Social Work Futures

MARCH 15, 2023

This is part of a monthly series of posts to share a few things I run across regarding the future of social work (and beyond). For people involved in foresight practice, the practice of scanning, organizing and creatively interpreting “signals of change” in the ecosystem is a primary and foundational part of the work. This blog is a place where I’m doing that “out loud” and in public to both share what I’m finding, and encouraging readers to do the same.

Welfare 228

Welfare Engagement Social Worker Interviewing 228

Social Work Futures

MARCH 2, 2023

I decided to invite Chat GPT to co-write a celebratory remark about “Social Work Month.” It took a couple of rounds to get it where I wanted to go…but here’s the results! Screen shots so you can have the “full experience!” It was fascinating to see how it grabbed the prompt and what it chose to include. How do you think it did?

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Social Work Futures

FEBRUARY 17, 2023

This is part of a monthly series of posts to share a few things each month that I run across regarding the future of social work (and beyond). For people involved in foresight practice, the practice of scanning, organizing and creatively interpreting “signals of change” in the ecosystem is a primary and foundational part of the work. This blog is a place where I’m doing that “out loud” and in public to both share what I’m finding, and encouraging readers to do

Welfare 185

Welfare Engagement Interviewing Healthcare 185

Social Work Futures

FEBRUARY 12, 2023

Progress and focus for forthcoming book under contract with Oxford University Press – anticipated publication date: September-November 2024. This is starting to get very real! First draft finished – now entering a multi-month process of editing and finalizing. Thanks for you many expressions of support and excitement about this work. I’m incredibly grateful to be at this place.

Engagement 147

Engagement University 147

Social Work Futures

JANUARY 18, 2023

As all know…technology is ever shaping our shared world. What is the right “stance” for social workers? Lean into new tech opportunities – explore, experiment or develop new applications? Or resist, interrogate and complicate deployment of tech and datafication of modern life? The truth is that the answer is probably “both,” and definitely not “hide and avoid it all…” Most urgently – social workers need to plug in and learn with gusto.

Social Worker 147

Social Worker Government 147

Social Work Futures

JANUARY 10, 2023

This page will be activated just before Laura’s presentation.

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Social Work Futures

JANUARY 3, 2023

In foresight practice, history is held with the greatest regard – in fact no ethical or credible foresight is really possible without consideration of the forces, patterns and ingredients of “how we got here.” To be a futurist or foresight practitioner, is to be a devoted student of history as well as whatever is ahead. In my work preparing to deliver a meaningful and (hopefully) useful and relevant set of frameworks for social work as a profession to think about its future 

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Social Work Futures

DECEMBER 30, 2022

As part of writing that is happening in my world right now, I’ve been doing deep dive in this literature. We have a powerful history of taking this question VERY seriously in social work. Thanks to contributions from friends on Twitter (!!!). I promised to share my final working version. I think there are likely a few that aren’t on here…but I’m satisfied I gathered well.

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Social Work Futures

DECEMBER 16, 2022

Over the last couple of years and through my own foresight journey (as a social worker and a human)…I’ve found emerging language regarding the future to be really interesting, illuminating, sometimes troubling, and valuable. Sometimes there are words that are more “pop culture” words that emerge from the mainstream (they are a little like popcorn…not much substance).

Engagement 178

Engagement Social Worker 178

Social Work Futures

DECEMBER 15, 2022

Starting a new tradition (just in time for the new year)! This year, I plan to share at least one post a month just dedicated to cool things I find that I think will spark interest for social workers interested in the intersection of the future of the profession and the future of our shared world. (Thanks to those that have reached out and encouraged me to do this!

Healthcare 218

Healthcare Adoption Welfare Engagement 218

Social Work Futures

NOVEMBER 17, 2022

As I’m making my way through a book project (Anticipatory Social Work!!!) I’m doing a lot of working and thinking about and structuring activities to guide the profession into meaningful, direct and generative questions for individuals and collectives. The future of social work isn’t only “out there.” It is connected to the things we are doing, the places we are looking, the places we aren’t looking…right now.

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Social Work Futures

NOVEMBER 14, 2022

Here’s a collection of links that I’ve been gathering up the last year – exploring the future of higher education. They come at the subject from a wide variety of angles – and represent a continuing horizon scan of things I’m interested in, and may be of interest to colleagues across higher ed. This sector is shifting and evolving just as most are.

University 189

University Interviewing Engagement 189

Social Work Futures

NOVEMBER 11, 2022

The Ontario College of Art and Design has a Master’s Degree Program in Strategic Foresight. I happened upon it via the work of many of their graduates and the way in which they position this work online as a generous and brilliant act of public scholarship. This post is really a love letter – of admiration, respect and gratitude for not only the solid academic work they are doing but the way in which they communicate it and make it so accessible.

