The mental and behavioral health fields are undergoing a massive change in how care is delivered, mainly due to technological advances like telehealth, AI/ML, wearables, and more sophisticated predictive modeling, to name a few. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, over 10,000 behavioral health apps have been available for download (APA, 2019). Unfortunately, the social work field has not kept pace with these changes. Neither “technology” nor “digital health” are listed anywhere on the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) website as a part of social work or a facet of work setting (NASW, 2024). There are few social work field placements within technology companies, even those delivering behavioral health services. Without social workers sitting at the table, gaps in provider access, training, education, ethical and privacy concerns, and regulatory challenges could widen.
These gaps present opportunities for every social worker, higher education institution, and professional organization that serves them to increase digital literacy, establish guidelines for use, and push for policies that address regulatory bodies overseeing care. Tech companies should not monopolize expertise at the expense of care providers nor profit without considering the ethical and systemic complexities of care—a critical component of the social work field. Social workers can leverage technology to enhance the profession and improve care delivery for clients facing mental and behavioral health challenges. But we are not yet equipped to seize this moment.
Implications of Not Embracing Technology
The failure of the profession to embrace a digital future presents significant risks. As the first point of contact for many facing mental health challenges, social workers who lack the technological tools needed to tailor services to client needs, such as finding culturally relevant or location-specific resources, could see diminished outcomes and disengagement. Of course, all social workers are responsible for using these new tools responsibly and ethically to avoid unintended consequences. The profession itself must take proactive steps to build competency into practice. This includes the development of practice guidelines that outline the ethical use of technology and research agendas that explore the impact of technology on social work practice.
Our professional bodies have made a start. The NASW Code of Ethics emphasizes the importance of staying informed about new developments in the field. This includes technological competence. Notably, the latest iteration of the COE was drafted in 2021, and many more further drafts will need to incorporate changes related to technology and AI that have occurred since (NASW, 2021). Meeting the Grand Challenge to Harness Technology for Social Good, from the Grand Challenges for Social Work, lists out policy recommendations for social workers to support vulnerable community member’s rights to access safe, beneficent, and effective AI that include making the development of policy applications inclusive and prioritizing both AI education as well as human-centric approaches (Huang, Shanks, Teasley, 2024). Without these guardrails, practitioners could use these tools in an ad hoc, potentially irresponsible way.
The New Multidisciplinary Care Team
Social workers have unique transferable skills, making them well-suited to adapt to these changes. For example, social workers are trained to think critically about the systems that impact their clients’ lives, making them ideal candidates for roles that involve the analysis and implementation of solutions for problems in healthcare delivery, including value-based care. By embracing new ways of working, we can deepen our impact on supporting those who are historically underserved or overlooked in a new version of a multidisciplinary care team, which involves engineers, account managers, sales, and product development.
Further, many career pathways allow social workers to continue their practice in corporate settings. These include roles in implementation and operations, where social workers can use their problem-solving and systems-thinking skills to optimize the delivery of care and services. They can also lead in sales and customer success, leveraging their advocacy and communication abilities to ensure client satisfaction and drive business growth. In product design and development, we can collaborate with cross-functional teams to design human-centric and inclusive solutions. Data analysis and research roles enable contributions to evidence-based strategies, predictive modeling, and the continuous improvement of healthcare systems, driving better health outcomes at the population level.
Enhancing Education and Training for a Digital-Ready Workforce
Awareness of these advancements alone is insufficient. We need at least a minimum level of competency to truly benefit. Educational institutions must update their curricula to equip our future workforce with the skills necessary for a tech-driven job market. Bachelor’s and master’s level programs must incorporate more electives focused on technology and digital health access for providers and career opportunities so that graduates are prepared to enter the workforce with the skills needed to thrive. Continuing education opportunities must be available to current practitioners to allow them to stay up-to-date with the latest advancements. The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) is taking steps by continuing to enhance its focus on technology in the educational setting, including the recommendations of HIPAA and ethics training, including a technology requirement in field education contracts (Clary, Nason, Selber, et al. 2022). Kentucky’s College of Social Work is doing its part to prepare its students using virtual reality simulations to practice child welfare investigations and a chance to improve their skills in a learning environment (Thomas-Oxtoby, Suarez, 2023). Notably, Kentucky’s program doesn’t imply that we will ever be entirely replaced by VR or AI. Instead, it shows how valuable human interaction is to an intervention and how tools like these prepare people to serve and intervene most effectively. Many other universities are now looking at ways to weave emerging technologies into their curricula to adapt to contemporary realities, ultimately aiming to enhance the delivery of services to those in need. This should be their highest priority.
