Charlie Whittaker
Charlie joined Frontline as a Curriculum Advisor in Motivational Interviewing (MI) in 2016. Prior to this she worked as a Research Fellow at the Tilda Goldberg Centre where she was involved in studies evaluating the effectiveness of MI in child and family social work. As part of these projects she provided coaching and support to social workers on using MI in the context of child protection.
Charlie is also a qualified social worker with experience of working in residential settings and statutory child protection services. She is currently a part-time PhD student with the School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University. Building on her passion for MI, Charlie is interested in understanding how it can be used to support social work conversations about child welfare.
Research interests
Motivational Interviewing, strengths-based child protection and the relationship between social work skills and outcomes for families.
Selected publications
Forrester, D., Westlake, D., Whittaker, C., Thomas, R., Waits, C., Antonopoulou, V., Killian, M & Hutchison, D. (forthcoming). Engaging parents and protecting children? A randomized controlled trial examining the impact of a skills development package in Motivational Interviewing on the skills of child and family social workers and engagement and outcomes for the parents and children they work with, to be submitted to Research on Social Work Practice
Whittaker, C.E., Forrester, D., Killian, M. & Jones, R.K. (2016) Can we reliably measure social work communication skills? Development of a scale to measure child and family social work direct practice, International Journal of Child and Family Welfare 2016, 17 (1/2), 47-63
Whittaker, C., Forrester, D., & Antonopoulou, V. (2015). Motivational Interviewing for a Family Support Team: Evaluation of a Skills Development Package. Luton: Tilda Goldberg Centre.
Wilkins, D. & Whittaker, C.E. (forthcoming) Doing child protection social work with (not to) parents: what are the barriers in practice? Under review with The British Journal of Social Work.
Conference Presentations
Whittaker, C.E., Forrester, D., Killian, M. & Jones, R.K. (2017) ‘Can we reliably measure social work communication skills? Development of a measure of quality in direct child and family social work practice’ at: SSWR 21st Annual Conference, New Orleans
Wilkins, D. & Whittaker, C.E. (2016) ‘Doing child protection social work ‘with’ (not ‘to’) parents: what are the barriers in practice?’ at: International Social Work Conference: Participatory Social Work: Approaches, Barriers, Critique, Lodz, Poland
Whittaker, C.E. (2015) ‘What is effective communication in child protection social work?’ at: BASPCAN Congress, University of Edinburgh
Thomas, R. & Whittaker, C.E. (2013) ‘Someone to watch over me? Challenges and opportunities of having social work practice observed’ at: JSWEC Conference, Royal Holloway University, London
Whittaker, C.E. & Thomas, R. (2013) ‘Conversations can change lives: working with difficult conversations in a child protection context’ at: JSWEC Conference, Royal Holloway University, London
Research funding
£30,000 Central Bedfordshire Council (2014) Motivational Interviewing for a Family Support Team: Evaluation of a Skills Development Package, Whittaker, C.E.
Teaching
Charlie has taught on Motivational Interviewing and coding on the Frontline programme and with the University of Bedfordshire.
Location: London
Frontline,
1 Rosebery Avenue,
London,
EC1R 4SR
Meet the rest of my team
Charlie Whittaker
Charlie joined Frontline as a Curriculum Advisor in Motivational Interviewing (MI) in 2016.
Henry Smith
Henry graduated as a social worker in 2006. He’s worked in various children and families social work settings before joining the Frontline Academic Team in 2016.
Lara Parish-Mackin
Lara has been a practicing social worker and manager for the last 10 years.
Eugene Ogbewele
Before joining Frontline as a Practice Tutor, Eugene spent the majority of his professional career in working in the statutory setting.
Chris Hemsley
Chris left statutory social work to teach on the Frontline programme in May 2014.
Tessa Godfrey
Tessa qualified as a social worker in 1985, following the publication of the Barclay Report on social work.
Fran Feeley
Fran has over ten years’ experience working as a social worker with high risk and complex child protection cases.
Rebecca Brewer
Rebecca has been a Senior Academic Tutor on the Frontline programme since it started in 2015.
Katie Ayres
Katie has worked as a Lecturer on the Frontline programme since October 2016.
Julie Henry
Julie left statutory social work practice in September 2016 to take up her post as lecturer at the University of Bedfordshire on the Frontline programme.
Allan Brownrigg – Head of Region, North East
Allan is a registered social worker and an accredited psychotherapist and has worked in a range of social work settings.
Ross Duncan
Prior to Frontline Ross worked for eight years in the Family Court, as a children’s guardian and family court advisor.
Hannah Thompson
Prior to joining Frontline Hannah worked within local authority child protection social work since qualifying in 2011.
Emma Baker
Prior to joining Frontline, Emma worked with vulnerable families in Hackney. She spent 10 years working in the unit model as a social worker, consultant social worker and practice development manager across a number of teams.
Azora Hurd
Azora is principal practice tutor for the Midlands.