Dr Denise Turner
Operational Head of Social Work
About
Denise is a qualified Social Worker, registered with Social Work England and also a qualified therapist, registered with the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy.
Denise continues to work in mental health practice and prior to becoming an academic she worked in a variety of voluntary and statutory practice settings, including children and families and with homeless people, sex offenders and in a hospice.
Denise gained her PhD in 2014 for research exploring parents’ experience of the professional response to child death, and has subsequently published a sole authored book drawn from this work (Palgrave, 2017).
Denise is an experienced and innovative academic, with a national reputation for her work on death, loss and transition, as well as digital practices. She is well published in both areas of research, including two edited books, ‘Social Work and COVID-19: Lessons for Education and Practice’ (Critical Publishing, 2021) and Digital Connection in Health and Social Work: Perspectives from COVID-19 (Critical Publishing, 2022) as well as articles in the British Journal of Social Work and other leading Social Work journals.
Denise’s work has been featured on BBC Radio 4 and in The Guardian, and she was invited Chair of the Advisory Group for the Digital Capabilities for Social Work project commissioned by Health Education England and delivered by SCIE and BASW. She is Associate Editor for CPD for the interdisciplinary journal Child Abuse Review.
Professional
- Trained and experienced Social Worker, registered with Social Work England (no: SW115614)
- Qualified and registered psychodynamic therapist: (British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy No: 400746)
- Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
- Member of the British Association of Social Workers (BASW)
Key Publications
- Turner, D. and Low, K (2023) ‘A significant positive impact’ Delivering the End Point Assessment for the Social Work Degree Apprenticeship’ Social Work Education. Pp. 1 -17 ISSN 1470 – 1227
- Turner, D and Linton, A (2022) Virtual wobble spaces: A pilot study of the outcomes of online therapeutic spaces on practitioner well-being and social work practice, The British Journal of Social Work, 2022;, bcac226, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcac226
- Turner, D. (2022). ‘You Took me Back to the sea:’ Using Narrative to Explore and Inform the Practice of Social Work with Dying People. Illness, Crisis & Loss, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/10541373221105806
- Turner, D; Price, M (2020) ‘Resilient when it comes to death’: Exploring the significance of bereavement for the well-being of social work students, Qualitative Social Work, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1473325020967737
- Turner, D and Price, M (2020) How social workers can support people facing inconceivable grief in the pandemic, Community Care, Supporting people facing inconceivable grief in the pandemic (communitycare.co.uk)
- Turner, D (2020) Mutual ‘App’reciation: Co-production as a model for delivering digital capability within social work education, Social Work Education, https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2020.1762858
- Turner, D and Taylor-Beswick, A (2020) In recognition of how Covid 19 is affecting the death rituals for people in Northern Ireland, SCIE blog. Available at: In recognition of how COVID-19 is affecting the death rituals for people in Northern Ireland (scie.org.uk)
- Turner, D; Landmann, M; Kirkland, D (2019) Making ideas “app”-en: the creation and evolution of a digital mobile resource to teach social work interviewing skills
- Social Work Education, The International Journal
- Turner, D (2019) Developing Social Workers’ Digital Capabilities. SCIE Blog. Available at: Developing social workers’ digital capabilities (scie.org.uk)
- Turner, D (2016) Only connect: unifying the social in social work and social media. Journal of Social Work Practice, 30 (3). pp. 313-327
- Turner, D (2016) ‘Social media on trial’: using technology to enhance inter-disciplinarity and practice experience in Higher Education. Educational Developments, 17 (4). pp. 23-24. ISSN 1469-3267
- Turner, D (2014) “Research you cannot talk about”: a personal account of researching sudden, unexpected child death. Illness, Crisis and Loss, 24 (2). pp. 73-87. ISSN 1054-1373
- Turner, D, Bennison, G, Megele, C and Fenge, L (2016) Editorial: Social work and social media: best friends or natural enemies? Social Work Education: The International Journal, 35 (3). pp. 241-244. ISSN 0261-5479
- Turner, D (2014) ‘Memories are made of this’: personal reflections on the creation and maintenance of memorials and mementoes. Bereavement Care, 33 (3). pp. 92-96. ISSN 0268-2621
- Turner, D and Webb, R (2012) ethics and/or Ethics in qualitative social research: negotiating a path around and between the two. Ethics and Social Welfare, 8 (4). pp. 383-396. ISSN 1749-6535
- Turner, D. (2014) The death of a child – are we still failing to balance suspicion and sensitivity? Society Central.