Schools 177

Schools Engagement Communication 177

Social Work Futures

OCTOBER 26, 2022

Last July, I launched the Social Work Jobs of the Future game! This game uses futures thinking to imagine what the future of our profession may look like and what social workers may do on a daily basis. It evokes “scenarios” that imagine different worlds where our work occurs – some of them might be scenarios we very much want, and others – scenarios we worry about and actively work against.

Social Worker 59

Social Worker 59

Social Work Futures

OCTOBER 18, 2022

Social workers specialize in the effects of cascading failures of our most important community institutions and the very real hope, determination and commitment to justice and well-being for all. This includes work in poverty, inequity and racism, homelessness, access to health and behavioral health resources, education and many other issues. As the world continues to change, old issues transform/evolve and new issues emerge…too much of our intellectual and practice infrastructure posit

Advocacy 277

Advocacy Social Worker Diversity Interventional 277

Social Work Futures

SEPTEMBER 14, 2022

Over the last couple of years and through my own foresight journey (as a social worker and a human)…I’ve found emerging language regarding the future to be really interesting, illuminating, sometimes troubling, and valuable. Sometimes there are words that are more “pop culture” words that emerge from the mainstream (they are a little like popcorn…not much substance).

Psychology 277

Psychology Engagement Social Worker 277

Social Work Futures

SEPTEMBER 9, 2022

(This is a revision of a post first published in December 2018.). What does it look like when an entire government or a large government agency commits to a futures lens? Exploring them greatly sparks creativity and curiosity about how groups are challenging current assumptions about the present and exploring the tools to inform more desirable futures.

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Government University 182

Social Work Futures

SEPTEMBER 8, 2022

Just finished reading (finally) the new book from Amy Webb and her co-author Andrew Hessel. It’s called “The Genesis Machine: Our Quest to Rewrite Life in the Age of Synthetic Biology.” It came out earlier this year – and is published by Public Affairs in New York. I’ll include some “official” reviews of it at the end of this post – but here’s a list of 10 things I learned from reading this book.

Engagement 260

Engagement Social Worker Human Services Advocacy 260

Social Work Futures

JULY 20, 2022

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Social Work Futures

JULY 18, 2022

Ethics evolve as the times change. For a while now, I’ve been exploring how futures thinking and practice might intersect with the NASW social work code of ethics. At times I worry that we are thinking of “ethical practice” ONLY as something that reflects historical or current practice…and believe we need and can manage to incorporate a temporal dimension looking ahead as well.

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Code of Ethics Social Worker 223

Social Work Futures

JUNE 1, 2022

One of the relevant steps in trying to think about what “social work of the future” might look like, is to rigorously map out what some of the issues, signals and drivers of change for the profession are right now. Then, one might think about them in combinations – and imagine how these will interact with other larger force (different political climates for example) as time moves forward.

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Social Work Futures

MAY 24, 2022

Let’s have an imagination session! Think about how different a “typical social work job” was 50 years ago. That would be the year 1972. And imagine how different it might be 50 years from now – the year 2072. What will the world be like? What will our global and local challenges, opportunities, strengths, crisis, dynamics and possibilities be at that time?

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Social Work Futures

MAY 24, 2022

The future I will be working on includes reproductive freedom for all. This is (another) rallying moment for the profession of social work. Yet sadly, I don’t see enough dialogue, planning and learning together about what comes next for us…how the profession will play a role in assuring this basic human right. Because to accomplish the future we want, we all need to jump in and do what we can from wherever we are, I pulled a list of signals, articles, and organizations to learn from,

Diversity 162

Diversity University Schools 162

Social Work Futures

MAY 18, 2022

Over the last couple of years and through my own foresight journey (as a social worker and a human)…I’ve found emerging language regarding the future to be really interesting, illuminating, sometimes troubling, and valuable. Sometimes there are words that are more “pop culture” words that emerge from the mainstream (they are a little like popcorn…not much substance).

University 246

University Social Worker 246

Social Work Futures

MAY 11, 2022

Periodic interesting things gathered – to accelerate (or disrupt) social working thinking, exploring and practice with a futures/foresight lens. 10 things seems like a good amount of things…and about as much as any of us can handle at one time. ( I’ve been away from doing this for awhile…but you can see previous posts of this kind here.).

