The client speaks

This article, written by a social work academic who is, himself, a respected social work author, introduces the review of a book that has become a classic in social work. ‘The client speaks’, written by John E. Mayer and Noel W. Timms and published in 1970, was, as Martin Davies writes, ‘a research-based text that has relevance almost 50 years later’. Because the article is short, we have used minimal editing in the extract; we hope that readers will be encouraged to read ‘The client speaks’ for themselves in the future.