21.09.18
Blog 8 Thing 7 Finding Resources

This was one of the most time consuming Things to Do though useful as I find a new library and interesting to read some new research

Haven't used SSKS before so took a few sessions ( see previous blogs when I started thinking about it) just finding my way round the website and then registering with Open Athens. Although registration appears straight forward, if your organisation isn't on the list then you have to approximate and that caused a bit of a delay before I understood the instructions. I then had to wait a day for a return email with my link and user name so a new user could be put off. Once in however, I found the general layout easy to navigate though became a bit side tracked by the many bits of information that attracted me on the home page - like techniques and frameworks for evidence based practice.

I decided I would explore treatment methods currently in favour for working with Borderline Personality Disorder in young people because it is current I imagined from that I would get a good comparison with Google Advanced search. Also it is such a common diagnosis for the group I am interested in especially high risk or marginalized young women.

Google and SSKS

Both websites delivered. Honestly did not find that Google Advanced search offered anything that the regular search didn't. Not surprising that Google identified a plethora of self help forums which though interesting was not what I was after since they tended to be for adults generally rather than young people and the search doesn't really handle requests using words like marginalized or treatment particularly well. But because they like advertising I found some interesting references - one was a new research training initiative being developed by Norfolk and Suffolk Health Trust for 13-18 year olds, diagnosed as BPD, called BEST and that might be one to watch for the future. I also found another academic piece with interesting findings on the stability of the diagnosis at a young age and whether early intervention might be a good thing using an analyses of the research. A bit general but would be useful for new workers. Annoyingly difficult to ascertain when the research took place because date suggested current though on reading found it was probably several years earlier (from the references)

 But it was SSKS that came up trumps......

After scampering around other areas on the site like learning disability, I quickly located a good piece of comparative research into substance use motivators among a group of 500 students and specifically within that group, those assessed as BPD. It was current and a substantial summary which after reading I was able to print off for a practitioners team doing this work. Findings were really fascinating because the study was gendered so interesting to see the comparisons between males and female. Briefly, one key finding that was noteworthy was females in the BPD group's motivates to use opioid pain killers was pain related and as a coping mechanism to a much higher degree than males. Firstly, motives were physical then progressing to emotional pain. The study references the fact that young women come to opiates generally much later than boys but often escalate more rapidly. Some similarities and differences between males and females are noted in relation to alcohol use  with social conformity as a common motivation but with twice as many females proportionately in this category.  Conclusions centre on proposals for earlier intervention and the value of looking at these motives as the focus for the group treatment rather than it being BPD or simply drugs with suggested approaches such as Mindfulness perhaps more helpful
This article is published in Addictive Behaviours Jan 2018 by NAVest, KTMarphy & Tragesser

I copied this article for a team specializing in work with High Risk Young Women irrespective of the agency triggering assessment. This project has strong academic links and aims to inform work with practice and evidenced outcomes in order to raise the profile of a group who often feel disenfranchised opting out of services which they cannot relate to. The team will connect with the messages of this paper and it will give confidence in some of their own findings from face to face work. As founder of the project in 2009 I found the article an interesting read adding to both gender informed practice and knowledge of substance use among the BPD group and with lots of reference at the end.

There are other sources of useful reading linked to the user group - such as Celsis, or the CYCR or Children Scotland. SSKS adds another dimension to this with more choices and other perspectives on young peoples Mental Health agenda.  I shall certainly pass on the SSKS link.

 

18th September 2018

Blog 7
Thing 5; Social Media hashtag1

Read this with a lot of interest because in professional terms I might be viewed by many as something of a 'hostile' to social media in the workplace . Not true actually........

Really it is rather straightforward in that as one of the articles in the reading list suggests social media has a great deal to offer in terms of networking and communication, I am just unconvinced as another suggests that 'controls' we exercise (personal & professional) are much the same as every day interaction where similar decisions require to be made about content in relation to context and audience. Scale, permanency, speed of transmission and pressure make all the difference.
How well thought through can all our online comments be during or at the end of a busy day.

So of course I read all the material with great interest happy to be proven wrong.....in the end wasn't convinced about a different direction.

