Digital skills for social work

Department of a major healthcare organisation in the sector of addiction treatment (alcohol, gaming, drugs). In the pandemic, operators implemented a number of diverse strategies to keep in contact with their users and family members.

In the post emergency phase, they decided to capitalise on the lessons learnt and the potential resulting from the technology, enhancing the service with an on-line desk conceived to facilitate access for users.

Digitalisation is increasingly permeating every aspect of our daily lives.

Designing inclusive on-line services, focussing on users with a high standard on data protection, is a daunting challenge. Users are people who suffer and have issues.

Implementation of a digital desk on the basis of an accurate analysis of the use of digital instruments by users and operators and the needs of recipients.

The digital desk is a dynamic tool and it is instrumental for operators and users with a dual objective:

• Facilitating access to the service on the basis of a first on-line contact to overcome the stigmatisation preventing people to get in touch with organisations in charge of addiction treatment
• Disseminate contents on addictions, treatment options and available support to inform family members of users and raise the awareness of the public.

We integrated different methods to co-design the solution together with the actual recipients: focus groups, hackathon, questionnaires, regular testing with recipients.

We created a support path on digital skills for operators, with sessions on the service design, to engage them in the new service and involve them in the creation of contents.

We created a digital platform for users and their family members, entirely co-designed with users and operators. The platform is connected to social media and it includes the option to book meetings, obtain insights on addictions, access feedback from users and family members.