CSWE is the educational association and sole regulator for social work education in the United States, involving more than 900 social work programs and thousands of social work educators.

Professor Duffy was approached to lead this project as a result of his US-UK Fulbright Scholarship (2018-19) where his pedagogic research focused on the pilot and evaluation of service user involvement initiatives in the social work curricula at both New York University and Belmont University. The team involved in working on this new Guide consists of membership from across North America, with currently a cross disciplinary team of more than 50 members involving social work academics, practitioners and service users.

The Guide, due for completion in the Autumn of 2025, will serve as an important curriculum resource and is the first of its kind to be introduced to the United States.  

Speaking about this accomplishment, Professor Duffy from the School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work at Queen’s said: “I am delighted the commissioning of this Guide evolved directly from my US-UK Fulbright research in 2018-19. This evidenced the positive impact of service user involvement in the universities where the research was piloted.”

The involvement of service users who work with Professor Duffy at Queen's, in the Republic of Ireland, other parts of the UK, and the USA will be an important expression of this Guide's inclusive ethos through their involvement in co-producing all of its key aspects.

Dr Megan Fujita, Vice-President of Education, Executive Director of Accreditation at the CSWE commented: “CSWE is thrilled to begin development of this specialized curricular guide for service user involvement. Under Professor Joe Duffy’s leadership, the development of the Guide will involve a team of international social work educators, practitioners, and individuals with experiential knowledge of receiving social work services. Through encouraging social workers to recognize the perspective of service users in their practice, the Guide will undoubtedly have positive impact on social workers and the communities they serve.”

To date the Guide is supported by funding from the CSWE Katherine Kendall Foundation (USA), the Northern Ireland Social Care Council, the British Association of Social Workers (Northern Ireland), the Queen's University Agility Fund, and the Queen’s University ESRC Impact Acceleration Account.

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