In this episode, regional engagement leads Matthew and Philippa are joined by social worker and social media advocate Kayleigh Rose Evans as they discuss the social media aspect of professional standard 5.

Kayleigh is a regular social media user with growing audiences on multiple platforms. She shares her experience of social work and digital social spaces, including how she developed her approach as a practising social worker, how she balances her professional and personal social media use, and how social workers can protect themselves online.

Join the conversation using #ThisIsSocialWorkPod on our website and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Transcript

Matthew

Welcome to This Is Social Work. I’m Matthew Social Work England's regional engagement lead for the North West of England. In this series we're focusing on the professional standards, the 6 standards that social workers must know, understand and be able to do as part of their role.

The professional standards are specialists to the social work profession and apply to social workers in all roles and settings across England.

In this episode we're focused on standard five we discuss social media and how social workers can use it in a way that ensures we act safely respectfully and with professional integrity we're joined by Kayleigh Rose Evans, a social worker and best interests assessor from the North West, who's a bit of a famous face in the world of social media.

Today Kayleigh shares her own experiences of using social media as a social worker, outlines the benefits of its use and gives us an insight into how she meets standard 5. She also reveals some of her top tips when it comes to using social media platforms responsibly, and the line between personal and professional accounts online.

We hope you enjoy the conversation.

Philippa

Welcome Matthew and welcome Kayleigh. So it would be really great Kayleigh if you could introduce yourself and tell us a bit about yourself.

Kayleigh

Okay well firstly, thank you for inviting me on the podcast, I’m really pleased to be asked. I’m Kayleigh, a social worker in the North West of England and so I studied social work at BA level, but I carried on to study after qualifying because I wanted to carry on to build up things like best interests assessments, and I’m now doing my practice educator training and I have to say like, continuing that has been really helpful for me and given me a lot more confidence in practice and alongside that, I’ve been doing various social media things like YouTube and I’m quite active on Twitter and it's really given me a, a wide community so I’m going to talk a little bit more about that.

But I just wanted to set the scene and my practice before qualifying was with, I volunteered a lot with children but then I ended up working with adults and I’ve worked in various different roles which again I’ve been really fortunate to have a good career so far, and I’ve worked in hospitals, various hospitals, in a rehabilitation centre, I worked on a new project with district nurses in quite an impoverished area and we did some really good preventative work, and now I’m working in a larger team of social workers, so I feel that I’ve had a really good insight into different areas of adult services.

Philippa

That's great and we're really looking forward to having a conversation with you today.

So today's podcast is focused very much on professional standard 5 which is ‘act safely respectfully and with professional integrity’ and for this podcast though, we're going to focus on social media and how as social workers we can use social media in a way that ensures we act safely and respectfully, and with professional integrity.

Social media is increasingly a feature of how we communicate and through the course of the pandemic we've seen social media play an important role in how communities remain connected, how social workers engage with children, families and people accessing support and care services, as well as how we connect with colleagues and friends.

Whilst for some social media is a source of support and connectedness, for others it's far from a safe space. As social workers who are part of a regulated profession, we also need to think about what we post online and think about the link between the personal and professional and that's what we're going to talk a bit more about today. Matthew.

Matthew

Thanks Philippa, so standard 5 is quite big, there's a lot of elements to standard 5 but we're going to drill down into a couple of elements of standard 5, just to sort of frame this discussion really about social media, so particularly standard 5.2 talks about ‘as a social worker, I will not behave in a way that will bring into question my suitability to work as a social worker while at work or outside of work’ and I think that opens up the discussion a little bit about social media, and how can social workers use social media, both in their role but how they use that in a you know, personal setting as well, how best to navigate that, how to do that in the most appropriate way whilst maintaining those professional standards, particularly 5.2, and that's essentially why we've got you here Kayleigh because I think you are really active on social media and are, and are a frontline social worker and I think for some that might sound an unusual balance, but really keen to hear how you do that really, and how you best navigate some of the challenges that that might bring?