The fitness to practice notes and video are helpful for workers who are invited to review their practical understanding of professional v personal conduct  and specifically how information is delivered and received and whether our messages and actions about who and how we communicate with are informed be they identified groups and individuals, friends, colleagues or vulnerable individuals who we support or potentially support. Case examples are such a good way of working though dilemmas and workers can readily pinpoint breach of professional principles such as dignity, confidentiality, respect, privacy, protection etc for themselves. I completed one of the optional scenario's on Kelly and felt it was a good one for residential workers as it offered an every day example of the kind of 'trap' individuals can fall into with heart ruling head if this topic is not kept high on the unit agenda. I would do this in a team meeting because I felt the feedback was well informed.
Having reviewed our relevant organisational policies I felt they were sound because use of social media sits in the context of IT Information and Communication, and Secure Transmission which is long but divided into manageable sections. This is complemented by Data Protection including consents for photographic material to be shared and the pros and cons.
I felt that the material offered through this course was a helpful addition to a workers toolbox to reinforce the different ways in which social media communication can breach the spirit and/or letter of the Fitness to Practice. The article of considerations (open, audience, contact, context) heightens everyone's awareness of the complexity and need for attention to detail. Of the two articles (How to separate Public and Professional and Social Workers cannot ignore Social Media), I felt the first highlighted to complications of social media communication and how we might get it right. This made me think that all companies need someone in charge monitoring social media posts because the lines can get blurred so easily. The Guardian article reminded me of the pressure I felt as a manager to engage with Facebook and Twitter in order to raise the charity's profile and early on in our history we had to make a decision about whether to give in & go with the flow or resist. At the time I checked other people's pages and found an element of self promotion that made the Board and I slightly uncomfortable as well as anxious  about how we would manage content in the long run. We wondered whether 'having a large following' really mattered for a modestly sized voluntary organisation. We did not go down that route and the Communication Strategy we adopted relied far more on face to face interaction, leafleting and a website which at the time we found to be more consistent with the professional task of helping vulnerable individuals. Over the years we dabbled a little mainly for recruitment of volunteers but overall thought that we did not miss out by not having a large Facebook or Twitter base since we were not a major competitor in the contracts market and as an organisation were concerned about vulnerable individuals and how to better help them in ways that were respectful.

But sure.... we can't ignore social media. Whether in relation to Policy or Personal Use

 And we didn't.
It is after all a natural form of communication for young people and young workers especially.
Company policy should lay out the merits as well as the pitfalls and staff responsibilities therein. Nearly all our policies cross referenced to others. So for example Child Protection reporting connects with specific CSE policy and also cross references to Data Protection with specific policy on consent to Take and/or Publish Photographs and each is referred to in the IT Security guidance suite. This cross referencing and repetition helps workers and managers have more informed discussion about individual responsibilities and possible unintended consequences of failing to think through or be meticulous about decisions in regard to personal, professional and company content. I think that informal discussion helps sharpen workers awareness of risks to be avoided.

Most staff in my experience use social media in their personal lives - most commonly, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat. Some of the more senior individuals like myself would use more restricted platforms such as Linked In so discussion in meetings was informed. Significant social incidents were often shared as a learning experience and this could include individual social media mishaps.  For example young people airing grievances about each other on Facebook provided the opportunity to educate ourselves and young people on circumstances where 'offenses' as well as offense could occur.

Young people can of course be very active on social media and my team were often checking  security ratings of platforms used by young people. Currently a girls group is again keen to share their group experiences with each other using Facebook and  this time round their worker is looking to link this to an improved prep training for them. I have suggested she looks at Thing 8 on Facebook as coverage is good . This could be a good experience for the young people who frequently become victims through not exercising enough care on networking platforms or get carried away with inappropriate posts in the heat of the moment..

As organisation manager I placed great store on spoken communication and debrief, manager to worker, team talk, or with young people unpicking the day's good and less good points in face to face conversation with their workers. I believe that this safe but critical sharing helped us avoid inappropriate relating online, venting in unhelpful ways or blurring professional boundaries whether with young people or colleagues. As a group we were learning informally about the distinguishing features of Public and Private or Professional and Personal because face to face conversation can be at a gentler pace and more nurturing than social media.

I concluded it is true as the reading makes clear (including SSSC Social Media) that the rules we  follow in communication are not rules only because of social media's existence.........and if we don't have an every day grasp of what these concepts mean in all work related activity, it will quickly become apparent when we enter the digital world where issues are magnified. We must always tread carefully.

