Thanks for the Memories...

On April 8, 2011 I had the pleasure of co-delivering a three-hour Continuing Education workshop for Social Workers at the Annual NASW Michigan Conference. I was very excited to deliver this workshop along with an equally committed faculty colleague. My colleague and I are interested in contributing to the advancement of technology in Social Work practice and research and have resolved to deliver similar workshops at other conferences nationally.

We submitted our abstract to NASW-MI to deliver the topic, "Social Work & Cyberspace: An Emerging Area of Practice and Research for Social Workers" several months ago. We were very pleased when we received an email from the state chapter informing us our topic had been selected. Integrating technology and the internet in direct practice within the field of Social Work is a very new concept and there are Social Workers that question its (the internet) efficacy.  This is a legitimate concern given that very little research exists relative to the effectiveness of Social Work practice in cyberspace. Consequently, best practices guiding work in this area is currently non-existent.

Social Work in cyberspace will continue to grow and develop, creating many opportunities for rich and fertile research. Innovative/creative Social Work scholars and practitioners are needed to move our profession forward in this area. We also need Social Workers who are willing to integrate technology in their direct practice. I am dedicated to educating Social Workers and Social Work students with whom I have contact to explore using technology to deliver services to clients, while advancing this area of study.

I must say that I enjoyed tremendously the experience of co-delivering the Continuing Education workshop at the NASW-MI Annual Conference, as it had been several years since I delivered a conference workshop. To the staff at NASW-MI who organized an incredibly successful conference and the 19 Social Workers that attended our session, I would like to genuinely say, "thanks for the memories... ".