Nothing Was The Same: 3 Reasons Post-COVID-19 Social Work Practice Is Never Going Back

by J. Jay Miller, PhD, MSW, CSW

     Fall 2013, Grammy award-winning hip-hop artist Drake released his third studio album, Nothing Was The Same. This album, which is lauded by many critics as Drake’s best work, examines the impact of fame on personal thoughts, relationships, and interactions. Song after song, the artist juxtaposes his life before, and after, commercial success. At its core, the project is a tale about two time periods and the process of circumstances that fundamentally altered those periods.

     This notion of comparing two points in time, and grappling with the insights that distinguish the two, offers a model for contemporary social work practice landscape.

     Veritably, the current COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed social work education, research, and practice. In the U.S., social work educational programs across the country quickly shifted to online platforms. The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) acted to offer relief, in the form of reducing field hours, for social work students. Conferences and meetings have adapted to virtual platforms. Nearly every state, in one way or another, altered regulatory edicts guiding social work practice. A new international research agenda related to managing and responding to pandemics has started to emerge; a number of academic journals have announced special issues focused on COVID-19. The International Federation of Social Workers Ethics Commission has formed a partnership with an international consortium of researchers to address ethical dilemmas associated with COVID-19 research. Indeed, the impact that the COVID-19 crisis has, and will continue to have, on social work cannot be overstated.

     Like so many, I have resorted to grappling with these impacts via a series of electronic memos, dizzying email chains, and a plethora of Zoom conferences and meetings. Recently, during one such meeting, I became involved in a discussion about what will happen once the pandemic subsides. Several participants, all social workers, discussed desires to get back to “normal.” One “yearned” for the time when “this is all over and things can go back to how they were before.”

     At the risk of sounding insensitive to this expected human response, I need to make something clear: Things are not going back to the way they were.

     Here are three overarching reasons.

Reason #1: The very conditions that necessitated changes will require keeping those changes.  

     Without question, COVID-19 necessitated change. Social work entities should be commended for creatively mobilizing to meet emerging and evolving needs stemming from the pandemic.

     That said, many of the changes fostered conditions that demand keeping those changes. The adaptations made by state social work regulatory boards represent one key example. Rightfully so, most states have promulgated emergency guidelines to ensure that social workers could continue to deliver services. Namely, states enacted telehealth regulations as a mechanism to ensure continuity of care.

     Overall, these changes seem to have had the expected effect. From January 2020, when reports began to emerge about a mysterious “pneumonia” from China, to March 2020, Google searches related to telehealth increased 2400%. Recent pieces in The Economist and Kaiser Health News documented surges in the use of telehealth.

     In addition to addressing care continuity concerns, there are other positive consequences of these changes. Namely, the changes expanded social work services to new clients. Service depressed areas, such as parts of rural America, are now able to access services in ways unavailable prior to the pandemic. As well, agencies/organizations have made significant investments in tech infrastructure, as well as training related to these changes.    

     As social workers, we must acknowledge that, in responding to COVID-19, we have fundamentally changed the practice landscape. These changes are not something we can simply undo or roll back, lest we create and exacerbate the very problems (e.g., client continuity of care) the changes were put into place to address. That rollback would be unethical, irresponsible, and irrational. We have always had an obligation to ensure access to services. The pandemic forced us to actualize those obligations in new ways.   

Reason #2: We have the power of example.

     The future is unknown. In many ways, that unknown has allowed us to more adeptly focus on the NOW. Given the current circumstances, many social workers, no matter their practice area, have been compelled to embrace difference. Traditional conceptions of work, practice, and education, such as having to physically be in the same place, have been tested. Regardless of views about the use of technology, the importance of an arbitrary number of field hours, or the best ways to build community amongst organization/agency employees, all areas of social work have had to embrace technology as necessary to social work practice.   

     So, now, we have the power of example.

