflict, grief and sustainable frontline practice. Built for real encounters. Written for the work as it actually happens.
Published by Ethica Press. 138 pages, paperback and ebook. Available on Amazon and from your local bookseller.
Bulk pricing, starting at 10 copies
Shipping is included within Canada and the United States. Choose your quantity at checkout, which is handled securely by Stripe.
| Quantity | Canada | United States |
|---|---|---|
| 10–24 | $22.49 CAD each Order | $17.99 USD each Order |
| 25–49 | $19.99 CAD each Order | $15.99 USD each Order |
| 50+ | Custom quote | |
Bulk copies can also be paired with a keynote, workshop or staff-development session.
Both buttons open an email to marcus@greatheart.ca.
Reader reviews
What readers say
Reviews and comments from people who have read The Field Guide.
Just got my copy and plan to get more so my whole team can each have one, and want to make it part of onboarding. Been looking for something like this that is practical and aligns with our values.
The short reminders about where to focus your attention and how to approach an encounter are the kind of things I could imagine reviewing before or during a shift.
I bought extras and have gifted them to our supervised consumption site, frontline outreach, some of our nurses working in wound care and primary care, social workers and nurse practitioners!
I’ve been telling all of my colleagues to buy it. I’ve brought my copy to work every day this week.
If I could I’d come into work and pull an Oprah style “you get a book! And you get a book!” moment.
For libraries
For library staff and library members
Library staff meet people living with homelessness, substance use and distress every day, often with little training for it. The chapters on refusal, de-escalating language and boundaries apply directly to that work.
Use it for staff training
Chapters are short enough to read before a shift, and each ends with a quick reference and on-shift reminders a team can discuss together. Libraries can order copies for staff at the bulk price, or book a training session with Marcus.
Request it for your library’s collection
Most public libraries let members suggest a title for purchase. Look for “Suggest a purchase” on your library’s website and give them these details.
- Title
- The Field Guide to Frontline Care: Practical Tools for Workers in Homelessness, Substance Use, and Harm Reduction
- Author
- Marcus Greatheart
- Publisher
- Ethica Press, 2026
- ISBN, paperback
- 978-0-9917989-5-7
- ISBN, ebook
- 978-0-9917989-6-4
- Ordering
- Available to libraries through Ingram
Free newsletter, twice a month
Notes on Staying Human
An email for people doing frontline work. Practical tools, new ideas and conversations from the front lines of care.