- Turner, D. (2014) Parents’ experiences of the professional response to sudden, unexpected child death: narrative approaches in telling the story. SAGE Research Methods.
- Turner, D. (2012) Parents of children who die should not be treated like criminals. theguardian.com.
Selected Books and Chapters
- Turner, D and Fanner, M. (Eds) (2021) (in press) Digital Connection in Health and Social Work: Lessons from Covid 19 (Critical Publishing)Turner, D. (Ed) (2021) Social Work and Covid 19: Lessons for Education and Practice, Critical Publishing, Foreword by Dr Ruth Allen
- Critical Publishing | Social Work and Covid-19 – Lessons for Education and Practice, Edited by Denise Turner
- Turner, D. (2017) Perspectives on the Experience of Sudden, Unexpected Child Death: The Very Worst Thing? Palgrave MacMillan, London, UK
- Turner, D. (2015) Not behaving as a grieving mother should: exploring the ethical pitfalls of identity construction within an insider study of sudden, unexpected child death. In: Tolich, Martin (ed.) Qualitative Ethics in Practice. Left Coast Press, New Zealand, pp. 71-83. ISBN 9781629581668
- Turner, D. (2014) Creating #team turner: an autoethnography of connection within social work education. In: Westwood, Joanne (ed.) Social media in social work education. Critical Publishing, Northwich. ISBN 9781909682573
- Turner, D. (2016) Writing the tapestry. In: White, Julie (ed.) Permission: The International Interdisciplinary Impact of Laurel Richardson’s Work. Sense Publishers, Rotterdam, pp. 39-41. ISBN 9789463004572
- Turner, D. (2015) Psychosocial aspects of engagement with social media and digital technology – personal thoughts from the frontier. In: Middleton, Andrew (ed.) Smart learning: teaching and learning with smartphones and tablets in post compulsory education. Media-Enhanced Learning Special Interest Group and Sheffield Hallam University, pp. 73-77. ISBN 9781843873839
Book Reviews
- Turner, D (2023) Review of: When Words Are Not Enough: Creative Responses to Grief, Jane Harris and Jimmy Edmonds, The British Journal of Social Work, 2023;, bcad156, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcad156
- Turner, D (2023) Review of: Social Distance in Social Work: COVID Capsule One, Dominic Watters (ed.) and Shahid Naqvi (co-edited), The British Journal of Social Work, bcad104, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcad104
- Turner, D (2022) Review of COVID-19 Collaborations: Researching Poverty and Low-Income Family Life during the Pandemic , The British Journal of Social Work DOI: 10.1093/bjsw/bcac189
- Turner, D (2020) Review of Personal Relationships and Intimacy in the Age of Social Media: Cristina Miguel, Palgrave MacMillan, Journal of Technology in Human Services
- Turner, D (2018) Review of The Comfort of People by Daniel Miller Anthropology in Action -https://doi.org/10.3167/aia.2018.250206
- Turner, D. (2017) Review of The Learning Wheel: A model of Digital Pedagogy by Deborah Kellsey and Amanda Taylor (2017 Critical Publishing). Social Work Education.
