The New Social Worker Vol. 20, No. 2, Spring 2013 | Page 7

cepting that I will use my cell phone for
work purposes is not the end of the story.
I also need to identify risks and determine
how I will manage those risks.

In general, BSW and MSW students
are not as vulnerable as clients in typical
social work settings. Most calls relate
to academic issues, not personal issues
and crises. Still, I inform my students—in
writing at the beginning of each term—
that I have a number of restrictions on
the use of my cell phone. First, students
are permitted to call me only during
regular business hours (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
from Monday to Friday, exclusive of
holidays). Second, although students are
not permitted to send text messages, they
may send e-mails to my work e-mail address. I let students know that although
the cell phone is my cell phone and I
have a password for some protection, I
cannot guarantee that information left on
the cell phone can be kept confidential.
I encourage students to leave brief messages and to avoid sharing information
that is of a sensitive nature. My e-mail
is somewhat more secure, but I cannot
guarantee confidentiality over e-mail
(e.g., my employer may have access to
my work e-mails).

For emergencies, I inform students
to call 911 or other emergency services. One reason is that I may not be
available to respond to an emergency.
More importantly, my role is to teach
and facilitate learning, not to provide
therapy or intervene in crisis situations.
If I am aware of a student in a crisis or
emergency situation, my university has
protocols about reporting such situations
to appropriate authorities (e.g., university counseling services and the dean of
students).

As with the “informed consent”
process with clients, my students need to
know the extent of confidentiality when
they share information with me (COE,
s.1.03; 1.07). Also, they need to know the
boundaries for communication with me.
The professor-student relationship has
certain parallels with the social workerclient relationship, so I want to model
good practice.

Although I am willing (albeit reluctantly) to use my cell phone for work
purposes with my university, I would
advocate much more strongly against
using cell phones for clinical social
work practice (practice with individuals,
families, or groups). The risks are simply
too high—in terms of protection of client

confidentiality, maintaining appropriate
professional boundaries, and ensuring
that clients make use of appropriate services when they are in a crisis situation.
Accordingly, if an agency wants social
workers to use cell phones for work purposes, then I would suggest the following
policies:
•
•

•
•

•

The agency should provide workers
with cell phones that are to be used
solely for work purposes.
Clients should be informed about
the policy on contacting workers via
cell phones at the outset of services:
what times the client may call,
how long the social worker has to
respond to a call, what types of messages should or should not be left on
the cell phone, and limits on confidentiality when using cell phones.
Clients should be provided with information about crisis services they
may contact should the need arise.
Clients should be provided with
information on whether they can
send text messages, and under what
circumstances (e.g., only to set or
change appointment times, and not
to discuss any clinical issues).
Some agencies may decide to turn
off functions such as text messaging
or voice mail, so that messages cannot be left.

Social work agencies may have
very good reasons for using cell phones,
texting, and other technologies with
clients. Still, they need to address risks in
a professional and strategic manner. As
you and your agencies review procedures
and policies, identify relevant Web sites
and articles, such as those listed below.
Learn from their experience.

And now for the surprise ending to
our case scenario: Jace decides to contact
911 and share Ramon’s cell phone
number. Emergency services identify
where Ramon lives and send a crisis unit
to his address. Ramon is alive and well,
although quite perturbed about being
awakened in the middle of the night. Ramon was not suicidal. He simply lost his
cell phone. An unidentified person was
playing a prank by texting suicide notes
to people in his address list.

Additional Reading
American Telemedicine Association, State
Telemedicine Policy Center (2012). Available

at http://www.americantelemed.org/i4a/pages/
index.cfm?pageID=3604.
Boschen, M. J., & Casey, L. M. (2008). The
use of mobile telephones as adjuncts to cognitive behavioral psychotherapy. Professional
Psychology: Research and Practice, 39 (5).
Boschen, M. J. (2009). Mobile Telephones
and Psychotherapy: I Capability and Applicability. The Behavior Therapist, 168-173,
Retrieved from http://www98.griffith.edu.au/
dspace/bitstream/handle/10072/29570/59553_2.
pdf?sequence=1.
Morgan, S. (2012). Social workers, smartphones and electronic health information.
National Association of Social Workers, Legal
Defense Fund, Legal Issue of the Month.
Available at https://www.socialworkers.org/ldf/
legal_issue/2012/May2012.asp.
National Association of Social Workers
(2005). NASW & ASWB standards for technology and social work practice. Available at
https://www.socialworkers.org/practice/standards/
NASWTechnologyStandards.pdf.

Dr. Allan Barsky is Professor of Social Work
at Florida Atlantic University and Chair
of the National
Ethics Committee
of the National Association of Social
Workers. He is the
author of Ethics and Values
in Social Work
(Oxford University
Pre ????
???????)I???????????)???!??????)A????????(? ????
?????????)
????????????
???????????A?????Q??)???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????)?????????? ???????????????()Q??????????????)?????????????)?????()Q!?9\?M=
%0)]=I-H)???????????????()Q???9??M??????]????()M?????????((?((0