Kayleigh

Yeah so I can remember on my training, a lot of what we were taught was around sort of, the dangers of social media and what not to do, which to be honest was really helpful because I think it opened people's eyes around you know, the things to avoid and I think by the end of the training, people were a lot more aware of that and I have looked at research around it because I’m doing a dissertation on the topic and I think that a lot of people acknowledge that that's needed and so I closed, I made everything a lot more secure on my personal accounts and I also thought about changing my name so that I wasn't easily found if I was working with people on, as part of my placements and then I’ve continued to do that as I’ve progressed, and that's helped to keep my family safe but also thinking about not sharing pictures of things that might bring the profession into disrepute, I think that's the right word isn't it, has been really helpful, but then also and as I’ve continued to study, a lecturer actually recommended that I set up a professional account and set up a Twitter page as part of my learning and it's, it's like opened up a whole new world to me and it's been absolutely brilliant for, for me to be part of these communities and it's absolutely fascinating to see how people communicate on there, and I feel like a lot of the mainstream media out there about social work can sometimes be quite biased and it's a lot of the narratives are coming from elsewhere but on here, there's a really diverse community of people with experience of going through services or people from advocacy social work, and everyone coming together and having some really stimulating discussions, so I think being on Twitter has been really positive.

And then there's a lot more sort of, content out there for social workers beyond just like academic books and I think every, it creates an environment where you can talk to the people that write those books and feel like they're not someone distant, they're actual people that are interested in making a difference and have spent a long time, and working on the literature and I think for me I sort of lacked a bit of confidence around myself academically but more recently I’ve started to understand that everyone's just doing the best and it's nice to that these people are more human because they're interacting with you, you know? It's a really stimulating environment so I find there's a lot of positives as well and I suppose that's why I’ve become really interested in it because I want people to know that it's out there.

Matthew

Yeah and I think those positives are really interesting and I think I am relatively new to understanding the positives of social media particularly in relation to social work and because I think when I was working in the local authority and as a sort of front line social worker, I suppose in different roles I shied away completely from social media, I was not active on social media in a professional capacity but really personally I wasn't really that involved in social media, it certainly wasn't talked about in my training, so throughout my training to be a social worker so the 3 years I spent doing my BA, I don't think social media was really talked about it but it was, it was quite a while ago the social media wasn't, I suppose, as big. It wasn't that long ago, it wasn't the dark ages, but it was 2006 I started my training so I suppose social media has progressed a lot since then hasn't it and I think in terms of the positive content, I’ve seen a lot of that in this role because I joined Twitter as I started my regional engagement role because we felt, as a team of regional engagement leads, it was really important to have that visibility but I think, and that has worked I think, that's been a real avenue for us to engage, I think Philippa would agree with that, but more than that it's given me access to content that I suppose I would have struggled to find otherwise.

You've got a supportive community on Twitter isn't it, about sharing different resources, getting access to different resources or just understanding what's out there I think.

My background's pretty much purely adults and men with learning disability and I think it's opened my eyes to lots of different practice areas that I think maybe would have been hidden if I hadn't have purposely gone out and searched for academic literature or books and things like that, so I think that accessibility I think is a real positive that I’ve found.

Philippa

Yeah I mean, most people who know me I’m a real advocate for Twitter you know, I’ve been on it for quite a long time I kind of was on it as a social worker and then when I went to work for the safeguarding board, kind of managed the kind of boards Twitter account but for me I would absolutely echo what you have been saying Kayleigh, it's kind of opened up my world you know. I’m a social worker in the South West which is a little bit detached in the, you know, from sort of what goes on in the bigger cities and it's been able to give me that access to kind of, academic research, to journals, to people with lived experience’s views and the Twitter community you know, there's a lot of negativity around social media but actually my experience has generally been really positive, and I’ve kind of managed to connect and engage with people and kind of you know, learn so much about social work and what sort of current trends are, what people are thinking and feeling, that it's actually been you know, a really positive experience for me.

