CV

Personal Details

GRETCHEN PRECEY BA (Hons) CQSW; MA (Child Studies)
INDEPENDENT SOCIAL WORKER, CONSULTANT and TRAINER

Date of Birth: 21/10/51

Tel/fax 01273 487370
Mobile 07776071178

Social Work Registration No. 1029010

Professional Qualifications

Employment History

Expertise

Gretchen has detailed knowledge and skills in the following areas

Training

• Assessment Skills (including specific training on the Assessment Framework)
• Fabricated or Induced Illness (Signs and Indicators, assessment and management of cases)
• Practice Skills for Social Care staff including supervision, developing empathic practice and working in partnership with families
• Direct Work and Communication with Children
• Basic Child Protection Awareness Skills
• Working with Sexual Abuse (work with perpetrators, family dynamics, issues for child victims)
• Investigative Interviewing (including Best Evidence guidelines)
• Mental Health and Child Protection
• Supervision and Assessment Skills for Managers
• Communicating and Consulting with Disabled Children
• Disability and Child Protection
• Risk Assessment in the Supervision and Management of Complex Cases
• Improving Skills in Report Writing
• Effective Use of Evidence Based Practice

Consultation

• Specialist investigative interviewing with disabled children
• Assessment of Contact between children and parents
• Supervision and Assessment of especially complex child protection cases
• Supervision and Assessment of cases involving Fabricated of Induced Illness
• Serious Case Reviews Independent Overview Reports
• Inquiries into concerns about social work practice
  

Direct Work

• Wishes and feelings work with children
• Therapeutic work with children and adults (especially in the aftermath of sexual abuse)
• Face to face assessment work in specific aspects of child protection work
• Assessment of applications by perspective adoptive parents

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

• Member: Professional Development Group (PDG)
• Member: British Association of Social Workers
• Member: British Association for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (BASPCAN] (previous National Executive Member and Secretary for BASPCAN Southeast)
• Chair: Board of Trustees- Brighton Oasis Project (charity providing services to substance misusing mothers and their children)
• Registered Social Worker with General Social Care Council (reg no. 1029010)
• Associate: WillisPalmer

PUBLICATIONS

• On First Encountering Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy: A Guide for Beginners (1995) in Trust Betrayed? Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, inter-agency child protection and partnership with families. J. Horwath and B. Lawson (eds.), National Childrens Bureau, London
• Assessment issues in working with mothers who induce illness in their children (1998) Child and Family Social Work, 3, pp 227-237
• Children with a Parent who has a Mental Health Problem in NSPCC-Turning Points: A Resource Pack for Communicating with Children (1997)
• Building Bridges: the Interface Between Adult Mental Health and Child Protection (1999) Child Abuse Review Vol.8 num. 2 (co-authored with Charmian Tye, Child Protection Adviser, South Downs NHS Trust)
• Child Protection Concerns When Questioning Children in Children’s Testimony in Context H. (2001) Westcott and R. Bull (eds.) Wiley, Chichester
• Children at Risk of Illness Induction or Fabrication (Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy): How Helpful is the Assessment Framework? Assessment in Child Care (2003), M.C. and Hackett, S (eds) Russell House Publishing, Lyme Regis, Dorset
• Is the Frame Working? Reflections on Four Years of the Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families Seen and Heard, Vol 13. Issue 3 2003-2004
• The Fabrication or Induction of Illness in Children with Complex Needs: views from practice with Karen Smith; Practice December 2004
• Understanding the Change for Children Agenda: The discerning gourmet’s guide to acronym soup Representing Children: A quarterly Journal for all those concerned with the Rights and Welfare of children and Young People, (2006) Vol. 18 No. 3
• Understanding the Origins, Development and Implementation of the Common Assessment Framework: The Story So Far Seen and Heard, Vol 16 Issue 2, June 2006
• ‘The Common Assessment Framework’ Community Care Inform (online information service) October 2007
• ‘Understanding the Risk to Children in Whom Illness is Fabricated or Induced’ Community Care Inform (online information service) May 2008

Updated May 2008