Bernard Davies – författare

First Published in 1975, Use of Groups in Social Work Practice seeks to encourage caseworkers to use groups as an integral part of their professional practice and assumes that no one book could entirely meet this need. The present book adopts an interactionist approach. It discusses crucial themes like group work in the British social work tradition; the North American experience; what is a group; group work and social work’s strategic purposes; tactical goals for group work; the self as a social product; the ingredients of group activity; the authority of the group worker; and the future for group work. This is a must read for students of social work.

First Published in 1975, Use of Groups in Social Work Practice seeks to encourage caseworkers to use groups as an integral part of their professional practice and assumes that no one book could entirely meet this need. The present book adopts an interactionist approach. It discusses crucial themes like group work in the British social work tradition; the North American experience; what is a group; group work and social work’s strategic purposes; tactical goals for group work; the self as a social product; the ingredients of group activity; the authority of the group worker; and the future for group work. This is a must read for students of social work.

Davies frames his research within the ideological, political and economic context of the last decade, contemplating the prescriptions of neoliberalism, and various other socio-political developments. He illustrates how wider government policies, programmes and initiatives have marred the purposes and methods of the Youth Service and youth work facilities, forging connections with what this means for young people and youth work. 

This book updates the policy and practice developments affecting youth services since the publication in 2019 of Austerity, Youth Policy and the Deconstruction of the Youth Service in England. It focuses on ‘open youth work’ settings such as youth centres and detached and outreach projects within the wider ideological, political and financial UK policy contexts. It pays detailed attention to the pandemic and cost-of-living impacts on young people, including on their mental health, examining how wider youth-focused state and voluntary provision and the National Youth Agency are responding. It also examines established and new routes to training and qualifying for work with young people. The book offers a distinctive source of evidence on, and analysis of, important areas of youth provision and practice and the policy priorities shaping these, which since 2018 have continued to have limited academic attention.