Thank you all of you who've got in touch with useful resources to share with each other.
We have collated a list of information and resources below. Please feel free to share these resources with anyone you think would benefit.
Please email cpdofficer@iasw.ie with any information, supports and resources for social workers so we can keep sharing relevant information with each other.
It might also be helpful if you could let us know of specific information you need, and we can include requests in the next mail. There may be members who have the information you need.
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THE LIAISON SOCIAL WORK ROLE IN NURSING HOMES AND RESIDENTIAL SETTINGS: GUIDANCE FOR SOCIAL WORKERS
The Irish Association of Social Workers (IASW) developed these practice guidelines for liaison social workers in nursing home and community settings in response to the distress, hardship and grief caused by the Covid-19 crisis. A similar model of practice is already used in hospital and palliative care settings and is adapted here for use in nursing homes and community residential settings to ensure equity in access to social work support for all people and families regardless of their location of care and death.
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THE LIAISON SOCIAL WORK ROLE IN NURSING HOMES AND RESIDENTIAL SETTINGS: A MODEL FOR PRACTICE
In April 2020, social workers deeply concerned about disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on vulnerable residents in nursing homes and a wide range of residential settings, came together to share their professional expertise on how social work was adapting and responding to the needs of residents and their families. Social workers listened to the experiences of residents and families, drew upon existing and evolving messages from research and shared learning, resources and tools developed since the onset of Covid-19 across a range of Irish social work agencies and settings.
The model outlined in this document is informed by this collaborative expertise and provides a way to share learning across the profession so that social workers can provide the psychosocial supports that residents and their families urgently require. The model has been operationalised in varying forms in St Mary’s Hospital in the Phoenix Park, the Navan Road Community Nursing Unit, St Clare’s Community Nursing Unit, Clarehaven Community Nursing Unit, Lusk Community Nursing Unit and CHO 7 in Hollybrook Lodge Residential Care Centre. It has also been adapted for use in mental health services in CHO 9.
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GUIDANCE FOR THE MEDICAL SOCIAL WORK PROFESSION RESPONSE TO COVID-19
This guidance document has been developed by Sinéad McGarry & Kaylene Jackson and it aims to support the professional response of Irish Medical Social Work Departments to the Covid19 pandemic. It is informed by the limited literature available on role of social workers in epidemics, broader research on the implications of epidemic/pandemic work on frontline staff and by preliminary consultation with healthcare staff in Italy. This guidance will be modified and updated as our professional experience and knowledge expands in the weeks and months ahead. You can download the document from the right side of this page.
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A TOOL FOR MEDICAL SOCIAL WORKERS
Beyond the Door Visualisation is a social work tool developed to help patients feel connected to home and those outside at a time when they cannot physically be with them. The poster is available from the downloads section on this page: https://www.iasw.ie/IASW_COVID19_Resources
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C19REGISTER.COM : A FREE ONLINE TOOL FOR VISITOR REGISTRATION WITH COVID-19 SELF-SCREENING
Because of COVID-19, it is recommended that anyone attending in person at a premises, clinic, club, training-hall or office should pre-register and make an appropriate COVID-19 declaration before arriving. The COVID-19 Register project is a community funded initative set-up to allow anyone who needs it to setup their own online COVID Visitor pre-registration / self-screening form and attendance record within 5 minutes. It's totally free. Grab a free covid-19 form for your website
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GUIDANCE FOR BEREAVEMENT SUPPORT PROVIDED BY SPECIALIST PALLIATIVE CARE SOCIAL WORKERS IN IRELAND, 2019
This document provides evidence informed guidance to all specialist palliative care social workers who are involved in the delivery of bereavement support to patients and families. While acknowledging that most bereaved individuals manage their grief with good quality information and their informal support networks, a significant minority of bereaved people may require additional supports. The guidance recognises the differing levels of need which may emerge after a significant loss and advocates an appropriately matched response. The document was developed by members of the Palliative Care Social Workers Group with the support of Dr. Audrey Roulston, Senior Lecturer in the School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work in Queen’s University, Belfast. The document is available to download from the right side of this page.
