Developing Skills and Knowledge for Social Work Practice

Dr Michaela Rogers is a lecturer of social work who is involved in both research and teaching across the areas of social care, social justice, equality and diversity, safeguarding, interpersonal violence and gender. Dr Rogers has delivered and worked alongside colleagues on a range of projects in the voluntary and public sector. These projects typically aim to explore social problems in terms of everyday experiences or assess the impact of service delivery or specific policy initiatives. Dr Rogers is a qualified social worker registered with the profession's regulatory body in England, the Health and Care Professions Council.

Dawn Whitaker is a lecturer at Lancaster University and registered independent social work consultant and trainer. Dawn worked as a mental health social worker in the North West of England for many years, before joining a Local Authority training department to deliver teaching on the Mental Capacity Act 2005. Dawn subsequently joined the NHS as a locality Mental Capacity Act implementation lead, with particular responsibility for implementing the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). As an Independent Social Worker, Dawn is regularly instructed by the Official Solicitor for the Court of Protection, specifically in cases where there is a health and social care dispute, or an adult is deemed to be 'at risk' requiring 'safeguarding'. Dawn continues to undertake ISW work, and has been involved in a number of high-profile, landmark cases such as Cheshire West [Cheshire West and Chester Council v P (2011) EWHC 1330 (COP)] and LBX v K & Ors [2013] EWHC 3230 (Fam).

David was until recently a Senior Lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University. He worked for many years as a qualified mental health social worker and service manager in central Manchester. His previous book, Social Work Practice Learning was published by SAGE in 2014.




Donna is a registered social worker whose 30 year career includes a range of positions in therapeutic residential childcare, child protection teams, and CAFCASS. During the last eight years of her career, Donna worked as an expert witness for the family courts. Her academic and research interests are complemented by her role as a critical social psychologist, her PhD is a phenomenological analysis of prospective adoptive parents' experiences. In addition, Donna has lead roles in several child sexual abuse and exploitation research studies including Rotherham MBC's, CSE Needs Analysis; Voluntary Action Rotherham's Base project; Barnardo's real love rocks CSE practitioner training resource; Greater Manchester Police CTZN project and evaluation of MOSAIC II, a charity providing therapeutic support to victims, families and survivors of child sexual abuse. Finally, Donna is commissioned by NHS England to manage the development of a psychosocial assessment model, designed to enhance disclosures of sexual abuse between children, young people and professionals.