I chose case example four which highlighted the social worker who was working remotely from home and their toddler interrupting sessions to introduce themselves. I chose this case example because I began my child welfare career one year after the pandemic and have worked two years primarily at home. I also have a four-year-old. Reamer outlines in this case example the worker exposing their family life to clients. While the toddler introducing themselves on a virtual call can appear harmless it can leave the worker vulnerable to the clients knowing more about their family life than they originally intended to share. The interruption could be deemed as taking way from the clients’ session and privacy. The remedy to this is better scheduling. While telework has its benefits, an alternative to childcare is not one of them. My office’s current teleworks policy notes that the worker must find suitable childcare during core work hours. There is some room for emergencies but in general children are not allowed in the physical or digital workplace. This ensures that the worker’s family life remains private and that they focus on their client without any interruptions.
The boundary dynamic that I chose to explore was Altruism. Reamer discussed how professionals were using client experiences to create social media content. I have observed medical professionals who have been terminated for using patient/client experiences for content. In addition to medical professionals using clients for content there is a growing trend of teacher/classroom content. Professionals creating content from their work experiences challenges ethics and professionalism. Reamer referenced Maham Javaid’s 2023 article title” Your therapist is on TikTok. Will your therapy session end up there too? The article notes that that at the time it was written there were no guidelines around therapist utilizing redacted client experiences for content. I am not sure if more guidelines have been implemented as the trend is increasing. Reamer’s suggests that a social media policy should be developed which allow clients to be aware that their experience could be used for content. I think clients should be able to opt out of having their sessions used for content and be able to discontinue services if they believe their wishes are not adhered to. I believe that social workers should refrain using their client experience for content on their personal social media pages. I believe that even redacted client experience content could alter the client’s relationship with their worker and diminishes the sacredness of the profession
Javaid, M. (2023, March 14). Your therapist is on TikTok: Will your therapy session end
up their too? Washington Post.
Hi Tierra,
I love that you chose Altruism as your boundary dynamic. More and more times than I can count, have I went online via TikTok, or Instagram, and witnessed a workplace rant or two. On one side of the coin, I am glad that people are releasing their stress, but on the other side of the coin, I acknowledge that there is a time and a place and the internet is not that place. Especially when you are considering a confidentiality breach. There are defiantly better avenues in which someone can release their work stress, and unfortunately in this day and age, I wonder if it will get better.
I agree that better scheduling would be effective in this case. Thank you have choosing. In this case, it may have been poor judgment of the parent to have sessions while their toddler is at home, as it could indeed breach privacy between the social worker and the client, as well as disrupt the focus that the social worker needs to understand the client’s circumstances. I think scheduling her sessions during the times in which her toddler is with a babysitter would be beneficial for the social worker, as they would be able to provide proper quality service to the client, as well as be able to develop a rapport with the client, which would be unachievable if the toddler were present.
Tierra,
This was a great choice and I enjoyed reading your post. I have worked remotely for over a decade (prior to the pandemic) and I know that my agency has always stressed the importance of childcare. Now there has also been an unwritten rule of caring for your child while working, however we do not deal with clients and if we do, we’re going to the client. Yes, you would be able to have your child at home, if you had a sitter or nanny in the home at my agency. In this situation, I agree that scheduling could have resolved the issue before it occurred. As a client, I would be annoyed that my time isn’t being valued. I am a cautious person and would not want a client to know something so initimate about me. Altruism is an excellent choice. I would be mortified if I was a patient on a healthcare worker’s social media page and it’s a violation of the patient’s privacy, wow! There were some videos circulating around before about childcare workers posting children on their social media pages and that’s definitely a violation of privacy and against the law to post a minor without the parent/guardians permission. Most childcare facilities, schools, clubs, etc. ask for permissiont to post a minor on the schools’ social media page or even within internal apps such as Band, ClassDojo, Brightwheel, ProCare, etc.
Hey Tierra
I really connected with your example about working remotely and having a young child at home; it’s such a real situation for so many of us post-pandemic. You made a great point about how even minor interruptions, such as a child saying hello on a virtual call, can unintentionally blur professional boundaries. I liked how you tied it back to agency policies and how those guidelines help protect both the client and the worker. Your take on altruism and social media content also stood out. It’s honestly uncomfortable seeing professionals share even redacted client stories online. As you said, it undermines the trust and sacredness of the client-worker relationship. Just because something is trending doesn’t make it ethical. I completely agree that social workers should avoid using client experiences for content, no matter how “well-intentioned” it may seem. Thanks for bringing in the article and making that connection. It really helped frame the conversation in a modern, relevant way.
Tierra,
Your answer to the first question was well done, and you talked from your personal experience in that very situation. The policy requiring child care during core business hours is an interesting one. It makes complete sense to me, but I wonder how possible it is to enforce? Just a thought.
Your discussion in question 2 is interesting. I understand the new role of “social media influencers” and the use of social media to offer resources, advice, and the reality that a great deal is on social media that many of us don’t even realize. There are many times when client case examples are used for educational purposes. I have a hard time giving any space for the discussion of present, actual case information ANYWHERE other than a client record. When using case examples in education, they are frequently a compilation of many cases in an effort to protect confidentiality. If you look at the beginning of Aronson, she is clear that she has gotten permission to share any of her examples. It seems to me that confidentiality is our first priority.
In terms of your choice of article, the Washington Post is not a peer-reviewed journal. Even though that article was referenced in the Reamer article, that still doesn’t make it peer-reviewed. Plus, it was being used as an example of why this behavior is seen as a problem, right? I would have been interested in something more robust, talking about this issue, because I think it is timely and important. We have more and more professionals who are using social media as an environment to de-stigmatize issues of mental health and seeking help. We have more and more therapy resources available online. These are going to be significant issues going forward, so we need more information. I will be putting up some additional resources on this issue in future modules, as I think it is important.
As for question 3, you really just continued your discussion of Question 2. It would have been good to think a bit more about social meida policies and what they might need to include.
Dr P