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BEREAVEMENT WORK
The Hospice and Palliative Care Social Workers Group have developed an addendum on The Impact of Covid-19 to their Guidance for Bereavement Support provided by Specialist Palliative Care Social Workers in Ireland document. The addendum can be downloaded from the downloads section on this page: https://www.iasw.ie/IASW_COVID19_Resources
Anam Cara have recently updated their online support and resources for bereaved parents at https://anamcara.ie/ Also available are Anam Cara Information Packs – 8 leaflets written by Bereaved parents for bereaved parents. These can be posted out or downloaded from the Anam Cara Website. Further information about supports available at 01 4045378 /085 2888 888 or info@anamcara.ie
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SOCIAL WORKERS RESPOND TO COVID-19
Read about how social workers are adapting and responding in the Irish Social Work Blog, a blog for contemporary issues in Irish Social Work practice https://irishsocialwork.wordpress.com/
The British Association of Social Workers update their Covid-19 resources section regularly so do check in for updated resources and guidance at https://www.basw.co.uk/coronavirus-updates/social-work-resources-during-coronavirus
The Northern Ireland Social Care Council (NISCC) has made available free learning resources, including a child development app, which you can find at https://learningzone.niscc.info/learning-resources?category=9
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NON-VIOLENT RESISTANCE
In response to queries about how to use Non-Violent Resistance (NVR) over the phone or via on-line platforms, the committee of NVR Ireland developed some guidelines. Although aimed at practitioners who are trained in NVR, the suggestions there might come in useful for social workers and allied practitioners offering to support and work with clients remotely throughout the time of COVID 19. The guidance document is available from the downloads section on this page: https://www.iasw.ie/IASW_COVID19_Resources
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LEGISLATION & COURTS
Notice for practitioners and members of the public requiring services from court offices in respect of criminal, family law and civil law business effective from 30th March 2020.
The Mental Health Commission have introduced several changes to help simplify their regulatory and tribunals processes at this time. Detail on these changes can be found at https://www.mhcirl.ie/About_Us/Covid-19/Covid-19.html
This comprehensive hub has been developed by the Family Law Clinic, UCC School of Law and provides details of local and national resources regarding access to justice, courts and state supports services, domestic violence, children in care, financial support and other related family law matters. See https://www.ucc.ie/en/covid19familylaw/
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WORKING ONLINE
The School of Applied Social Studies (social work), UCC have put together a free to access
Padlet with resources that may be of use to you and your team https://padlet.com/kenneth28burns/uvpu626mvd5k
Useful article on using Zoom https://therapists-network.com/using-zoom-for-your-clients-in-therapy/amp/
Zoom statement on EU GDPR compliance https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/360000126326-Official-Statement-EU-GDPR-Compliance
HSELanD is the Health Service Executive's online learning and development portal.
HSELanD contains over 170 eLearning programmes, resources, assessment and planning tools to support you in your current job role and with your personal and professional development as well as supporting resources in the fight against COVID-19
BASW have partnered with SCIE (Social Care Institute for Excellence) to develop a section on Digital Capabilities for social workers to support practice, education and development. View and download the resources at https://www.basw.co.uk/resources/publications-policies-and-reports/digital-capabilities-social-workers
You can also sign up for access to free SCIE resources and their ebulletin at https://www.scie.org.uk/index
The HSE eHealth HSCP Advisory Group has developed a blog on general online resources for the 16,000 HSCPs working in the HSE. You can follow the blog at https://hscpshare.com/ Get in touch with the group if you would like to write a blog from a social work perspective.
The free Padlet developed by the School of Applied Social Studies, UCC has been thoroughly updated with newer versions of resources and additional information: https://padlet.com/kenneth28burns/uvpu626mvd5k The Padlet is open access and anyone can contribute a resource / link.