Equally we need workers to be social media savvy alert to risks but also in a position to guide young people on safe contact and content; private versus public and what these mean in practice.   

Blog 6; Thing 4 Our Digital Footprint

This really is an interesting thing to work through thinking of the impact on me and those I work with. Quite hard work too - looking at my Google Account and history of activity made me change some settings because for example, I'm not sure I want tracking of everywhere I've been so advertisers can make suggestions or I have improved routes; after all how lost can I get in Scotland.

So this exercise left me with 3 things for me to think about

• I tend not to use social media  for the more obvious reasons like the need to exercise real care in a professional context but less evident is the imprint left by seemingly innocent activity. So there's a few 'other things' I need to follow up on.

• Young people definitely need workers who are alert to risk and can act in a 'mentoring' role. Young people do not always understand how in the digital world what they say on social media can have lasting consequences but there may be some remedies to limit potential damage

• Evidence of our activity is always out there and  we need to work with that reality rather than be put off by it. For example  I learnt quite a lot more about how we can exercise more control by altering settings

I found the 8 tips to Manage Digital Footprint  useful and can visualize workers using these in meetings and with young people because it's quite Positive - a kind of, 'Did you know that you can ....' whilst the video was a useful reminder of the unintended consequences of using social media as a place to sound off.
Working with young people means we as professionals have to know how to deal with 'prevention' and 'consequences' and this may involve helping someone know they may have to live with a heat of the moment post as well as how to manage their account. The issue surfaces in many different guises whether workers being unprofessional in their social time or young people having to live down sensitive moments or acting in a way that later makes them feel ashamed. All in all it really is a level playing field with the rich and important all capable of being caught out. New or experienced workers and young people can still be naive about privacy settings and how easy it is for messages to be tracked or reused by others. We all need to know how to challenge something we have gotten wrong or don't like.
At the same time social media is a tool for good for worker, managers, courts, or as the video demonstrates to hold others to account . Whether it is for bullying or skipping a day of work it is no longer possible to claim 'I did not do it' when the evidence is there.
Coincidentally, as I was reading this thing I also watched a TV program on new technology aimed at using 'face recognition app'  to scan in pictures of those who use the online world to trap vulnerable people into fake relationships with a view committing fraud with impressive results because the search program could scan for names to the likeness rather than the individual victim haplessly wading through search engines with a name that is probably false.

I have 2 usual names (Olive and Arens) and a long career so tend to be found easily in a Google search with few surprises about what comes up. Over the years I have learnt to take care with presentations though accept the inevitability that everything wont always be as intended. Pictures are cringe-worthy for me but more important is ensuring the where young people are accompanying us to an event that they and we fully understand and they consent to the possibility of how reporting including images might be used or misused in the future.
More worrying for me was going into my Google Account and checking history not because there was any obvious threat but there were one or two things I didn't recognize so I have arranged for an external check by my expert colleague  to make sure I fully understand what I am reading. On the plus side I have learnt more about Cookies and now less inclined just to click Yes automatically.

After working through the whole set of materials, where am I? Well..................

It's complicated and not everything is within our immediate grasp but the fail safe is having someone on tap to clarify or reassure. Essential for every small business I believe.

We can't help young people if we are not asking the right questions of ourselves.

We absolutely must be familiar with what digital imprint means and how to take charge 

I'm calling this my P list as a starter for discussion of  the HOW? of online activity with workers and young people

• Protect yourself
• Privacy at all costs
• Passwords are secret
• Posterity means forever
• Police your imprint
• Problems need sorted

Day 5
Why Digital?

There is simply no argument in my view about the necessity of developing a high level of digital knowledge, skills and confidence in social care. Working with young people is a daily reminder of a fast changing world whereby young peoples apparent skills level and confidence frequently outstrips those of the adults who care for them. For many who are vulnerable of course their confidence in finding a way though the challenges of a digital world is equally matched by naivety about the innumerable risks - sometimes just adding to workers hesitation to fully embrace the potential as a learning tool   

The Social Care survey offers an interesting check for any manager and staff group to think more specifically about capacity and capability in the staff group. From experience the news sheet is very general even aspirational in some areas, and I feel that much depends on organisation scale, culture, financial investment, the user group and the range of workers experience generally. 