Ethical Implications: Privacy, Bias, and Equity
Ethical considerations must also be considered here. Social workers must be trained to recognize and address the potential risks associated with this change, including issues related to privacy, bias, and equity. This requires a commitment to ongoing education as well as a willingness to engage in difficult conversations about the role of technology in our practice.
Undoubtedly, AI integration into social work practice has promise to improve the quality of care and address the systemic inequities that have long plagued the field. A collective effort from educators, practitioners, and ethicists is key, but nothing should be set in stone without the voice and input of the community. The digital divide in technology-enabled access to social services disproportionately excludes those who are most in need of benefits and support (Moreno, Borrero, Ferri, et al., 2023). Let us not forget the involvement social work had with the Eugenics Movement and instead proceed with “nothing about us without us” (O’Brien, 2023).
A Call to Action: Embracing Innovation for Better Care
The path forward involves collaboration at all levels: micro, mezzo, and macro. Social workers must be proactive and advocate for resources and training to integrate technology into their practices without losing sight of the human element at the core of their work. Ethical considerations, such as privacy, access, and equity, must remain central to every conversation about the future of care. At the same time, technology companies must recognize the contributions of social workers and invest in partnerships that will ensure technology is used for good—not just for profit.
I would be remiss if I didn’t address a simple conclusion that one might draw from this call to action, which is to say that all social workers should shift to roles in technology. This perspective misses the point that social workers have essential roles everywhere in our community. Our work is part of a social safety net, and while technology can certainly enhance our efforts, it shouldn’t limit us to any single field. Instead, it should support and strengthen our practice wherever it’s needed.
The call to action from Hamdoun, Monteleon, Bookman, and Michael (2023) emphasizes the need for an interdisciplinary, inter-sector approach to addressing the opportunities and challenges of behavioral health technology. We must ensure that the profession evolves while maintaining its core values and ethical commitments, which inherently means significantly and responsibly enhancing accessibility and improving outcomes. Boosting knowledge of information and communication technologies will greatly impact all areas of social work, offering chances to improve services and create positive social change (McInroy, 2019). One leader in our field, Kristina Monti, PhD, sums it up perfectly, “We are the gatekeepers of care and must continue its delivery as compassionate, ethical, and accessible.” Alongside the leaders in our colleges and universities, professional organizations, and employers, social workers can build a tech-ready workforce equipped to meet today’s and tomorrow’s challenges.
Danika Mills, MSW, LCSW, MPS, LCAT, CCM, is the Head of Care Operations at Grayce and serves as a Board Member at Large for the National Association of Social Workers, North Carolina Chapter (NASW-NC). For more information, email Danika@withGrayce.com.
References
American Psychiatric Association. (2019, June 22). Mental health apps: Evidence not so plentiful. https://psychiatry.org/news-room/apa-blogs/mental-health-apps-evidence-not-so-plentiful
Clary, K. L., Nason, E., Selber, K., & Smith, K. S. (2022). Developing a roadmap for harnessing technology in social work: Training the next generation of social workers. Smith College Studies in Social Work, 92(2), 111-132.
Hamdoun, S., Monteleone, R., Bookman, T., & Michael, K. (2023). AI-based and digital mental health apps: Balancing need and risk. IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, 42(1), 25-36.
Huang, J., Shanks, T. R., Teasley, M., Spencer, M., Sherraden, M. (2024). 2024 Policy recommendations for meeting the grand challenges for social work. Grand Challenges for Social Work. https://grandchallengesforsocialwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/240701-Final-Policy-Brief-Packet_V3.pdf
McInroy, L. B. (2019). Teaching Technology Competencies: A Social Work Practice With Technology Course. Journal of Social Work Education, 57(3), 545–556. https://doi.org/10.1080/10437797.2019.1671272
Moreno, R. M., Borrero, M. F., Ferri Fuentevilla, E., Medina, F. R., Luchena, A. M., & Aguado, O. V. (2023). Technologies and social services. An overview of technology use by users of social services. Plos one, 18(5), e0284966.
