ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 crisis has challenged social workers globally. In Belgium, a national lockdown was declared in March 2020 and companies and organisations had to take appropriate measures and adapt quickly to downsize the coronavirus. This study therefore researches dynamics or adaptations that social workers in Flanders, Belgium, experienced during this crisis and on what they would like to preserve in the future (‘good practices’), as well as on the challenges or barriers (‘bottlenecks’) they experienced and would like to eliminate. Based on an extensive survey research in April/May 2020, this study shows how social work organisations and social workers were not prepared at all for a crisis like the pandemic but adapted to this new situation quickly and to the best of their abilities. In doing so, they noticed several good practices related to working from home (WFH), digitalisation, and solidarity. On the other hand, they also experienced bottlenecks related to reduced or lacking face-to-face contact, digitalisation, accessibility, and information flow. In conclusion, this study shed light on several good practices and bottlenecks and raised several questions that should be thoughtfully taken into account in order to establish systems that benefit the client, the social worker, and the organisation.
