My name is Mark Allenby, and I am a senior lecturer in social work at the University of Northampton.

I graduate with a degree in Applied Social Studies from Trent Polytechnic, now Nottingham Trent University, in 1988. This combined an Honours Degree with the Certificate of Qualification in Social Work (CQSW).

My first job in social work was as an Education Social Worker in South Birmingham. I then became a generic social worker in Coventry, before moving to become a Child Care Social Worker in Northampton.

It was whilst I was a Child Care Social Worker that I became interested in an approach called ‘Solution Focused Practice’ (SFP), which since 1994 has been the main model that has underpinned my practice. It was also around this time that I became interested in Social Work Education, gaining my Practice Teacher’s Award in 1995.

In 1996, in order to further my interest in SFP, I changed jobs and worked for the Division Unit, a multi-agency team that worked with people in trouble with the police, and victims of crime. This team used a lot of SFT. It also had a strong underpinning of Restorative Justice.

Two years later I switched to working in Child and Adolescent Mental Health, initially as a Child and Family Therapist, and then as a Primary Mental Health Worker. In this job, I further developed by interests in both social work education and SFP. In these roles, I was trained in a range of approaches, such as EMDR, Video-Interaction Guidance, and the Family Partnership Model. I also gained a Post-Graduate Diploma in Solution-Focused Practice whilst in this job.

I moved over to work at the University of Northampton in 2008, gaining my Post-Graduate Certificate in Teaching in Higher Education in 2010.

I continue to have a passionate interest in communication and the role of effective communication in bringing about change.

Last Update by M. Allenby – 21.8.16