Table of Contents

Preface Nigel Parton Introduction Paul Stepney & Deirdre Ford The Wider Context for Practice An overview of the wider policy context Paul Stepney An introduction to social work theory, practice and research Paul Stepney Rethinking the social work theory to practice debate Malcolm Payne Anti-racism and social work Deirdre Ford Social Work Methods Re-evaluated Psychodynamic thinking in social work practice Maggie John & Pamela Trevithick Crisis intervention Wing Hong Chui & Deirdre Ford Task-centred practice in challenging times Peter Ford & Karen Postle Cognitive-behavioural methods in social care: a look at the evidence Brian Sheldon Counselling and contemporary social work Avril Bellinger & Frances Fleet Ecological systems theory and direct work with children and families Peter Henriques & Graham Tuckley Community social work Paul Stepney & Keith Popple Existentialist practice Neil Thompson Empowerment: help or hindrance in professional relationships? Lena Dominelli Groupwork theory and practice Pamela Trevithick The Future of Practice in an International Context Critical social work Mel Gray, Paul Stepney & Stephen A. Webb Research minded practice in social work Martyn Jones The Big Society and social work: a new direction for Practice? Bill Jordan

About the Author

Deirdre Ford is a qualified social worker and Lecturer in Social Work who for ten years combined an academic career at Exeter University with practice, working with people who have a learning disability and mental health problems, prior to taking up a full-time post at Plymouth University in 2002. She has worked extensively with service user and carer groups in both social work education and practice. Recent research interests and publications stem from practice developments related to Safeguarding Adults, and Downs Syndrome and dementia. Paul Stepney has recently been appointed as an adjunct Professor of Social Work and Kone Foundation Research Fellow at the University of Tampere in Finland. Prior to this he has taught at universities in Hull, Manchester, Exeter and more recently Wolverhampton, UK. For many years he worked as a community worker, generic social worker and during the 1990s combined university teaching at Exeter University with a hospital social work post. He has researched and published in the area of critical practice developing strategies of prevention alongside protection. He has published a number of articles on critical practice in Australian, UK and US journals, and has recently set up a comparative research project in two European cities to investigate these issues and explore how preventive practice might be developed. He is co-author of two books: (i) co-editor with Deirdre Ford Social Work Models, Methods and Theories: A Framework for Practice, (Russell House Publishing, 2000); (ii) co-author with Keith Popple Social Work and the Community: a critical context for practice, (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008).