You know, my background is children and families you know, I kind of have had, I think there is that caution about how we present ourselves on social media and that kind of, should it be an anonymity or should you use your real name, I mean I use a kind of mix of both, it's not quite my full name but I mean you could easily you could find me if you needed to, I’m not that anonymous but I think it's about how you kind of manage yourself you know, and really kind of think, think about what you put on and what you tweet about. You don't have to necessarily tweet you could just use it for more kind of a following kind of sense but I found it really positive and in this role Matthew I’d absolutely agree, as a regional engagement lead it's been a really helpful way to raise the profile of our roles, of Social Work England.

I know one of my concerns is that lots of social workers aren't on Twitter so we have to be really mindful that it's not an echo chamber for us you know, and that there is other mediums out there but Twitter in particular I’ve found it's been a really positive experience for me

Matthew

I think it's, I think for me that it's, I’ve got and I’m similar Philippa, my backgrounds really in, in Cumbria which is a small part of the North West and I think I was really conscious coming into this role that there's much more out there in terms of social work and I think just opening those, those doors and opening my eyes a little bit to that national picture and what's going on in different areas I think is, is such a, it's a good positive thing that I’ve found particularly in this role, but it's interesting to hearing that from your perspective as well clearly.

Kayleigh

Yeah I think it's, I mean it's quite amazing isn't it, how you can connect with people like obviously you got in touch with me via Twitter and it's like I wouldn't have come across you very easily like any other way and it's like you, you know what I’m interested in and then you can directly speak to someone in line with those interests and I think that gives social workers a lot of opportunities because it's like, it's very niche isn't it, the interests that people may have but then you could find lots of other people with that exact interest and then that's really encouraging for you, and then you might develop that interest further and I think even the wider scope of like, knowing what jobs are out there for social work is really interesting you know, when you see it in people's bios you just, you wouldn't know and I think like on, it, it helps you think about social work on more of a macro level than what you're just doing as face to face, because I enjoy the impact you can have but it helps you to engage more with wider like, social work drives around promoting social justice and human rights because it's like you know, with the Black Lives Matter I put out a video talking to someone about her experiences and the next thing I know, me and her have been asked to go on Siobhan Maclean's video you know, talking about it which then had a global thing because there was people from all over the world on there and it's like you, you really, and then you're like an ally in it and, and you understand and you're learning but it's also you're having conversations and it's not just the people that you would meet within your geographical area, you it's, it's quite amazing and I think it's only going to grow really.

Philippa

Obviously under standard 5 we've also got a standard 5.6 which is ‘as a social worker, I will not use technology, social media or other forms of electric communication unlawfully, unethically or in a way that will bring the profession into distribute’ – that's like quite a kind of, you know, intimidating I think, kind of statement really in many ways, it's very kind of really thinking about that unlawfully kind of unethically kind of, sort of driver. I suppose I'd like to turn it on its head a little bit because I think for me my experience of social media has been really positive but we have, as the regulator in terms of fitness to practise you know we do see examples where social media has brought someone, someone's fitness to practise into question and I suppose what we want to kind of unpick on this podcast really is more about, how can social workers ensure that they're using social media ethically.

Kayleigh, what, how, what would be your take on that as someone who is not only active on Twitter but also I’m thinking about the work you do through your YouTube, which is much more kind of visible and kind of out there really, in some of the messages that you're saying.