- Turner, D. (2015) Review of Megele, C. (2015) Psychosocial and Relationship Based Practice, Critical Publishing. British Journal of Social Work 2015; doi: 10.1093/bjsw/bcv056
Research Media Interviews
- Centre for Social Work Stress (2021) Stress in Social Work: ‘Death, Dying, and Bereavement in Social Work and C-19 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFaGe9JfREs
- British Association of Social Workers BASW (2021) https://www.basw.co.uk/media/news/2021/jan/basw-vlog-ruth-allen-ceo-joined-denise-turner-talk-social-work-and-covid-19
- Community Care Live (2020) Managing the impact of death on your team: Managing the impact of death on your team | Community Care Live
- Anna Freud Centre (2020) Protecting Children in the time of Covid : https://youtu.be/LrIn3sSLF8A
- Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) (2020) Webinar Digital Capabilities: Webinar recording: Digital capabilities for social workers | SCIE
- Turner, D., Mustaffa, M and Jacobs, J (2016) Parenting adventures #2: dealing with the death of a child. [Audio] Radio Malaysia
- A major Feature on my research work and the foundation for this appeared in the Guardian Family (2014) ; http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/jul/05/can-parent-get-over-death-of-a-child#start-of-comments
- Turner, D, (2011) BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour. [Audio]
- Turner, D (2014) Telling the untellable: researching emotionally sensitive and challenging topics. National Centre for Research Methods: https://www.ncrm.ac.uk/resources/podcasts/?title=Telling%20the%20untellable:%20researching%20emotionally%20sensitive%20and%20challenging%20topics&id_specific=23
Research
- PhD : Telling the story’: what can be learned from parents’ experience of the professional response following the sudden, unexpected death of a child? University of Sussex, Dept. Social Work and Social Care (2014)
- Denise’s research focusses on death, loss and transition and on the possibilities of digital connection. Her work has been nationally recognized with an appearance on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour and a major feature in The Guardian Family. Denise has held an ESRC Impact Award for work focusing on the wellbeing of rapid responders and an NIHR grant writing support bid.
- Invited Chair and Advisor to the ‘Building a Digital Ready Workforce Programme’ run by the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE), the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) in conjunction with Health Education England, NHS Digital and partners : https://www.hee.nhs.uk/our-work/building-digital-ready-workforce
- Invited member of the CHAIN network and contributor to several Special Interest Groups: www.chain-network.org.uk
- Associate Editor for CPD for the high impact journal, Child Abuse Review and am lead on the Covid 19 response: https://www.childprotectionprofessionals.org.uk/news/reflections-on-practice-during-a-pandemic
PhD Supervision
Interdisciplinary supervision of Doctoral students, including in Medicine and Health.
Doctoral External Examiner for five PhD theses, including three at the Tavistock and Portman.
Research Output
Articles
Turner, D. and Walsh, K. (2023) ‘Memories from the forgotten frontline.’ Social worker’s reflections on shifting practices of work, home and belonging during Covid-19. The British Journal of Social Work. pp. 1-22. ISSN 0045-3102 10.1093/bjsw/bcad221
Turner, D. (2023) ‘You Took me Back to the sea:’ Using Narrative to Explore and Inform the Practice of Social Work with Dying People. Illness, Crisis & Loss, 31 (3). pp. 576-591. ISSN 1552-6968 10.1177/10541373221105806
Turner, D. (2023) Review of: When words are not enough: creative responses to grief. The British Journal of Social Work. pp. 1-2. ISSN 0045-3102 10.1093/bjsw/bcad156
Turner, D. (2023) Review of: Social Distance in Social Work: COVID Capsule One. The British Journal of Social Work. pp. 95-96. ISSN 0045-3102 10.1093/bjsw/bcad104/7091808
Turner, D. and Low, K. (2023) ‘A significant positive impact’: Delivering the End Point Assessment for the Social Work Degree Apprenticeship. Social Work Education. pp. 1-17. ISSN 1470-1227 10.1080/02615479.2023.2187369
Turner, D. and Linton, A. (2022) Virtual wobble spaces: A pilot study of the outcomes of online therapeutic spaces on practitioner well-being and social work practice. The British Journal of Social Work, 53 (7). pp. 3483-3504. ISSN 1468-263X 10.1093/bjsw/bcac226
Turner, D. (2022) Review of : COVID-19 Collaborations: Researching Poverty and Low-Income Family Life during the Pandemic. The British Journal of Social Work, 53 (4). pp. 2470-2472. ISSN 0045-3102 10.1093/bjsw/bcac189
Turner, D. and Price, M. (2021) ‘Resilient when it comes to death’: Exploring the significance of bereavement for the well-being of social work students. Qualitative Social Work, 20 (5). pp. 1339-1355. ISSN 1473-3250 10.1177/1473325020967737
Turner, D. (2020) Book review : Personal relationships and intimacy in the age of social media. Journal of Technology in Human Services, 38 (4). pp. 410-411. ISSN 1522-8991 10.1080/15228835.2020.1820426
Turner, D. (2020) Mutual ‘App’reciation: Co-production as a model for delivering digital capability within social work education. Social Work Education, 40 (7). pp. 942-956. ISSN 1470-1227 10.1080/02615479.2020.1762858
Turner, D. and Taylor-Beswick, A. (2020) In recognition of how Covid 19 is affecting the death rituals for people in Northern Ireland. Social Care Institute for Excellence.
