On 30 January the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 (or Novel Coronavirus) outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. When facing uncertainty or crisis, identifying reliable and timely sources of information is critical to making responsible decisions. Social workers are in a unique position to promote disease prevention efforts (including disseminating accurate information from trusted sources), and to help address anxiety and other concerns that are arising as a result of this public health crisis. The global pandemic is a novel kind of experience for social work professionals and organisations. The primary public concerns presented in the media have addressed the availability of health care resources and the functioning of business and industry. The voices of frontline social work professionals are rarely heard in the public debate over the pandemic. Social problems tend to become more difficult in times of crisis, but crises can also generate qualitatively new challenges. This tendency applies to social work as well. In recent months, social work has raised concerns regarding the homeless during lockdown, the loneliness of people with mental health problems in isolation and hidden problems in child protection, to name a few. Even though social work will play a significant role in the actions after a pandemic, during the pandemic, social work has faced significant challenges, being forced to adopt a new type of adaptive governance‌; that is, new arrangements and innovations in the ways to provide social care for those in need. The examples mentioned above demonstrate how social work is increasingly surrounded by multidirectional dynamics, where social systems are complex, emergent and stratified. The ethical principles of social work are constantly being tested, and pressures to deviate from them tend to intensify in exceptional situations. Thus, although the well-being of health care staff has been the primary concern in the current pandemic, it is worth seriously considering social workers’ workload, well-being and resilience. 

 On the other hand, COVID-19 hit social work education like a tsunami and catapulted social work programs into remote working and practice learning, and online delivery and virtual platforms. This situation left educators being reactive and providing educational and support services to students in a short turnaround, which was often deemed less than adequate. Yet equally the tsunami sparked opportunities for innovation, creativity, and humanistic endeavors in meetings the needs of the students and moving forward in delivering social work education remotely and virtually. This conference will provide an opportunity to hear from a range of speakers highlighting the challenges, what’s worked and what should change in the future. If you are interested in learning from the impact of COVID-19 and want to be part of the debate about what happens next for social work practice, then please join us.

Conference Summary:

A discussion around how the pandemic has affected social work practice, education, lessons learned and hopes for the future.

Conference Objectives:

Review how the pandemic has affected social work practice in around the world.

Review how social workers deal with COVID-19 pandemic’s consequences. 

Review the challenges in social work education. 

Review the latest services of social workers in response to COVID-19 pandemic. 

Conference Participants:

All interested social workers around the world. 

Social work learners 

Social work educator 

Social work researchers 

Social workers in each field of service

Social policy makers

Language:

English and Persian