Kayleigh

Yeah so definitely the YouTube is very visible and I think that took a lot of planning before I even started. So, I did spend um over a year just on Twitter getting an idea of, well I suppose taking more of a bystander approach which I know a lot of people that advise about social media and social work advise that you do that to pick up what other people are doing and sort of become ingrained in that a little bit so that you get an idea of the boundaries of things, because I think that alongside sort of, the skills that you gain from social work itself like, we are, everything that we do we have to think about ethics and I think that that does transfer over, so I know that I’m not going to be sharing confidential details and even down to like little things that I’m saying, I’m like really thinking ‘does this draw anything back to giving a detail away?’ because even vague examples you, you can give it away because people can figure out what area you're from, like even my voice would give away that I’m from the North West of England you know, and so I’m just really careful with that and I suppose it's about like use of self, so a lot of what I do and I’m talking about my experience as a social worker and what I’ve developed from that and how I can help other social workers, and I use some examples of practice and because I want it to be really relevant, but it's not really of specific cases and so that helps me to, to really navigate what I’m doing and it gives me the confidence to know that I’m not sharing anything I shouldn't be, and I think ,I really like social pedagogy because I think they have it really well in terms of the balance between being professional and having integrity but also bringing a bit of who you are as a person and your personality, and I think that that's really guided me through what I share on social media.

So, in terms of the 3 P’s, that one of them is that your professional self and that's about having a purpose for what you're doing, so I’m aware of the legislation around what I can share what I can't share because I I’m checking things with my organisation like, the guidance and wider things and that so every time I’m posting something I’m thinking ‘well why am I posting this?’ like what's my purpose for it as opposed to just doing it because I’m having a bad day and I just you know, I just want to share something like I always share things usually because I’m trying to be positive online and when I feel positive in myself you know, and it's crafted, it's not just like I’ve had an emotional reaction I’m going to share something, and I think that's where some of the problems can come and when people are just doing it too quickly and I think that social media, the way that it is so quick can make you feel like you need to be sharing all the time or it can become like an extension of your private life, and that's a part of the 3 P’s isn't it, around like your personal so I can share a bit about myself but I’m not going into that private part where I’m sharing like my inner, like too much of my inner negative thoughts like, I’m trying to think of it all more well-rounded than that, so I think that's some of the key things that I think about.

Matthew

I’ve watched quite a bit of your YouTube, I’ve binge watched it cringeworthily when we started to talk about how we were going to do this podcast and then we started to watch a lot of your content and I thought, thought of myself and put myself in the position of when I was a student and I think I would have really got a lot of value out of that type of content, just hearing someone who's gone through exactly the same situation with me and the same training as me and come out the other side, and you talk a lot about the sort of interview prep that you do don't you, and you talk a lot about that sort of reflection when you maybe didn't get a job that you went in for and how you then prepared for the next interview and I think that type of content just simply wasn't available when I was trained to be a social worker and I think that thinking of students and the type of the way that content is now out there I think, I think is really valuable and that's a big takeaway for me, when I started to watch some of your content clearly is that what you're putting out there I think offers real value to the sector into the profession, and I think that is such a positive use of social media for grouping it all into that term.

Kayleigh

Well that's a massive compliment to me, I’m really chuffed about that because that is what I’m trying to do.

I just think you know, there's a, there's, everyone has their value don't they like, from an academic side like it's really useful and, and it's like I just think that social workers can use this platform to, to add that perspective and we can all sort of work together and I think being on social media helps you to realise how everyone fits together so well. and it's just about connecting and getting it out there and I have to say like I, I have been really supported by a lot of different people and it's been quite, it really inspires you to carry on and I’ve met some amazing people just from putting stuff out, and then people will send me questions and then it makes me think, it really makes me reflect I suppose, a little bit like when you're a practice educator and it makes you think ‘oh I struggled with that then, what can I say now?’ you know, ‘based on my experience’ so that's why I recommend like more social workers do it if they can you know, if they have the confidence because it's building something useful for people.

Matthew

Yeah and I think just having content out there for social workers in this form, it's how everyone absorbs information nowadays isn't it? I think there's a, there's a, YouTube's huge and I think you can go and search on YouTube and solve lots of problems and I think it's, it's a really useful platform for people and we were really keen on the back of Social Work Week to use all those recorded sessions and get them on Social Work England's YouTube channel because that type of content was gold dust, through some brilliant sessions across Social Work Week and we know that there was a limit to the amount of people that could attend them but I think just having a platform available to us like YouTub,e where that content can sit and people can revisit and watch and absorb that content in, in their own time is really, really valuable I think.

