Brian J Taylor, PhD, is Emeritus Professor of Social Work at Ulster University, Northern Ireland. Professionally qualified in social work and teaching, he spent 10 years as a practitioner and manager, and then 15 years in training and organisation development in health and social care before joining the University. Brian was founder and principal organiser of the biennial conference series: Decisions, Assessment, Risk and Evidence in Social Work, 2010-2022. He has taught, researched and published on these topics, including being author on over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles. He has supervised about 15 PhD students to completion, including some jointly with colleagues in communication studies, health care, psychology, youth and community work, law and computer science. Brian is a Fellow of the UK Academy of Social Sciences; honorary Senior Fellow of the School for Social Care Research at the National Institute for Health Research, London; and honorary Associate of the Harding Centre for Risk Literacy at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin. He was a founder member of the Board of the European Social Work Research Association (ESWRA), and founder-Convenor of the ESWRA Decisions, Assessment and Risk Special Interest Group.
This book is written to help social work practitioners and students on CPD courses make professional decisions with clients; from exercising statutory powers and duties to protect children from abuse, to making decisions about risk. This revised second edition has more of a focus on risk within social work practice as many social workers face daily pressure to make sound decisions in very difficult circumstances. In this complex arena of conflicting demands and considerations - from the public, the client, the family, the organisation - the professional needs a robust and yet flexible framework to inform practice decisions. Featuring illustrations from practice as well as case studies and practical activities to aid learning, this book provides a holistic view of decision making and risk as a core aspect of effective social work practice.