North Dublin Mental Health Services have shared a document on the use of tele-health during COVID19 pandemic. You can access the document in the downloads section on this page: https://www.iasw.ie/IASW_COVID19_Resources
The UCC “Online Social Work Practice” series has developed new tools which, alongside other resources, are available on this link: https://padlet.com/kenneth28burns/uvpu626mvd5k
A webinar is planned for early June to showcase online initiatives by front-line practitioners. If you know of any interesting initiatives led by front-line social workers and/or related professionals, please forward relevant details to Kenneth Burns at K.Burns@ucc.ie
CPD Certificate in Remote Working:
The HSeLanD team delivered ‘HSeLanD – Supporting Training Conversion’ webinar last week. You can view the insights and content delivered by watching the recording in the Share Centre Hub on HSeLanD. Go to http://www.hseland.ie/dash/Registration to set up an account if you don’t already have one.
The @UCCsocialwork webinar on Online Social Work Practice took place last week. A video of the event and all of the Q+A resources are now available to view on this link: https://bit.ly/36s5xHs The Padlet has more information on links and resources: https://padlet.com/kenneth28burns/uvpu626mvd5k
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HSE HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE PROFESSIONS REPOSITORY
The National HSCP Office is pleased to advise that a HSCP repository is now available in the HSCP Hub on HSELanD. This repository has been developed to support the Health and Social Care Professions to deliver services in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is intended that this central repository will enable a sharing of COVID and non-COVID-related resources to reduce duplication of effort for HSCP frontline staff and managers at this time. This development will be an iterative process with new content being added as it is received. The format may change over time in line with content requirements and user feedback.
Location of HSCP Repository on HSELanD
Once logged in to www.hseland.ie*, users can access the repository in three clicks:
*If you do not have an account, you can create an account as a staff member or ‘volunteer’.
Structure of the Repository
Resources are available in the following three categories. See navigation details for more information.
We invite HSCP frontline staff, professional bodies and other interested parties to continue to send relevant resources to the National HSCP Office by emailing hscp.nationaloffice@hse.ie
The HSE have collated information for staff which includes updates on testing, working from home, virtual health and managing fatigue. See https://healthservice.hse.ie/staff/news/coronavirus-news/?source=banner-hse-staff
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INCOME SUPPORT
Information for employers, employees and the self-employed can be found at https://www.gov.ie/en/organisation/department-of-employment-affairs-and-social-protection/
Citizens Information have brought information together very useful information on social welfare, employment rights, etc. https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/health/covid19/
Information about social welfare and immigration for migrant workers, documented and undocumented, can be found at https://www.mrci.ie/get-info/#updates
Information, advice and an Emergency Care Plan Booklet for family carers at https://familycarers.ie
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SUPPORTS FOR OLDER PEOPLE
ALONE https://alone.ie/
Age Action https://www.ageaction.ie/
ALONE have an information booklet to support work with older people concerned about Covid-19. You can found it on the downloads section on this page: https://www.iasw.ie/IASW_COVID19_Resources
Alzheimer National Helpline has a free Dementia Nurse and Dementia Adviser call-back service to deal with increased need during COVID-19 crisis. Open Monday to Friday 10am–5pm and Saturday 10am–4pm on 1800 341 341.
Wellbeing Initiatives
Access to Technology for Older People
THE HomeShare provides an innovative alternative to social support. Living independently for older and younger adults is very expensive in Ireland today. THE HomeShare provides a medium to long term solution for both generations to live their best life. If you are looking for affordable accommodation or support to remain living in your own home: https://thehomeshare.ie/
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SUPPORTS FOR WORK WITH CHILDREN AND FAMILIES
Advice and information for children and young people struggling to understand what is happening and how to cope is available from the Ombudsman for Children’s Office at www.oco.ie.
In addition, the Children and Young People Services Committees have great tips and links for children's wellbeing while we work together to stay safe and well.
The Children's Rights Alliance website will also be updated with links and information with regard to the resources that our members have created and are available to all Barnardos’ have launched a dedicated telephone and email support service to provide advice to parents on a wide range of issues that may have come up during this time. This service will be staffed by Barnardos project workers who are trained professionals. You can make contact with this service by phoning 1800 910 123 between 10.00am and 2.00pm Monday to Friday or by emailing parentsupport@barnardos.ie. Some resources to support children and adults around anxiety, worry, stress, and fears; including specific Covid (updated on a very regular basis)
http://www.safehandsthinkingminds.co.uk/covid-anxiety-stress-resources-links/
Resources for talking with children about Coronavirus can be found at https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/coronavirus/
The Children and Families Special Interest Group (SIG) have an article on Challenges for
Children and Families in Time of Containment, Quarantine, and Isolation: An Irish Perspective available on the downloads section of this page.
