‘A Community no matter what’: fostering social work professional connections in Italy in COVID-19 times

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic and the associated socioeconomic crisis are posing unprecedented challenges both globally and locally, raising many unknowns and imposing difficult trade-offs. One of the side effects of this pandemic, with the ensuing physical distancing rules and quarantine, has been the condition of isolation that is affecting vulnerable populations disproportionately across the world. Against this background, one of the major tasks for social work is to keep up connections, find new ways to sustain relations and networks, and mitigate against inescapable feelings of loneliness and their consequences. Social workers themselves are affected personally and professionally by this crisis, facing new living and working conditions. They experience feelings of uncertainty, fear, and the risk of isolation. The aim of this paper is to present examples of practices intended to promote a sense of community, as such a shared emotion can support present and future social workers. These examples serve to underline how, now more than ever, a central challenge for social work is to strengthen the professional community, find ways to overcome isolation and 'to take care of those who care'.

Australian and New Zealand social workers adjusting to the COVID-19 pandemic

“…As a result, the complex interplay of work and family is a significant factor in our survey findings and our literature review (see e.g. Fargion et al , 2020 , in relation to Italian social workers and Necel and Zaręba, 2020 , in relation to Poland). In Australia and New Zealand, the closure of schools and the need to home-school children occurred at the same time as workloads were increasing, client needs were expanding and many workers were working from home.…”

“…For example, Dominelli (2020) in a UK context and Gergerich et al (2020) in a US context note that many workers are working remotely during the pandemic and that this is impacting service delivery. Researchers across a range of countries including the UK ( Cook and Zschomler, 2020 ; Dominelli, 2020 ), Canada ( Archer-Kuhn et al , 2020 ), Malaysia ( Azman et al , 2020 ), Netherlands ( De Jonge et al , 2020 ), Vietnam ( Dinh and Nguyen, 2020 ), Spain ( López Peláez et al, 2020 ), Poland ( Necel and Zaręba, 2020 ), Greece ( Papouli et al , 2020 ), Lebanon ( Badran, 2020 ), Italy ( Fargion et al , 2020 ) and China ( Yuan et al , 2020 ) note also that workers are using remote technologies to work with clients.…”

Psychological Impact in Healthcare Workers During Emergencies: The Italian Experience With COVID-19 First Wave

“…Although the economic aspect is pivotal, the severe impact on the population's mental health is no less important ( 9 – 13 ). Indeed, we can refer to this situation as a collective trauma, during which we have been living our daily life in a dramatic climate of uncertainty, fear and loss ( 14 , 15 ). The fear of contracting the virus, as well as the fear of infecting other members of the family, in a climate of total loss of control where social relationships are discouraged, has led to a strong increase of mental diseases such as anxiety and depression ( 9 , 16 – 18 ).…”

“Neither it had social work components nor experiential”: Students' perspectives of online fieldwork practice during COVID‐19 in India

“…This has brought innovations in terms of extension of environment, more efficient time management, extended toolsets and forms of work, and increased independence and initiatives of students. Similarly, Fargion et al ( 2020 ) asserted that the COVID‐19 lockdown forced various universities in Italy with social work programs to design and use digital platforms to foster student learning. Morley and Clarke ( 2020 ) have found various innovative activities in field education at the Queensland University of Technology in Australia, including the Zoom supervision and engagements with various stakeholders and organizations working on the advocacy and rights‐based approach to addressing the issues of the human rights of the oppressed.…”