And the same, that was the thinking behind this podcast, we really wanted to start producing content, the idea behind this whole podcast was to sort of bring the professional standards to life a little bit for social workers and that's shaped all the conversations I suppose, but I think using it in that positive way to support the profession and the sector I think it has to be, has to be something that we can all start to do and I think, yeah I’ve seen an increase in what's out there over the last year or so.

Kayleigh

Yeah and I think it ,with what you're doing it like, it does address a little bit of a power imbalance doesn't it because sometimes you're worried you know, like ‘oh, you’re the regulator so they only get involved when you've done something wrong’ but actually it's like no, you're like, you want to build the profession and like, you want to be a positive influence and I think the fact that you are including social workers in this is really remarkable and shows that you are, you know, trying to do that and I think it's a really positive sign for people, so I think people should be really encouraged by what you're doing – it's clear that you, you know, you are social workers by background, you're doing good stuff out there.

Philippa

So Kayleigh, did you have any, any barriers or any challenges perhaps maybe from your employer or your peers or people, you know, when you talk, when you kind of began to sort of, start your kind of, social media profile really, sort of YouTube and kind of Twitter, was there any kind of, how did you navigate that, were there any issues that kept, arose from that?

Kayleigh

Oh right yeah so in terms of my social media, I’ve always been quite careful so I did have to talk to the head of service in the council about filling a form in to express what I was doing and explaining it to her and, and I think like there is a perception around social media that's like quite scary to a lot of people and I think I could tell by her initial reaction and, but that's how she felt but then actually she's been a massive support of what I was doing then when she understood it and then she sent me out to speak to, to, well Siobhan Maclean and she said ‘go and meet her and see what she's doing because she's a really good one around social work’ so then I went and met her and that's sort of where it started, but I think knowing that I had that backing was really important to me because it's never worth anything if you’re gonna lose your job is it, like I want to do practice like, that's who I am and like, what I’m doing and it's, and I think it just gave me that security.

And the other thing that she advised me to do was to read the sort of, the guidance that the council had from the communications team which helped me to know what I was doing was okay and check it out, and then if I ever include anyone in it, like my first video included someone from the MacIntyre charity and I was interviewing someone and he was brilliant on it, but I did like a consent form just to make sure that everything was sorted that way, so I think it's just about thinking about those things to make sure that everything's okay, and every year I just have to update the external interest form you know, to make sure that people know that what I’m doing and let them know that I have a presence on social media.

Philippa

Brilliant. I mean it's great that that's kind of, been really embraced by your organisation I think so you know a lot of people kind of sort of worry about that interface don't they, between that kind of professional and that personal and some people will very much just have you know, maybe a social media account that's what they do for personal, would never kind of you know post because I think people have that anxiety and they worry don't they, we know that you know, communicating online, I think you talked a little bit about that, about I think really helpful to hear you talk about the social pedagogy and the 3 P’s and really thinking about that professional self and kind of, thinking about not sort of posting something in haste or kind of, it being that reactive kind of response because the worry is we may say things kind of, in haste sometimes but it's not then always kind of, in print forever on a social media site so it's really as social workers we often, we, you know, that that caution is probably right, that we think about that, that actually what we may post can be seen by anybody and everybody you know, and sometimes that's what happens when things get referred to the regulator you know, things have been said and kind of, someone else may have picked up on that – we need to think about how the members of the public may perceive a social worker and how that might be seen by others in the sense that we may feel we put it in our, on our personal account but if someone knows that we're a social worker, they may you know we, in a fitness to practise, we have a public interest kind of, public protection kind of, emphasis so we may investigate under those criterias of ‘is this in the public interest, is this about public protection’ so that's where referrals to us can tip over into fitness to practise because you know, a public may say ‘well I can't believe a social worker who's a professional has made, that has got that view or, or said that’ so it is about thinking about that, how, how do you how have you kind of, found kind of, you know, other people's responses to you like your peers, how's that, how does that fit in terms of who you work with, and you've done some really great interviews with people on your YouTube channel but how do they respond to it?