     We know what practice in a virtual space can be. We know more about managing Zoom meetings, and developing the cheeky virtual backgrounds that can spice up an otherwise boring meeting. We better understand the challenges and benefits of remote work. We have examined and tested creative ways to move forward with virtual conferences and create community as it relates to social work practice. Some of us, albeit begrudgingly, have even had to brush up on fractions and the periodic table to live into our roles as homeschool teachers. As an administrator, I even recently participated in a virtual graduation ceremony.

     And there are certainly benefits to continuing to critically examine these examples.

     For instance, a recent article in USAToday outlined the benefits of remote work for employees. Among those benefits, researchers have estimated that employees who work at home save as much as $4,000 per year. Global Workplace Analytics, a research-based consulting firm, suggested that employers can save as much as $11,000 per annum for part-time workers who work remotely. Just monies associated with travel between client locations can number in the millions for each year. This new way of working can be beneficial to employers and employees alike.

     This instance and others offer examples of how to approach work differently. And, it allows for creatively redeploying resources to other areas. Expanded service provisions, employee raises or retention packages, employee wellness initiatives, and a myriad of other options may be a different use for those resources. Specifically, these options can be used to support employees working from home (WFH) in life balance.

Reason #3: It is time for a change.

     Candidly, this pandemic has exposed the fragility of nearly every aspect of society. Healthcare and educational systems are but a few examples of those pushed to the brink by COVID-19. This situation has laid bare racial, gender, generational, class—and a host of other political and cultural—chasms in responding to crises. It has revealed pre-existing conditions—from micro to meta—that contributed to and intensified the effects of inequities.

     Social work has not been immune to this exposure.  

     Coronavirus has exacerbated a number of dynamic tensions within social work. Professional email listservs and social media feeds are replete with any number of debatable topics emanating from the current pandemic: licensure portability, the role of professional member associations and organizations, educational accreditation standards, and the like, are all areas that have been pushed to the forefront of discussion within, and about, the profession. 

     Frankly, for some of these issues, the time for definitive change has long since passed. Many of these debates are as old as the social work profession itself. For example, licensure portability has been debated since the 1930s. Indubitably, more robust portability or state compacts related to practice would have assuaged the need for individual action by states. The same can be said for national guidelines and protocols associated with telehealth and meaningful Investments in the deployment of social work services via technology, among others.

     If COVID-19 has taught us anything, it is this: Business as usual is not, and will not, be sufficient. Moving forward, the way we practice, educate, and research must evolve in a way that not only responds to things that happen, but in a way that anticipates what is to come. 

Conclusion

     I want to end where I began—with Drake.

     In a review for Complex, pop culture writer Perry Kostidakis described the artist’s adaption in content in music delivery on Nothing Was The Same (NWTS). Of this adaption, Kostidakis wrote that NWTS heralded the beginning of Drake mastering his “something for everyone approach.” That is, between his sophomore project Take Care and NWTS, there is a nuanced recognition that growth is predicated on change. Was the shift necessitated by a fear of complacency, a shift in consumer preferences, a natural evolution, or some combination of those factors, or others? For this discussion, the rationale is irrelevant. The change happened. 

     That is what we, as social workers, must do.

     No one wants to deal with COVID-19. It’s bad. It’s scary. It kills.

     But, it is imperative that we evolve based on this period in time. Our “p” word should no longer be pandemic—it should be possibility.

     The possibilities emanating from this time are beyond measure. There are so many things we can learn, try, and improve upon. Certainly, we need to critically assess outcomes associated with exploring these possibilities, as would be the expectation absent a pandemic. It will certainly take all of us, collectively, investing in a new “normal.” All told, not living into the possibilities of this pandemic says more about what we, as a profession, are not willing to do, and far less about what we are able to do.

     In several years, whether we actualize the promise of possibilities, or choose to ignore lessons from this pandemic, we will look back and know one thing for certain: Nothing was the same.

Dr. J. Jay Miller is the Dean, Dorothy A. Miller Research Professor in Social Work Education, and Director of the Self-Care Lab in the College of Social Work at the University of Kentucky. You can follow his work via Twitter @DrJayMiller1.