Mental Health 224

Mental Health University 224

Social Work Futures

DECEMBER 18, 2021

Futures thinker Bob Johansen says that futures thinking now, is about moving from “categorical” to “spectrum” thinking in his most recent book. To me, full spectrum thinking is about being able to consider the complexity of phenomena, situations and/or challenge – and avoid the trap of oversimplifying. As I’ve continued my work in futures/foresight – getting a better handle on the ways that complexity “works” has been important to my work and

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Social Work Futures

DECEMBER 13, 2021

The Council on Social Work Education regularly goes through a lengthy process to revise its educational and practice standards. Currently there is an “open commentary” opportunity to weigh in on the latest round of the proposed standards for 2022. You can read about the process and the proposed standards themselves here. This entry offers a brief analysis of the proposed 2022 CSWE EPAS Guidelines.

Schools 178

Schools 178

Social Work Futures

OCTOBER 2, 2020

The week before last, the Institute for the Future (where I have a Research Fellowship affiliation) had their annual “Ten Year Forecast” meeting. It is always a robust, engaging – and sometimes unsettling gathering. I learn so much every year – thought I’d summarize the high points I took away. I did a download of the meeting – check it out!!

Engagement 130

Engagement 130

Social Work Futures

OCTOBER 5, 2020

Followers of this blog know I am a scanning machine – always looking around on Twitter and beyond, gathering and comparing signals of change or interesting bits of information with other futures practice colleagues. This blog has had a running series on these scans since it started. This is a central idea in futures practice – and best done in community!

Child Welfare 130

Child Welfare Welfare Self-harm Communication 130

Social Work Futures

OCTOBER 13, 2020

Have you seen the film “The Social Dilemma?” In a previous post, I shared a couple of fine reviews specifically concerning the lack of diverse representation in the film – particularly when it comes to breakthrough thinking, practicing, research and imagining about the future in tech and beyond. Most concerning is the lack of inclusion of the voices of Women of Color who have been conducting important work in this space for many years.

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Interviewing University Communication Therapist 147

Social Work Futures

JANUARY 3, 2021

Photo taken by a doctor who goes by the Twitter handle @roto_tudor posted this photo in December 2020 – and explained that these were end of life stations being prepared at his hospital. The photo went viral with its simple yet staggering view of covid-19s’ realities. In April of 2019, I had the privilege of getting to design a futures game for my dean colleagues of schools of social work around the United States.

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Social Worker Recovery Disability Hospitals 130

Social Work Futures

MARCH 3, 2021

In social work, we generally don’t “cover” topics of artificial intelligence very centrally in our educational or practice literature, though a few brave social work researchers. practitioners and activists have done so. We tend to talk about it more generally – which is a good start but not enough from where I sit. Futurist Leah Zaidi says that the role of artificial intelligence is one of the three central necessary foci of futures work right now (the other two being eq

Human Services 204

Human Services Social Worker Government 204

Social Work Futures

JUNE 30, 2021

As a way to explore futures thinking in the social work profession, I’ve developed a new game. I’ve enjoyed using this with students and on recent consultations – and it gives all involved a chance to play with a number of meaningful futures/foresight ideas. Bring your powers of observation – and your imagination and give it a look!

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Consultation 217

Social Work Futures

AUGUST 25, 2021

This past year, I taught a traditional social welfare policy class at my post as a social work professor at Portland State University. I incorporated a futures lens into the class and into the primary assignments. After receiving a number of requests to share what I’d been up to – I put together this overview! The experiment was a great success and I’ll continue this approach in my ongoing teaching of this class.

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Welfare University 184

Social Work Futures

SEPTEMBER 2, 2021

I was invited into a discussion about the future of the city of Portland recently – and I thought I’d do a quick signals scan before joining in. Sharing here so we can all learn together. The city is a site and landscape of much of the future of well-being in almost every category. So much is happening in these spaces and those of us engaged in work on health, justice and community thriving can benefit from this rich dialogue, scholarship and activism.

Engagement 137

Engagement 137

Social Work Futures

OCTOBER 20, 2021

Over the last couple of years and through my own foresight journey (as a social worker and a human)…I’ve found emerging language regarding the future to be really interesting, illuminating, sometimes troubling, and valuable. Sometimes there are words that are more “pop culture” words that emerge from the mainstream (they are a little like popcorn…not much substance).

Engagement 182

Engagement Government Social Worker 182

Social Work Futures

OCTOBER 28, 2021

(Photo is from Cape Horn Lookout – Columbia River Gorge, Washington, USA – sunrise. Taken by L.Nissen). This blog was started as a way to track my journey as a social worker, and social work scholar, as I “learned out loud” about what futures work/foresight was all about. Recently, I revised my “manifesto” that reflects my most recent and focused explanation about “why futures thinking and foresight should matter to social work.” Sharing it here fo

Social Worker 193

Social Worker 193