Kayleigh

So I think just picking up on another point you made, I think generally some people will say to me ‘I can't believe that you had to go to all those lengths you know, to check because why shouldn't you be able to just go out and do what you want in your personal time’ and it's like well, even in your pers-, like even in your personal time if you're having a public presence of any kind, whether it's online or in real-, or in person and you are still a professional and you still have to be under those standards and make sure your behaviour is always like, that you're showing integrity so I think it's just being aware of that, that, and I think something that's been key for me is having a separate account for my personal account and for my professional account because if you are like, joining groups and things and you have your personal account, like all those people in that group then could possibly look at who all of your friends and family are, or even if you think that it's protected sometimes that information can be available to look at, so I think keeping a really clear boundary between the 2 is something that I’ve increasingly found is important.

So in terms of what people around me thought, I think it's been really good for me to have built my connections on Twitter first because then when I went out on YouTube I was sharing it with those Twitter people that were all social workers, as opposed to my actual like friends that aren't social workers just feeling like I was spamming them you know, because that's sometimes how it can feel constantly and I think it's like, knowing that people are interested in what I’m saying and then you sort of get a communication going with people who are interested in that, and that's really helped me so, but in terms of people in, in the council I talk about it if they're interested but I’m not like ramming it down everyone's throat so I’m not you know, on YouTube doing all of this, so I think it helps people that are going for like interviews or like if they're interested in these things, and people are quite interested you know, once they see what's going on so.

Philippa

It's really interesting isn’t it, because I think one of the issues is that we know that lots of social workers don't use Twitter. I mean when I was in practice you know, I was a team manager and I’m, I’m not sure any of my team were on Twitter or on social media, I mean I’m a real fan and a lot of them would use maybe other forms of social media, so Facebook or I know you know Instagram is kind of increasingly having a presence isn't it. I mean do you, do you use any, and LinkedIn, I mean I’d never been on LinkedIn until I joined Social Work England, it was not something I was part of I mean, are there any other, are there kind of, some social media platforms that you do use and some that you don't, or you kind of, you know, venturing further afield?

Kayleigh

Yeah so I am venturing a bit now because what you find is like with, with YouTube because there's not as many social workers on there and that looking for content because there isn't a massive amount of content on there and I don't think people directly know to search there yet, and so I have to use like other platforms to feed people to my videos because otherwise you can end up putting a lot of time in something and think it's useful but no one knows it's there so, and I use quite a lot of them now, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and I think because I’m interested in it I kind of want to know how they all work, and I also find that people talk differently on different platforms so I find that like, having an Instagram account is good because people feel quite comfortable to send me like, a direct message whereas they wouldn't feel confident to send me a direct post on Twitter and on Twitter you can't send a direct message unless they're following you already so it's like, I think for me I felt initially like Twitter was only for really, really smart people and I thought I didn't belong there but then I ended up being on them, realising that everyone was quite normal and it's fine and I think one of the things with Twitter that can be problematic is I, I think that sometimes people have a really strong opinion about one thing and then can sometimes critique what people are saying just based on that one viewpoint, without looking at the whole picture, and I think sometimes that can cause issues on there and cause conflict and, and I think it's just about figuring out like the nature of what happens on each one and building up what you want to see, because Boyd and Ellinson like call it a bounded system and it's, it's like you're creating a space that you want to see. It's kind of like you have control over the news that you want to consume and I think that's the power of it because you can choose, and I think people are wanting to take more control over what they are reading and what they're consuming day-to-day because it is important and I think if I see things that are really negative and I don't want to see it, I’m just not going to look and not follow it and I think that's how over time, you can build up a really good thing but I think for some people, if they were starting out it'd be hard to know who to follow like, it's like a blank slate.

So, something I was thinking of doing is just putting a sheet together about good people to follow you know, maybe for people starting out so, but yeah what, what's your thoughts?

