GERRY SMALE is Director of Development at the National Institute of Social Work and Visiting Professor at the University of Southampton. He has carried out staff and management development programmes and consultancies throughout the UK and in the US. He is currently working with young people who are developing their own services.GRAHAM TUSON is Director of the Diploma in Social Work Programme at Southampton University. A qualified social worker with wide-ranging experience, he has spent much of his professional life in social work education focusing on the development of practice theory and interactional skills training. DAPHNE STATHAM became Director of the National Institute for Social Work following nearly 20 years in social work education. Throughout her career she has maintained contact with practice through voluntary work on women's issues. Her writing has concentrated on women and, more recently, on the future shape of personal support and services. She is the author, with Jalna Hanmer, of Women and Social Work (second edition).

• AcknowledgementsPrologueIntroductionReinventing Social Work: Key Themes and TasksFormulating the Task: Aid or Development?Mapping the Task and ProcessesSocial Problems, Social Control and Patterns of InteractionManaging and Mapping ChangeAssessment and InterventionOvercoming Blocks to ChangeIndependence and MarginalityCore Skills: The Joining SkillsCore Skills: The Intervention SkillsEpilogueIndex.