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
Lisa Hackett
Lisa has worked in in a variety of roles in the social work sector.
Jo Williams
Jo has 25 years’ experience of direct practice in social care settings with both children and adults.
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 join the University of Bedfordshire as a Lecturer 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.
Alison Domakin
Alison has been qualified as a child and family social worker for over 25 years.
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.