Collaborative Family Work A practical guide to working with families in the human services

Life can be a struggle for some families and support from skilled human service workers can make a real difference.Collaborative Family Work offers practical strategies for working with families, always emphasising the importance of collaboration in assisting them in developing strategies to learn new skills and improve their lives. Chris Trotter explains how to identify strengths, assist families in setting goals, articulate strategies for change and develop methods of ongoing evaluation.He offers a systematic overview of family work models and theories, from long-term therapeutic and narrative approaches to short-term solution-focused and mediation models. His evidence-based model for family work draws on extensive field research and observation with experienced professionals.Collaborative Family Work is a valuable reference for professionals seeking to enhance their professional skills, and an essential text for students in the human services.'Chris Trotter addresses the ''how'' of practice in a field that is often stronger on general principles than it is on practical detail.' - Dr Chris Beckett, University of East Anglia, UK

FiguresAcknowledgements1 Introduction: Why Collaborative Family Work?2 Family work models and theories3 The Collaborative Family Work model4 Preparing families for family work and developing ground rules5 Identifying issues to work on and focusing on strengths6 Deciding what to work on first and setting goals7 Problem exploration and developing strategies8 Reviewing and concluding the family work sessionsReferencesIndex

Chris Trotter is Professor in Social Work at Monash University. He has an international reputation for his research on family work, offender supervision and pro-social modelling. He is author of Working with Involuntary Clients and Helping Abused Children and their Families, and his books have been translated into German, Japanese and Chinese.