However I do share similar experiences of

Attitudes to using digital technology 

• Staff are keen to use digital technology 
• 60% of managers encourage staff to think about digital technology in all they do

Workers use their own personal phones or tablets for work (worrying because I found many staff unaware of the risks opened up through for example home networks))

Managers & Staff concerns

•  Staff access to digital technology is variable 
• Lack of workforce development in this area  
• Fast pace of change in this area 
• Concerns from a small minority that they would spend less time with the people they support 
• A small proportion were concerned about online security

In completing the test on capacity, confidence and knowledge I did find myself scoring above average though slightly lower on knowledge.

And knowledge is probably where I found most workers and managers fall down simply because its outside the comfort zone in terms of required professional knowledge and expectations so doesn't really get the time and cash investment to achieve good training and up to date technology. Yet the knowledge needed is wide ranging from technical know how, to all aspects of security and data storage and needs everyone's attention across an organisation especially those responsible for quality control checks and investment - so we avoid workers relying on personal devices and only peer to peer advice which can be ill informed. Whilst I see my knowledge as less than it ought to be, my motivation to improve is extremely high thanks mainly to input from an external expert who gave time and patience to that task in our organisation. As a manager I took the learning very seriously so I could role model to workers and managers.

Whilst it's worrying to hear workers speak of others outside their organisation using personal devices, and not password protecting devices that hold personal data, or storing photos without user permission, recording on personal devices which are not encrypted, then losing portable devices I do think that in an already pressurized care environment where protection of children and young people is at the heart of all there are legitimate concerns voiced by workers surrounding information security and the risk of compromising the organisation and young people. And we need to work through this.

So maybe if as managers and workers we can agree on the 3 or 4 key points of Why digital? we can develop a  more meaningful improvement strategy
For example

Digital is not optional

Digital use improves administration making better use of time

This means we can have better awareness of all our responsibilities for data protection and security and

Become more Confident and Positive conversing with young people about the digital world 

As a result we can better protect young people from Exploitation without denying the up side of all things digital whether for learning, improving interaction or simply having fun

As a manager I found 

• A tailor made secure voice to text system was an absolute boon and a win win for everyone - as a manager I was always up to date, I didn't have to harangue workers about case notes because they became a simple routine following contact - and of course supervision was always better informed.
• Regular in-house workshops and stronger policies with practical guidance of the knowledge needed to avoid the very serious pitfalls Works
• Coaching from experts was Essential to hone new skills
• The organisation needed to Prioritize Investment in this area  as the bedrock of Safe and Secure Practiice and felt that external input was essential  

Day 4
Important to reflect and nail the learning!
So made some achievements in relation to things 1 & 2
Finally managed to get the Blog up and running and with George's encouragement should be linked to others in the network (had the wrong URL at first) It's just so important when learning something new to have others to help you persevere when the going gets tough. 10 years ago I had a website and blog and it all seemed straight forward but there are so many more considerations now - especially security and how to network appropriately. So I've learnt a bit about that too. I read one of the blogs on password protection on the 23 things website - sorry it was a couple of days ago, I think on thing5 - and really got me thinking about the whole password challenge. Also when I was setting up the Badge account the video clip had a really helpful tip. The temptation for someone like myself is often to use a familiar long name and then interchange numerals and symbols even although I know that is bad practice. So to be more smart I have chosen this time a random set of characters which is an improvement but of course I risk forgetting. That's why I liked the suggestion of a couple of short random words together. I'm going to try this next time.For now that accounts set up along with Blog.
I've already said a bit about the Open Badges as a learning model and I am pretty sure that this is very useful approach to Induction. I haven't tried other Badges personally but having read 23THINGS, it feels like really useful component of learning. Today I am thinking residential care where, "no time" is often the clarion call but with this the learning can be quite open in the house situation and a bit of a bonus if it also captures young people's imagination. Be interesting to hear other thoughts.
I know I need to make the Blog more interesting in layout but that's not something that is a challenge so I'll press on with another THING that makes me have to think. Right now I am a whole lot more comfortable with what 23 things is about - desensitized! 😌
Just read 3 - and tickled by the comment "I don't do technology' How many times I have heard that. Must read through this one - so can persuade people that this is necessary and in everyone's reach - and we all have foibles about learning.😕😕