Technology has been, currently is, and continues to change the practice of the social worker. It has played an important role in the alleviation of the burden of work that employees and employers have to work on, addressed challenges that surround staffing and helped solve emerging problems in the course of duty (Barsky, 2017) . It therefore calls for all social workers to anticipate and prepare for even more technological advancements in the future.
As a psychiatric social worker, I have witnessed a number of mental health remedies that have employed the help of technology. Mounting evidence suggests that technology gives room for increased availability and accessibility to mental health care as well as the dissemination of information and relay of feedback between the social worker and the patient. Therefore, technological advancement in information and communication helps to empower patients and address the issue of social and economic segregation (Alex Ramsey, 2016) . Some of the therapeutic uses of technology in psychiatric health care include self-guided interventions from the internet, videoconferencing in the presence of a social worker, use of virtual reality software, dissemination of information to social networks that are electronic-based and sending of messages (Alex Ramsey, 2016). Clients are thus experiencing an increasing number of technological options that directly link them with the social worker, and enjoying their ease of operation as well as their convenience.
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Moreover, in the recent past, there have been deliberate attempts to exploit the power and the ease of the internet in the provision of continued professional training and relay of evidence from ongoing research to mental health social workers (Alex Ramsey, 2016). It is now crystal clear that technology will continue to infiltrate into the social workplace, with ensuing legal and ethical issues surrounding such technology-based interventions.
In order to keep pace with the ever advancing technology in mental health social work, the management plans to increase its usage of social networking sites. This will ensure that more and more clients are reached and contacted with ease. Other innovations will be through the creation of “Lifeline galleries” which offer space for people suffering from mental ailments to step up and share their stories, inspiration and comfort, thereby adding to the great success story of technology.
References
Alex Ramsey, K. M. (2016). Technology-Based Interventions in Social Work Practice: A Systematic Review of Mental Health Interventions. Social Work in Health Care , 883-899.
Barsky, A. E. (2017). Social Work Practice and Technology: Ethical Issues and Policy Responses. Journal of Technology in Human Services , 8-19.
