Digital Social Work Practice: Professional Ethics and Practice Implications

Workshop Overview

This CPD workshop aims to equip social workers with an awareness relating to ethical boundaries and relationships on digital platforms.

Explore the potential impact of digital tools and social media at an individual, group, and community level and build an understanding of how these platforms can be used on a personal and professional level.

Learn how to address ethical issues and boundaries when engaging in digitally-based social work practice.

Is this workshop for you?

This workshop is for you if you are a social worker.

Dates

Class of 2023 March: 23 March

Participants are required to attend a live online workshop on 23 March from 18:00 – 21:30 and to complete a course feedback form.

SACSSP (The South African Council for Social Service Professions) CPD points pending.

Certification

The CPD workshop has been designed for social workers to understand digital social work practice and the ethical dilemmas that they may encounter. Once you have completed the workshop and the course feedback form, you will receive a digital certificate of attendance.

The certificate serves as evidence of your new skills and knowledge and can be used to demonstrate your commitment to professional development.

Attend a live online session, or watch the recording, and complete the course feedback form.

SACSSP (The South African Council for Social Service Professions) CPD points pending.

Workshop Overview

• Introduction of topic and workshop overview
• Conceptualising Ethics
• Digital social work practice
• Digital platforms (including social media)
• Personal reputation
• Professional integrity
• Ethical dilemmas
• Framework for Resolving Ethical Dilemmas

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the workshop practitioners will:

• Gain knowledge on the difference between a principled and a virtue-character-based approach to ethics.
• Understand the Ubuntu ethics from a Decolonised/Indigenised perspective.
• Develop awareness and understanding of digital social work practice in the 21 Century.
• Develop an awareness of the implications of digital social work practice on the service user.
• Understand some of the unintended negative consequences related to the use of digital platforms and the implications on one’s reputation and professional integrity.
• Gain an understanding of resolving ethical dilemmas encountered whilst using digital platforms.
• Acquire knowledge and identify possible solutions when faced with an ethical dilemma guided by a generic framework for ethical decision-making.

Workshop Presenters

Dr Poppy Masinga is the Head of the Social Work and Community Development faculty at SACAP. She qualified as a social worker with a BA (Hons) in Psychology from the University of Limpopo. Dr Masinga achieved two master’s degrees, the first in Child and Family Welfare from the State University of New York at Buffalo, New York, and a second in Social Work Management from the University of Pretoria. She won a Canon Collins scholarship and completed her PhD in 2017, focusing on school-based violence prevention.

Rahim Thawer is a Toronto-based social worker, psychotherapist, clinical supervisor, lecturer, consultant, writer and organisational consultant. He completed a BA (Hons) in Psychology from the University of Waterloo and a Master of Social Work Degree from the University of Toronto. Rahim’s approaches to clinical treatment, teaching, and community development, are to continually consider and examine the intersections of systemic oppression and mental health.