The Dublin Children and Young People’s Services Committees have developed a directory of Covid-19 wellbeing resources accessible at https://www.dublincypscdirectory.ie/
The UNESCO Centre for Child and Family Research NUI Galway are hosting weekly webinars on Thursdays at 6pm live on Facebook on the theme of Living and Learning Empathy in Covid-19: A Virtual Global Conversation. You can play back the webinars that have already taken place at http://www.childandfamilyresearch.ie/cfrc/weeklywebinars/
The Children's Principal Social Workers Network (UK), in association with What Works for Children's Social Care have run a COVID-19 Webinar Series.
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SUPPORTS FOR WORKING WITH ADULTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES/ ADULTS WITH AUTISM
Supports are available from BASW and SCIE at
Simple free booklets to explain re virus to people with intellectual disability as well as resources on coping with lockdown and when someone dies https://booksbeyondwords.co.uk/downloads-shop/beating-the-virus
The All Ireland Institute of Hospice and Palliative Care is collaborating with the Trinity Centre for Ageing and Intellectual Disability along with The Daughters of Charity Disability Support Service, St Francis Hospice, Dublin, and Tallaght University Hospital to deliver a Project ECHO AIIHPC Webinars for Intellectual Disability Services to provide information and guidance to Intellectual Disability Services during the COVID-19 outbreak http://www.professionalpalliativehub.com/covid-19/project-echo-aiihpc-webinars-intellectual-disability-services#2
Supports for those with Autism/Aspergers can be found at https://asiam.ie/asiam-and-covid19/
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SUPPORTS FOR WORKING WITH OLDER PEOPLE/NURSING HOMES
AIIHPC is collaborating with the Age-related Health Care Department of Tallaght University Hospital to deliver Project ECHO AIIHPC webinars for Nursing Homes during COVID-19 http://www.professionalpalliativehub.com/covid-19/project-echo-aiihpc-webinars-nursing-homes#2
Irish Gerontological Society Webinars/Conferences/Blogs https://www.irishgerontology.com/news/blogs/nursing-home-care-and-covid-19
Sage Advocacy have a section on Supporting vulnerable adults, older people and healthcare patients during the COVID-19 Pandemic https://www.sageadvocacy.ie/resources
The Liaison Social Work Role in Nursing Homes and Residential Settings: A Model for Practice has been developed by IASW members to respond the unmet needs of those dying, bereaved and unwell in nursing homes and residential care. You can access the document from the downloads section on this page: https://www.iasw.ie/IASW_COVID19_Resources
The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) has made available new COVID-19 guidance for carers in care homes who are supporting residents living with dementia during the pandemic. Some useful information for social work as well https://www.scie.org.uk/dementia/
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SUPPORTS FOR TUSLA STAFF
Tusla have provided information and advice for their staff which can be found at https://www.tusla.ie/staff/covid-19-information-and-advice-for-tusla-staff/ There is plenty of information here that will be helpful to social workers in other settings.