Turner, D. and Price, M. (2020) How social workers can support people facing inconceivable grief in the pandemic. Community Care.
Turner, D. (2019) Developing social worker's digital capabilities. Social Care Institute for Excellence.
Turner, D., Landmann, M. and Kirkland, D. (2019) Making ideas “app”-en: The creation and evolution of a digital mobile resource to teach social work interviewing skills. Social Work Education, 39 (2). pp. 188-199. ISSN 0261-5479 10.1080/02615479.2019.1611758
Turner, D. (2018) Review of : The Comfort of People by Daniel Miller. Anthropology in Action, 25 (2). pp. 42-43. ISSN 0967-201X 10.3167/aia.2018.250206
Turner, D. (2017) Review of :The learning wheel: a model of digital pedagogy by Deborah Kellsey and Amanda Taylor- Beswick. Social Work Education, 36 (8). pp. 959-960. ISSN 1470-1227 10.1080/02615479.2017.1331529
Turner, D. (2016) 'Social media on trial': using technology to enhance inter-disciplinarity and practice experience in Higher Education. Educational Developments, 17 (4). pp. 23-24. ISSN 1469-3267
Turner, D. (2016) Only Connect: unifying the social in social work and social media. Journal of Social Work Practice, 30 (3). pp. 313-327. ISSN 0265-0533 10.1080/02650533.2016.1215977
Turner, D., Bennison, G., Fenge, L.-A. and Megele, C. (2016) Editorial: Social work and social media: best friends or natural enemies? Social Work Education, 35 (3). pp. 241-244. ISSN 1470-1227 10.1080/02615479.2016.1164283
Turner, D. (2015) Review of : Psychosocial and Relationship Based Practice, by Claudia Megele. The British Journal of Social Work, 45 (6). pp. 1935-1937. ISSN 0045-3102 10.1093/bjsw/bcv056
Turner, D. (2015) "Research You Cannot talk About": A personal account of researching sudden, unexpected child death. Illness, Crisis & Loss, 24 (2). pp. 73-87. ISSN 1552-6968 10.1177/1054137315587642
Turner, D. and Webb, R. (2012) ethics and/or Ethics in qualitative social research: negotiating a path around and between the two. Ethics and Social Welfare, 8 (4). pp. 383-396. ISSN 1749-6535 10.1080/17496535.2012.745583
Turner, D. (2012) Parents of children who die should not be treated like criminals. The Guardian.
Book Sections
Turner, D. (2016) 'Not behaving as a grieving mother should'. In: Qualitative ethics in practice. Developing Qualitative Inquiry . Left Coast Press, Abingdon. ISBN 9781629581675
Turner, D. (2016) Writing the tapestry. In: White, Julie (ed.) Permission: The International Interdisciplinary Impact of Laurel Richardson's Work. Sense Publishers, Rotterdam, pp. 39-41. ISBN 9789463004572
Books
Turner, D. (2017) Perspectives on the experience of sudden, unexpected child death: the very worst thing? Palgrave McMillan, UK. ISBN 978319660172
Theses
Turner, D. (2014) Telling the Story : What can be learned from parents' experiences following the sudden, unexpected death of a child. Doctoral theses, University of Sussex.
Other department members
