Dr Cat Meredith

 Half of my time is allocated to teaching across pre and post-qualifying Social Work Programmes, whilst the other half is dedicated to undertaking my PhD, a micro-ethnographic inquiry into the experience of practitioners working at the interface of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and adult safeguarding practice. I was awarded Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy in 2015. I was shortlisted (final 3) in the Northumbria University Student Led Teaching Awards 2016.

I am very passionate about rights-based social work practice with adults. My direct social work practice specialised in working with people diagnosed with borderline personality disorder who presented a high level of risk through self-harming and suicidal behaviours. This work stimulated my interest in the conflict professionals experience between the promotion of autonomy and self-determination and expected statutory responses to unacceptable risk. I have practiced as a Forensic Social Worker, an Approved Mental Health Practitioner, a Best Interests Assessor under the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards, a Senior Supervising Practitioner and latterly, a Mental Capacity Act 2005 policy lead.  

A main focus of my teaching and research is how professionals identify, conceptualise and respond to risk, and how decisions are made. I am currently working with my colleague, Carole Southall, to develop Mental Capcity Act training for the children’s social work workforce, and training for independent chairs and authors of Safeguarding Adults Reviews.