1. A clinical social worker in private (independent) practice communicated with several of her clients via text messages and email. Some messages concerned administrative matters, such as scheduling; others included clinical content, especially when clients contacted the social worker remotely during a crisis. The social worker received an increasing number of electronic messages on her personal smartphone account from clients after traditional working hours, sometimes late at night and on weekends. The social worker wondered whether communicating with clients outside of traditional working hours was introducing boundary issues in his relationships with them.

a. I chose this example because I think it is the one I am likely to struggle with the most. As folks who are drawn to service, it can be hard to say no to infringements to our outside of work time. It is so important to maintain boundaries, even if you may want to cater to folks who need alternative hours.  

b. The situation proposed could be harmless, but it loosens that boundaries on what is an appropriate relationship between practitioner and client. We are not their friends or family, we are paid and trained professionals. For that reason we should not be attainable at their beckon call, but should be treated as professionals. If we break down these boundaries we hold with our clients, we can begin to open doors to more interpersonal dynamics that could be inappropriate.  

c. The remedy I see, is to create some strong boundaries around proper communication platforms. There are some messaging apps that are specifically for medical professionals that you can keep off a personal phone or mute outside of office hours. This way they would not have her personal number and she would be able to set hours she is comfortable with having communications open. She can also set up a work only email and  notifications to only show themselves during work hours. We have to hold our personal time as precious. No one else will.  

2. Ethical Judgements

a. I chose Ethical Judgements, like the above scenario, because I think it is likely the one I would most likely struggle with. Navigating technological advances is likely only going to continue to grow more and more dynamic, as we utilize video therapy options and more and more of our lives and information is available online. How to navigate these relationships in that context is incredibly important to think about.  

b. I do not personally know of a dynamic where this has occurred, but I am sure it happens often. The example of information sharing is a particularly interesting thought exercise, as it is pertinent information, but in the wrong hands could be used to cause a world of trouble for the social worker. The complexities around how to be the best providers we can, while entrusting things that could make us vulnerable with our clients. It is so complex it’s almost scary. 

c. Social Work Practice and Technology: Ethical Issues and Policy Responses takes an in depth look at many issues we may be faced with when deciding how to utilize tech in our practice—some ethical judgements I had never previously thought of, such as how to confirm age or ability for consent when folks use text to therapy platforms, which are critical standards in our ethics as social workers. It explores many areas of tech and social work where policy is lacking or unclear and we are having to make ethical judgements. There is not clear guidance on what is and is not appropriate use of technology. There are issues with the security of confidentiality when using different tech platforms for practice, as we are handing over the safety of our clients information to IT departments of companies we do not directly interact with. As Reamer also brings us, Barsky talks about the complex relationship society has with social media and how much control we are giving up when we are putting ourselves out on the internet. We are opening ourselves up to communications that are often broken in our societal standards due to the anonymity the internet can make us feel we have. Honestly, all of this makes me want to stay off of the apps in any sort of practicing capacity. I feel like so much of our society is run on selling ourselves online and building a following or platform for ourselves there- this article and Reamer’s make me even more certain that I want to stay away from social media as a practitioner. 

References

Barsky, A. (2017). Social work practice and technology: ethical issues and policy responses. Journal of Technology in Human Services, 1(35), 19. https://doi.org/10.1080/15228835.2017.1277906

3. Reamer suggests developing a social media policy and sharing it with clients.

a. I think this strategy is smart and safe. We need to protect ourselves from anything being taken out of context and used against us. This also allows us to very politely tell our clients why we won’t be accepting that friend request or follow–if we are upfront about these things, we are less likely to worry about hurting someone’s feelings or having boundaries be crossed by our clients OR by us.   

b. I would include a “sorry, but I will not accept friend requests or follow requests from clients as to keep my personal life private and avoid any breaches of client/provider boundaries” If you are a person with an educational social media presence, you should provide stipulations around that. Guidelines for communication practices, what email and phone number/messaging service to use, would be very helpful. Be up front about everything and you will prevent any confusion.  

c. This strategy could be very helpful. It sets standards for yourself and your clients, it makes best practices clear and gives your client something to reference if there is any confusion, and it can keep you safe in case something goes awry with tech you utilize.