Llun o meicroffon

Motivational Interviewing for working with children and families – a conversation

MI is now widely used in services for children, playing a key part in innovations such as Family Drug and Alcohol Courts, the Family Safeguarding model and Intensive Family Support Teams. In this session Steve Rollnick (co-creator of Motivational Interviewing) spoke with Donald Forrester, David Wilkins and Charlie Whittaker about their forthcoming book on this topic. Discussion covered the contribution that MI can make to child and family work and how to respond to key problems or challenges such as how to have difficult conversations and applying MI principles in the context of child protection – plus wherever else the conversation went! There were opportunities for those attending to ask questions, share experiences and be involved in the discussion.

Cascade Talks: Understanding the social care landscape in Carmarthenshire

CASCADE Centre Director, Donald Forrester is joined by Jake Morgan, Director of Communities and Deputy Chief Executive and Stefan Smith, Head of Children’s Services in Carmarthenshire County Council. They speak about their journey into social work, integrating social work models into their work amongst a range of topics.

Music: The Right Direction by Shane Ivers

Cascade Talks: Social care leaders and reducing care rates in Neath Port Talbot

CASCADE Research Centre Director, Donald Forrester, is joined by Andrew Jarrett, Director of Social Services, Health and Housing in Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council. Andrew talks about his journey and experience in social work and discusses, amongst many issues, the rates of children in care in Neath Port Talbot.

Music: The Right Direction by Shane Ivers

CASCADE Talks: Poverty, Practice and Social Context

The podcast discusses the relationship between poverty and contact with children’s services. Drawing on the Child Welfare Inequalities Project , Professor Brigid Featherstone, discusses potential approaches to supporting families around their material circumstances at the level of individual practice, local authorities, and national policy. 

Music from The Right Direction by Shane Ivers

Woman in recording studio

Why are some helpers so much more effective than others?

Why are some helpers so much more effective than others? A conversation with Professor Tom Sexton and Professor Donald Forrester

October 2018

Being interviewed by Michael Little (Research Fellow at Dartington Centre for Social Policy and former Director of Dartington Social Research Unit), Professor Sexton (Indiana University), an eminent international expert in the field of Family Psychology,  discusses his ground breaking research on the variations between counsellors and the outcomes they help people achieve. Why do different counsellors using the same approach achieve varying results? Professor Forrester (Director of CASCADE and the What Works Centre for Children’s Social Care) talks about new research by him and his team that identifies key factors implementing outcomes in child and family social work. His findings suggest that relationships are important- but not enough on their own. So what is needed to help people effectively?