A roundup of our latest customer stories, resources, news, and events delivered quarterly to your inbox (The Compass: Issue 28, June 2017)
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Welcome, new readers! The Compass is a compilation of our latest customer stories, news, announcements, resources and events hand-picked for customers and subscribers. We'll deliver the goods straight to your inbox four times a year to help you improve productivity and make the most of your software. (Not your cup of tea? You canopt-out and manage your email preferences here.)
Embracing technology to do better social work
Technology can be intimidating for social workers and caseworkers used to relying on paper documents and manual tasks, but adopting these tools can allow more time and energy to focus on what truly matters—engaging and supporting kids and families that rely on the agency’s care.
Learn about how one child protection social worker stepped outside her comfort zone to embrace technology as an everyday part of her job, realizing the positive impact it can make on her clients, her cases, and herself.
Meet Traverse: Case Discovery. Confident Decisions. Safer Children and Families.
The best predictor of future safety is a thorough understanding of the detailed past; however, knowing someone’s whole story can feel impossible to social workers when critical information about the case is hidden or virtually impossible to retrieve.
How can social workers uncover and understand this critical information from both the past and present?Meet Traverse®—our new protective services case discovery platform.
New to our products or need a refresher? Check out our on-demand courses insideNorthwoods University. Covering our entire suite of products including Compass® Pilot, Compass® Appointments, and now Compass® CoPilot (just released this month!), the bite-sized tutorial videos and engaging assessments will empower you to maximize the capabilities of your Northwoods solutions.
Northwoods’ Research Library is another channel we created to help you understand key trends, opportunities, and challenges affecting human services and what your agency can do about them. The library includes expert content—think white papers, presentations, fact sheets, news articles, and templates—to help you implement technology and discover the best software solutions for your needs.
Uncovering Dark Data in Child Welfare to Improve Outcomes [Webinar]
You may have heard us talk about“dark data” and its impact on child welfare. If not, here's the short version: When social workers don’t have access to the information they need, the children they serve are at risk for further trauma.
Last week, our Vice President of Protective Services and one of Fairfield County (OH) Child and Adult Protective Services’ Permanency Supervisors joined APHSA to discuss how utilizing dark data can help agencies improve outcomes … from reducing turnover and increasing case continuity to achieving permanency for youth and reducing child maltreatment.
What Causes Dark Data in Child Welfare? [Infographic]
The first step toward using dark data to improve outcomes is understanding how and why it’s created in the first place.
Check out our infographic, “Dark Data Defined: What It Means for Child Welfare and Why It's Critical to Find,” to learn what causes dark data, and why your agency needs to be able to capture, process, and manage it in real-time.
Additionally,download our eBook, “Shining Light on Dark Data in Child Welfare,” for answers to more common questions.
10 Tips on Self-Care for Social Workers [Infographic]
Social workers often spend so much of their time advocating and standing up for children and families that they sometimes overlook the importance of taking care of themselves. While the rewards of being a social worker are plentiful, the job can take its toll—mentally and physically.
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New Research and Reading Recommendations for Child Welfare
Finding time to keep up on trends impacting child welfare and protective services is easier said than done for many busy agency leaders. But never fear: we’re here to help. Catch up on the latest resources, research, and links on critical topics like change management, CCWIS, and technology in social work.
35 Apps for the Mobile Social Worker [Recently Expanded]
Just because you’re often away from the office doesn’t mean you have to be away from information and tools to enhance the work you’re doing in the field. Here are 35 apps to help mobile social workers stay connected and safe, save time, engage kids and adults, find resources for clients, and deal with stress.
Just a Small-Town Guy Wanting to Make a Difference in the World
We’re big believers that our past should always shape our future. We created this 4-part series to share a little piece of Northwoods’ history, giving you a glimpse into where we’ve been, where we’re heading, and how our customers have helped along the way.