Social Work and Technology During COVID-19

Social Work and technology have not always seemed a natural match. Our profession’s roots are in organizing, case work, and home visitation, which valued interpersonal connection over technological solutions. As the use of personal computers and the internet grew exponentially in the late 20 th and early 21 st century, social workers were often late adapters to the use of these tools. Couple that with the realities of non-profit and government work which frequently relied on older systems rather than investing in cutting edge solutions, which often left social workers behind the technological curve.

Now in 2020, the coronavirus pandemic has required a full embrace of technology by social workers. Telemedicine has become the primary mode of connecting with clients. Continuing education is provided entirely online. Consultations and team meetings occur on Zoom and other videoconference platforms. Social workers have been forced to rapidly integrate technology into practices in new and sometimes unexpected ways. NASW-NJ has been leading the way in the rapid adoption of technology on both the state and national levels. Some of this work began many months ago—including our all online editions of FOCUS and our modernized website—but we’ve significantly ramped up our efforts to marry social work with technology since March.

The most obvious of these efforts has been our Virtual Conference, which required the use and incorporation of multiple platforms and programs to deliver the event to you— Workcast, Conexsys, RingCentral, Constant Contact, Facebook, and Zoom, to name just a few.

And at the Conference, we brought you our Keynote address on the importance of social work to technology—raising important questions about the ethical and moral implications of advanced technologies and the need for social workers to be in the room during the development stages of these tools.

NASW-NJ was also the first Chapter in the country to bring you webinars about COVID-19 and telemedicine—our first free webinar was held March 19, less than a week after NJ’s Stay-at-Home order was enacted. We have held multiple, free community-facing webinars to help connect the public with licensed clinical social workers who can offer advice and guidance during the pandemic. And we’ve used webinar technology to reinvigorate our Shared Interest Groups, bringing together social workers from across the state for mutual support and to discuss how COVID-19 has impacted their practices.

We’re also excited to announce our upcoming Practice in a Box package, to offer tailored technological solutions to private practitioners, including HIPPA-compliant videoconference programs, secure and encrypted email and file storage, and more. We’re fast-tracking this program to get the technology you need to help your clients and succeed in your practice during COVID-19 and beyond. More information should be available in the coming weeks. You can sign up to receive notification on the Practice in a Box solution when it is available by completing this form.