This is a RECORDED workshop.

4 formal CEUs approved by NASW ME.

Social workers are using technology to serve clients in unprecedented ways. In the digital age, practitioners are providing services to clients remotely, communicating with clients between sessions via text messaging and email, searching for information about clients online, serving clients with artificial intelligence, and documenting clinical notes in electronic records, among other uses. Social workers’ increasing use of technology has introduced novel ethical and risk management issues. Is it appropriate to search online for information about clients without their knowledge? Is it permissible to provide remote services to clients who live in another state? What ethics guidelines govern social workers' use of artificial intelligence to serve clients and document services? Can a clinical social worker ever be a Facebook “friend” with a former client? What are the potential implications of evening or weekend online exchanges with clients? How should clinical social workers respond when clients search online for information about them? Can a clinical social worker provide services to a Facebook “friend” who requests assistance? In this webinar, Dr. Frederic Reamer will explore diverse ethical issues in the digital age, present case examples, and discuss practical ethics and risk-management protocols.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of this webinar participants will be able to:

--Identify ethical issues facing social workers in the digital age.

--Apply social work ethics standards to ethical issues that emerge.

--Design ethics-based protocols to protect clients.

--Implement risk management protocols to prevent litigation and licensing board complaints.

About the presenter:

Chicago, School of Social Service Administration (1978-1981), and the University of Missouri-Columbia, School of Social Work (1981-1983).

Dr. Reamer has served as Director of the National Juvenile Justice Assessment Center of the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (1979-1981); as Senior Policy Advisor to the Governor of Rhode Island (1987-1990); and as a Commissioner of the Rhode Island Housing and Mortgage Finance Corporation, the state housing finance agency (1987-1995). Dr. Reamer served on the State of Rhode Island Parole Board from 1992 to 2016. He also served as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Social Work Education (1990-1994). He serves as Associate Editor of the National Association of Social Workers Encyclopedia of Social Work (Oxford University Press and National Association of Social Workers). Since 2012, Dr. Reamer has served as the ethics instructor in the Providence (RI) Police Department Training Academy.

Dr. Reamer has conducted extensive research on professional ethics. He has been involved in national research projects sponsored by The Hastings Center, the Carnegie Corporation, the Haas Foundation, and the Scattergood Program for the Applied Ethics of Behavioral Healthcare at the Center for Bioethics, University of Pennsylvania. He has published 25 books and more than 190 journal articles, book chapters, and encyclopedia articles.

Dr. Reamer has been an essayist on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition (“This I Believe” series), a commentator on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, and a guest on various radio and television broadcasts. Since 2007, Dr. Reamer has served as host and producer of the National Public Radio series This I Believe—New England, broadcast weekly. He is featured in the podcast series Trapped in Treatment produced by Paris Hilton, Warner Brothers, and iHeart Media; Yahoo News national series Unfiltered; and as a commentator in the video documentaries America’s Serial Killers: Portraits in Evil and Rampage: Killing without Reason. He is also a featured expert on the PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) series This Emotional Life.

Dr. Reamer has lectured extensively nationally and internationally (including India, China, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Sweden, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Djibouti, Bahrain, Indonesia, Diego Garcia, Spain, Romania, Poland, Greece, and Canada) on the subjects of professional ethics and professional malpractice and liability. He has served as an adjunct professor and visiting scholar at the University of Pennsylvania, Tulane University, Simmons University, Smith College, University of Oklahoma, and Augsburg University. Dr. Reamer chaired the national task force that wrote the National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics and served on the code revision task force. He chaired the international commission sponsored by the Association of Social Work Boards to develop Model Regulatory Standards for Technology and Social Work Practice. Dr. Reamer also chaired the national task force sponsored jointly by the National Association of Social Workers, Association of Social Work Boards, Council on Social Work Education, and Clinical Social Work Association to develop Technology Standards in Social Work Practice. He has served as an expert witness and consultant in 130 court and licensing board cases addressing professional ethics.

Dr. Reamer received the "Distinguished Contributions to Social Work Education" award from the Council on Social Work Education (1995); Presidential Award from the National Association of Social Workers (1997); Richard Lodge Prize from Adelphi University for “outstanding contributions to the development of social work theory” (2005); Edith Abbott Award from the University of Chicago for “distinguished service to society and outstanding contributions at the local, national or international levels” (2005); Neil J. Houston, Jr. Memorial Award for “dedicated service and citizen contribution toward the criminal justice profession and the public interest” (2009); International Rhoda G. Sarnat Award from the National Association of Social Workers for significantly advancing "the public image of social work" (2012); Excellence in Ethics Award from the National Association of Social Workers (2015); and inaugural Contributor Award from the Association of Social Work Boards (2019). In 2016 Dr. Reamer was named a Social Work Pioneer by the National Association of Social Workers for his "commitment and dedication to the social work profession and to the improvement of social and human conditions at the local, state, national, and international levels."