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SUPPORTS FOR FOSTER CARERS
Online mindfulness sessions for IFCA members. Niamh Barrett is a mindfulness teacher who has been facilitating mindfulness-based interventions since 2010. At IFCA she’s the Learning and Development Co-ordinator. She is offering mindfulness meditation sessions for foster carers, as a resource and source of support and has put together a short introduction video here. If you have any questions for Niamh you can contact her on email on niamh.barrett@ifca.ie
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KEEPING WELL WHILE WORKING
City Mental Health Alliance UK has good information on “Supporting colleagues to stay mentally healthy in unusual working conditions” and this document has links to other international and national agencies: http://citymha.org.uk/supporting-colleagues-to-stay-mentally-healthy-in-unusual-working-conditions/
Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress US has two new documents one of which is Psychological Effects of Quarantine During the Coronavirus Outbreak: What Healthcare Providers Need to Know: https://www.cstsonline.org/resources/resource-master-list/coronavirus-and-emerging-infectious-disease-outbreaks-response
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SUPPORTS TO MENTAL HEALTH
HSE LIVE Phone, Twitter, Find a Service https://www.hse.ie/eng/hselive/
HSE - Minding your mental health during Covid-19 https://www2.hse.ie/wellbeing/mental-health/minding-your-mental-health-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak.html
St. Pat’s - Managing Anxiety https://www.stpatricks.ie/media-centre/blogs-articles/2020/march/coronavirus-anxiety
Jigsaw - coping with the Impact of Covid-19 https://jigsawonline.ie/young-people/coping-with-the-impact-of-coronavirus/
The Mindfulness Centre https://mindfulness.ie/
Headspace https://www.headspace.com/
Mental Health Foundation UK - Looking after yourself during the corona virus pandemic https://mentalhealth.org.uk/publications/looking-after-your-mental-health-during-coronavirus-outbreak
Mental Health Reform have collated a list of services and supports at https://www.mentalhealthreform.ie/news/mental-health-services-supports-available/
An interesting website developed to support the mental health of healthcare staff https://www.mindthefrontline.com/
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SUPPORTS FOR HOME VISITS
BASW have developed a Professional Practice Guidance for Home Visits for social workers and their employers. The guidance does not replace employer or national public health guidance. It will be regularly updated so do check back for revised versions https://www.basw.co.uk/professional-practice-guidance-home-visits-during-covid-19-pandemic
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REGISTRATION OF BIRTHS AND DEATHS
Birth and death registration is now online. Register a death at https://www.gov.ie/en/service/49c66f-registering-a-death-in-ireland/
Births can be registered at https://www.gov.ie/en/service/64a092-registering-a-birth/
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LEARNING FROM SOCIAL WORKERS ACROSS THE WORLD
Check out our UK colleagues at the BASW for updates on what’s working in social work https://www.basw.co.uk/media/news/2020/mar/covid-19-what-working
Find out how social workers worldwide are responding and about our role at this time https://www.ifsw.org/updated-information-on-ifsw-and-the-covid-19-virus/
The British Association of Social Workers updates their resources every few days so do continue to check for the latest supports to social work at https://www.basw.co.uk/coronavirus-updates/social-work-resources-during-coronavirus
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CURRENT RESEARCH
A suite of reports, based on data from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA), has been published to assist Government and the health services to plan and deliver the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland. The reports respond to emerging national and international data on key risk factors associated with COVID-19 and can be found at https://www.tcd.ie/news_events/articles/v-ital-research-reports-released-to-aid-health-officials-response-to-pandemic/
To assist health workers and researchers working under challenging conditions to bring this outbreak to a close, The Lancet has created a Coronavirus Resource Centre. This resource brings together new 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) content from across The Lancet journals as it is published. All of our COVID-19 content is free to access at https://www.thelancet.com/coronavirus
The WHO has collated and made available global research on COVID-19 and links to other free resources https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/global-research-on-novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov
The HSE library have collated a number of articles in response to the question What is the role of social work and family liaison during global pandemics such as COVID-19? View the relevant articles at https://hselibrary.ie/social-work-and-family-liaison-during-covid-19/
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ONLINE CPD
Developed in collaboration with Johns Hopkins Open Education Lab, some of our members have found this online course in psychological first aid useful https://www.coursera.org/learn/psychological-first-aid
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SUPPORTING COMMUNITIES NATIONWIDE
The Wheel have developed a COVID-19 Community Outreach (CCO) initiative with excellent information to
https://www.wheel.ie/covid-19-community-outreach#champions
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REPRESENTATIVE WORK
The IASW has been lobbying the Office of the Taoiseach, the HSE, Tusla, Government Ministers and other stakeholders on behalf of our members. Issues raised include access to PPE while carrying out home visits and recognition of Social Workers working at the front line of the COVID-19 crisis. Copies of these communications can be found in the 'Downloads' section on this page.
Downloads