Matthew

I’ve just been thinking that as you were talking really, about I think it's really important about that time balance and just what popped into my head is that sometimes social media can be that 24-hour people thing, everyone's contactable over those 24 hours, 7 day weeks and contacting you about work related matters and things like that I think there's a balance there to find and I’m just keen to get your thoughts on it really, you weren't prepped for this question, I’ve just thought of it as we were talking so apologies for that, but how do you, how do you find the time, how do you find that balance between obviously you've got an incredibly busy day job and then you've got all these platforms that you're managing and all those, how do you do that?

Kayleigh

Yeah so that is actually a real challenge that I’m currently like working on but also I had a little bit of coaching from someone that was a social work lecturer and that really helped me to think about like, my boundaries and being intentional about what I was doing because it got to the point when I was first out doing this that I was being asked to speak to different people and my entire evenings were just like back, back to back blocked up with like meetings in the evenings and then you, it can really take away from your energy and I think that is something that you have to be aware of and, and something that you, you just figure out along the way.

So, I wouldn't say I’ve got it perfectly and I think it's like as well, you have to be careful of what you're responding to in the working day so I tend to just keep it to I might respond to a couple of things at lunchtime but I wouldn't want to be seen to be replying to things on a public platform all through the day because that would look bad to your employer obviously, and everything's time stamped so if anyone ever had a concern about that they could look back and see that you've done that, and I think they're just things that are taught in the research and, and some of the things that you read around the ethics and, and the professional issues and, and I think there's no solid answer, it's like a grey area because I suppose like, it is like you're reflecting on your learning, it is part of your social work day to be learning but then also you need to have a clear balance, and so I think in terms of me, I’m I think it's like, helpful to talk to other people who are on social media to find out how they've managed it and in terms of like the messages that I get sometimes, I’ve just had to realise that it might make you feel like you have to respond straight away but you have to stop yourself from feeling like you have to because sometimes that can happen and I think it's just about like, blocking out set time to respond and I think that's something that you develop, it's like a new skill.

Matthew

Yeah and I think having those boundaries is very important but recognising where those boundaries need to sit because it's really important that you know, there, that you don't comment or aren't as active through the day on your social media but as for me, that's the complete opposite because my Twitter is work based it's only about my role as a regional engagement lead. I’m only active through the day on it I’m and Philippa knows me very well, I’m very boundaried, I switch everything off on a night but when I’m at home with family, I don't look at Twitter, weekends I don't look at Twitter but understanding where your boundaries need to sit I think is, is individual to everyone isn't it, but really important to get right.

Kayleigh

Yeah and I genuinely would be really interested to speak to someone who could tell me if that is allowed you know, if I am replying to things because I read something and it said not to and I thought ‘well I’m gonna be really careful about that now’ but yeah, it is individual.

Philippa

And I think that brings back to one of those challenges isn't it, around social media and how that feeds into us, us meeting standard 5 really isn't it, is that there's some black and white and clear what you shouldn't be doing, what you should be doing, you do need to think about as a, as a registered social worker you know, you're right that professional person/personal kind of link that, how that could be perceived but there are some things that there isn't clear kind of guidance or, or sort of information about, what we should or shouldn't be doing you know, and Matthew and I have that conversation quite a lot, even as regional engagement leads, you know, we work for the regulator and do we need to think about you know, at times we have to think about what I may want to comment on or I may like you know, and it's kind of that kind of, you know I absolutely believe you know, about social work and promoting social justice and being you know, political but obviously I still have to be mindful that I work for the, the, Social Work England which is the regulator of social workers so there's a challenge there all the time isn't there.

In terms of sort of bringing it to kind of a close really Kayleigh, it's been really, really lovely to talk to you today and kind of hear about your journey across social media and hear about how you've used it in a really positive way to kind of, I think you know, improve you know, address practice and to support the profession to pro-, to support the sector, the work that you've done around sort of newly qualified social workers and students, I think you know, your videos if anyone wants to check them out they're on YouTube and I would really recommend them but in terms of any kind of, sort of pointers or kind of, top tips that