Welcome to “Digital Skills for Social Workers”, a learning resource designed to encourage social workers and social work students to think and learn more about the impact of the digital world on our work. Why? Why do we need to consider the digital world when social work is all about people skills and relationships? The…

Social media is here to stay and a majority of adults (and young people) will engage with it to some extent. Therefore, it’s important that our registrants understand how to use it safely and appropriately. It offers wonderful opportunities to connect with friends, colleagues and organisations around the world but it can also cause problems…

We often take precautions to keep ourselves safe e.g., diet choices, wearing seat belts, crossing at the traffic lights, checking our food is in date and – you get the picture. As technology evolves, so too has our understanding of what we mean by ‘online safety’. We now need to think about more sophisticated, targeted…

The internationally agreed definition of social work focuses on how we support change, development, empowerment, social justice and uphold human rights. As the online world is just another public space in which we all live our lives, it is important that we consider ethics, human rights and our social work standards within these spaces as…

Social media offers significant opportunity for social workers to communicate, connect, collaborate, keep up-to-date with practice developments and engage directly with the individuals who they support. While the digital revolution is not unique to social work, there are few other disciplines where the challenges presented by the use of social media are so blurred and…

Technology permeates all aspects of our worlds and that of our service users too. When engaging with service users, it is important to include a consideration of their digital lives to establish a genuinely holistic assessment of their circumstances. Doing so may encourage a discussion regarding particular strengths, needs, risks, resilience or protective factors that…

Technologies have been part of adult social care provision across the UK since the 1960s, and are still a key feature, with an estimated 1.8 million people using ‘technology-enabled care services’ (TECS) and devices across the UK (DHSC, 2023). The World Health Organisation global report on assistive technology defines this as an umbrella term for…

Digital tools are becoming increasingly relevant in the domain of mental health and wellbeing. Their primary advantage lies in the ability to provide wide accessibility, ensuring more individuals can access crucial resources irrespective of their location. With features like video sessions and interactive assessments, these tools offer varied ways to engage users. Importantly, many of…

Understanding the Digital Landscape In today’s digital age, skills in using digital technology have moved from being an advantage to being essential, particularly in the field of social work. Understanding and working effectively with digital tools and services, has become central to our professional roles. This journey begins during initial social work education where more…

Traditional ways of learning such as from books, attending training courses and classroom-based approaches rely on economic and social factors including: There are many potential sources of digital learning like online video tutorials, Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs), formal elearning modules provided by your employer, Open Educational Resources (OERs) like 23 Things, podcasts and websites….

Being aware of the digital lives, needs and expectations of our service users and embedding this into our assessments and daily engagements with them is not only good practice, but a key strategic priority for social work. To support the Health and Wellbeing 2026 plan, the Department of Health developed a specific Digital Strategy which…

What is encompass? encompass is a Health and Social Care Northern Ireland (HSCNI) wide initiative introducing a clinically and operationally led integrated care record to every citizen in Northern Ireland. Social Workers from across all programmes of care have been working closely with Epic (the company powering encompass) to design workflows and standardise content for…

Working out which sources you can trust and those you can’t when searching for information online can be tricky. This section is intended to help you tell the difference between sources or information you can trust, and sources which may be less trustworthy. It will give you an understanding of how to find information, judge…

Introduction Artificial Intelligence has advanced rapidly over the past few years and it is becoming increasingly prevalent in social work. It offers much potential to support social workers with decision-making, reducing time spent on paperwork by automating processes and helping them signpost service users to tailored services and supports. Social work is a human and…