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The relationship between the ASO system and your mission
SDP already stands out as a software development company by focusing an entire product on the needs of the psychosocial intervention field: the ASO system. Our solution seeks to better support the workforce that meets the psychosocial needs of our society by providing them with software solutions that make their work easier and more organized. In this article, we explore Dean’s (2015) thesis, which examines how technology and the psychosocial environment are linked.
What promotes successful integration into a psychosocial environment?
In their thesis, Dean (2015) seeks to demonstrate that technological innovations and their adoption in psychosocial environments are not entirely dependent on policies from funders, but that the environments themselves are involved and invested in the process of evolving the technological tools used. Their research focuses in particular on women’s shelters.
Among the many conclusions set out in their thesis, we will focus on a few key points:
- Specific characteristics of each field
- The role of organizations in decisions concerning their platform
- Collaboration with technology solution experts
The ASO system and its multiple product lines
Dean (2015) draws our attention to the fact that each field is unique and therefore has unique technological needs. She uses the example of women’s shelters, which deal with a specific phenomenon where the intersectionality of the clientele, government policies, available services, evolving knowledge, and many other factors create very specific needs. The same is true for every psychosocial field.
The SDP team recognizes that a single technological solution cannot address the multitude of realities on the ground that are unique to each field we serve: domestic violence shelters, suicide prevention centers, sexual assault centers, crisis centers, family resource centers, men’s centers, addiction treatment centers, and many other community initiatives. For this reason, each field has its own ASO product line with a selection of sections, dashboards, reports, and other tools that meet the specific needs of each field.
Empowering organizations to act as experts in their own reality
Dean’s thesis attaches great importance to the involvement of field teams in the process of implementing a technological solution in their resource. In particular, it mentions that greater involvement of the intervention resource in the various stages of implementation and customization of their tool improves the results of using the tool. In addition, greater involvement also increases ownership of the platform.
At SDP, we encourage the involvement of field teams in our implementations in several ways. Several meetings are scheduled with the intervention team to review the methods and tools they use to deliver services. Our team therefore works in collaboration with clinical teams to offer a powerful and effective tool that maintains all the essential elements according to the people who will be using it.
In some areas, we have now completed a sufficiently large number of implementations to even be able to advise on certain decisions based on our teams’ field experience.
The SDP team and collaboration with client resources
SDP is proud to have a multidisciplinary team that provides support from sales to customer service and implementation. We have a good balance of staff from a variety of backgrounds, including the psychosocial field. In fact, many of us have been involved in psychosocial intervention for a long time in various roles: intervention, training, clinical coordination, management, and board of directors.
Dean (2015) highlights the perception that intervention professionals may have: technology professionals do not really understand what fieldwork entails. We firmly believe that the composition of our team enables us to more quickly grasp the issues and specificities of each of our psychosocial clients. Many of our clients have also expressed to us that they find it easier to build trust when interacting with technology experts who have significant knowledge of psychosocial work.
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James Zhang studied psychology and spent many years leading digital services at Suicide Action Montréal. He now directs ASO software development at SDP Inc. SDP Inc. builds human‑centred software for the psychosocial sector and uses our nonprofit volunteer experience to create solutions that serve clients and communities.
Bibliography
Dean, J. S. (2015). Examining social work and technology: A cross-disciplinary analysis of technology issues in violence against women shelters in Ontario, Canada (Doctoral dissertation). University of Edinburgh. Retrieved from https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/19477
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