• Evidence and values

    A blog by Professor Donald Forrester The name “evidence based practice” is misleading. Practice cannot and should not be based on evidence – if by that we mean that the evidence tells us what we should do. Our services should be based on our principles and values. Organisations should be clear what the point of… Read More
  • World Social Work Day 2019: The audacity of hope

    A blog by Dr David Wilkins ‘The audacity of hope’; a terribly unoriginal title but I hope on World Social Work Day 2019, an important message for social work all the same. In the late 1980s, talking about a painting by G.F Watts entitled ‘Hope’, the Reverend Dr. Sampson said: “With her clothes in rags,… Read More
  • What skills make a difference?

    A blog by Professor Donald Forrester In the last blog I outlined why it is important to find out whether and how social work skills make a difference for families. Here I reflect on which skills made a difference in our study. The skills we measured were all related to motivational interviewing (MI). Some were… Read More
  • Does social work make a difference? And if so – how?

    A blog by Professor Donald Forrester This and the next Blog relate to this article. Since I left social work practice to become an academic, almost 20 years ago, most of my research has been trying to find out what helps children and their families. Sad to say, this is rooted in a sense that I… Read More