The carrot or the stick? : towards effective practice with involuntary clients in safeguarding children work

In child protection, family support, domestic violence, youth justice...many practitioners and managers struggle to engage clients who resist involvement with services that are needed or offered, often with wearying and dispiriting effect on everyone.

This book offers systematic, evidence-based approaches to work with children and young people, men and women, fathers and mothers in all relevant circumstances.

They are 'no-nonsense' approaches that will fit with practice wisdom and practice realities of work with clients who: actively seek help; only accept services when legally mandated or institutionalized; show varying degrees of motivation at different times, towards different services, or within their family or group.It addresses: making and maintaining working relationships with clients; concepts of consent and coercion; frameworks for understanding and working with motivation, resistance and change; links with risk assessment, including risks to staff; innovative ways of enhancing their clients' motivation and helping them to change; helping anyone in training to enter the workplace with a sense that they can succeed, not only when assistance is sought, but also when others choose not to engage; rekindling confidence and enthusiasm amongst those who have already experienced trying to address entrenched resistance without adequate help or guidance.