The Four Futures 

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In today’s world, the options of telehealth and virtual services is an integral tool in overcoming the most common access barriers to health and wellness (Rickert, 2022). The challenges of distance, transportation, parking, scheduling, babysitters, time off from work, and more, become moot when a person can connect from home, and as described by Funk and Finch (2023) evidenced based practice has confirmed that “telehealth services allow greater flexibility in accessing services and increasing intervention satisfaction” (p. 21, para. 3) of clients.  
 

Embracing this shift in service delivery calls on us to recognize and address the digital divide that exists in our society today, particularly among low income and/or marginalized communities (Saeed & Masters, 2021). As well, it calls on the profession to promote a sense of obligation to make sure users have as much informed consent about the risks of using the internet as they do about engaging in services. I myself recognize that as someone inviting and promoting virtual visits, I will be subjecting my clients to “datafication” (Wilkerson & O’Sullivan, 2023, p.10), and should therefor help to educate them on the matter, and also be proactive about protecting their sensitive information.
 

Recognizing this today will help shape the future of our profession tomorrow. As I consider the future of social work and telebehavioral health I feel like my perspective is very much in line with what is described by the Council on Social Work Education (2018) as “the four futures” (p. 6). I believe social workers and practitioners will need to strategically position themselves to be at the forefront of technological advancement in telehealth and advocacy for implementing and enhancing infrastructure, in order to ensure the availability of resources to the rural and/or underserved populations that are experiencing barriers to accessing the tools necessary to benefit from the convenience of virtual services.

However, as we consider the future of social work and the immersion of technology, particularly artificial intelligence (AI), I feel more needs to be done to promote extreme caution in how we allow AI to be used in the assessments of need and administration of intervention. As we become more and more aware of concepts like predictive policing and “algorithmic governance” (Ballantyne, 2023, p.87), we need to be mindful that we are not perpetuating systems of oppressions that have been proven time and time again to disproportionately impact historically marginalized communities (Mullaly & West, 2018).
 

References

Ballantyne, N. (2023). Chapter 4: Advancing data justice. In D. A.
       Wilkerson & L. O'Sullivan (Eds.), Social Work in an Online World.
       Washington, DC, NASW Press.

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Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). (2018). Envisioning the
      future of Social Work - CSWE. Council on Social Work Education.
       https://www.cswe.org/about-cswe/2020-strategic-
       plan/strategic-planning-process/cswe-futures-task-force-report-
       four-futures-for-social-work/

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D. A. Wilkerson & L. O'Sullivan (2023). Social Work in an Online
       World. Washington, DC, NASW Press.

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Funk, K., & Fitch, D. (2023). Chapter 1: Harnessing technology for
       social justice: Radical approaches. In D. A. Wilkerson & L.
       O'Sullivan (Eds.), Social Work in an Online World. Washington,
       DC, NASW Press

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Mullaly, B. & West, J. (2018). Challenging oppression and
        confronting privilege (3rd ed.). New York: Columbia University
        Press.
 

Rickert, A. (2022, February 28). Indiana bill would extend Medicaid
         up to a year after pregnancy. Louisville Public Media.
         https://www.lpm.org/news/2022-02-28/indiana-bill-would-
         extend-medicaid-up-to-a-year-after-pregnancy

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Saeed, S. A., & Masters, R. M. (2021, July 23). Disparities in health
          care and the digital divide - current psychiatry reports.
           SpringerLink.
           https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11920-021-01274-4