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 in setting goals, articulate plans 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 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.

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