Professor Jerry Tew

Department of Social Work and Social Care
Emeritus Professor of Mental Health and Social Work

Contact details

Telephone: +44(0)121 414 3640
Email: j.j.c.tew@bham.ac.uk

Address: Department of Social Work and Social Care
Muirhead Tower
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT, United Kingdom

Jerry left the University in May 2026. He recently led national research for the Department of Health Policy Research Programme to explore how Local Authorities (and their partners) are responding to the challenge, embedded in the Care Act, to build capacity so as to ‘prevent, reduce or delay’ the need for social care services. He also acted as co-investigator in the ODESSI trial led by Prof Stephen Pilling at University College London.

Staff details
Policy information

Biography

Jerry has over 20 years' experience as an Approved Social Worker, manager and training officer within Social Services Departments and the voluntary sector. He has lectured in Higher Education since 1998 and has particular interests in mental health, recovery and social inclusion, whole family approaches and service user involvement.

Teaching

His teaching areas are in mental health, research methods and social work theories and methods – with a particular emphasis on collaborative working with service users, carers and other professional groups.

He has been national lead for social work for the Higher Education Academy Mental Health in Higher Education project and Mental Health Advisor for the Social Work and Policy Subject Centre.

Postgraduate supervision

Professor Tew’s specific research interests include:

- Mental health, recovery and social inclusion
- Whole-family approaches
- Wellbeing and resilience
- Personalisation and self-directed support
- Identity issues
- Social theory and social models of mental distress
- Service user and carer participation
- Social work and interdisciplinary working.

Research

Jerry is currently leading national research for the Department of Health Policy Research Programme to explore how Local Authorities (and their partners) are responding to the challenge, embedded in the Care Act, to build capacity so as to ‘prevent, reduce or delay’ the need for social care services.

He is co-investigator in the ODESSI trial led by Prof Stephen Pilling at University College London. This is investigating the implementation and effectiveness of Open Dialogue which is a radically new family-focused whole systems approach in mental health that has been pioneered in Finland but is now being rolled out in a number of localities in the UK.

He was formerly the Director of the Family Potential Research Centre and led an ESRC funded Knowledge Exchange Programme on Family Inclusive Policy and Practice, in collaboration with Sheffield and Huddersfield Universities. He has been a co-investigator in an AHRC funded project exploring Mutual Recovery for Mental Health and Well-Being through Creative Practice and has convened a Clinical Research Group on Mental Wellbeing, Public Mental Health and Recovery in collaboration with the University of Warwick.

He recently completed a national study funded by the School of Social Care Research on how whole family approaches may contribute to the reablement of people with mental health difficulties. He was also a co-investigator in national research projects on recovery approaches in mental health practice and the implementation of personalisation within the field of mental health - and has completed research on the community development approaches with minority communities.

He was formerly the Social Care Lead for the Heart of England Hub of the Mental Health Research Network and has been Research Lead for the national Social Perspectives Network.

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Tew, J, Pelge, H & Mahesh, S 2026, 'Specifying the practice model for Family and Group Conferencing for adults: Reporting on a Delphi consultation', British Journal of Social Work. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcag034

Liu, L, Tew, J, Mahesh, S & Kinghorn, P 2025, 'An exploration of the costs of family and group conferencing pathways in adult social care and mental health: A scenario-based cost analysis', PLOS ONE, vol. 20, no. 12, e0326829. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0326829

Anestis, E, Weaver, T, Tew, J, Carr, S, Hendy, C, Melia, C, Clarke, K & Pilling, S 2025, 'Peer-supported Open Dialogue: a qualitative study of peer practitioners’ experiences and non-peer practitioners’ perspectives on peer involvement', BJPsych Open, vol. 11, no. 5, e216. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2025.10833

Mahesh, S, Tew, J, Mitchell, M, Au, K-M, Nicholls, V, Quinn Aziz, A, Johnson, M & Vincen, TK 2025, 'What is Family and Group Conferencing for adults? Part 1: Characterising the model and methods of enquiry', NIHR Open Research. https://doi.org/10.3310/nihropenres.13811.2

Tew, J, Duggal, S & Carr, S 2023, 'How has the idea of prevention been conceptualised and progressed in adult social care in England?', Journal of Social Policy. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047279423000132

Tew, J 2019, 'The imprint of trauma on family relationships: an enquiry into what may trouble a ‘troubled family’ and its implications for whole-family services', Families, Relationships and Societies, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 463-478. https://doi.org/10.1332/204674318X15332944579247

Tew, J 2017, 'A crisis of meaning: can ‘schizophrenia’ survive in the twenty first century?', Medical Humanities, vol. 43, pp. 111-117. https://doi.org/10.1136/medhum-2016-011077

Tew, J, Plumridge, G, Nicholls, V & Clarke, H 2017, 'Family-inclusive approaches to reablement in mental health: models, mechanisms and outcomes', British Journal of Social Work, vol. 47, no. 3, pp. 864-884. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcw106

Hamilton, S, Szymczynska, P, Clewett, N, Manthorpe, J, Tew, J, Larsen, J & Pinfold, V 2017, 'The role of family carers in the use of personal budgets by people with mental health problems', Health and Social Care in the Community, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 158-166. https://doi.org/10.1111/hsc.12286

Chapter (peer-reviewed)

Glasby, J, Tew, J & Fenton, S-J 2021, UK mental health policy and practice. in G Ikkos & N Bouras (eds), Mind, State and Society: Social History of Psychiatry and Mental Health in Britain 1960–2010. Cambridge University Press, pp. 93-102. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781911623793.012

Fenton, S-J & Tew, J 2016, What has happened to ‘Think Family’ – challenges and achievements in implementing family inclusive practice. in Parental Mental Health and Child Welfare Work. vol. 1, Pavilion, pp. 59-64. <http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/26918/>

Chapter

Duggal, S & Tew, J 2021, A Leap of Fact. in Power and Connection: The International development of Local Area Coordination. Centre for Welfare Reform. <https://www.centreforwelfarereform.org/store/power-and-connection.html>

Commissioned report

Burstow, P, Newbigging, K, Tew, J & Costello, B 2018, Investing in a resilient generation: keys to a mentally prosperous nation. University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK. <https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/Documents/research/policycommission/Investing-in-a-Resilient-Generation-report.pdf>

Burstow, P, Newbigging, K, Tew, J & Costello, B 2018, Investing in a Resilient Generation: Keys to a Mentally Prosperous Nation. Executive Summary and Call to Action. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.26303.61609

Review article

Hendy, C, Tew, J & Carr, S 2023, 'Conceptualizing the peer contribution in Open Dialogue practice', Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 14, 1176839. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1176839

View all publications in research portal

Expertise

Professor Tew is interested in social research and mental health and new models of adult social care. He was formerly the Social Care Lead for the Heart of England Hub of the Mental Health Research Network and has been Research Lead for the national Social Perspectives Network.