Socialheads
Where Socialheads
fits
What it is, what it replaces, and what it sits alongside. Most services already run several systems, so it is worth being precise about which job this one does.
Socialheads is messaging software for professional communication in care, youth and support services. Between staff, and where it is appropriate, between staff and the people they support.
It governs the channel: who may start a conversation, who can see it, what happens to it when a worker leaves, and what you can produce from it afterwards. That is the whole job.
What it replaces
Socialheads replaces WhatsApp at work. Both the ways it gets used: the staff group where the team actually coordinates, and the direct messages between a worker and the person they support.
The staff group comes first for most services. It is where shift handovers happen, where a concern gets mentioned before anyone writes it up, and where photos and names end up. It runs on everyone's personal phone, outside the organisation's control, and it usually holds information about the people you support.
That is worth saying plainly: people reached for WhatsApp for good reasons. It is instant, it is on the phone already in their hand, and a young person answers WhatsApp and does not answer a letter. What needs fixing is where the conversation ends up: somewhere the organisation does not own, with no record when it matters.
Socialheads is built to be as quick and as familiar as the thing it replaces, and to belong to the service rather than the handset.
Alongside what you already run
These do different jobs. Socialheads is designed to sit alongside them, not instead of them.
Safeguarding recording systems
CPOMS, MyConcern and similar
They record concerns and build chronologies. Socialheads holds the conversation itself. When something said in a conversation becomes a safeguarding concern, it belongs in your recording system, and Socialheads gives you the record to attach.
Case management systems
Liquidlogic, Mosaic, Eclipse and similar
They hold the case record: assessments, plans, statutory information. Socialheads is not a care record and does not try to be. It produces communication records you can place into one.
Filtering and monitoring
Smoothwall and similar
They watch what happens on an organisation's devices and networks. Socialheads does not monitor devices, browsing or other applications. It governs one channel, the one between your staff and the people you support.
Staff collaboration tools
Microsoft Teams, Slack and similar
Most services already have one. Most services also still have a staff WhatsApp group.
These tools were designed for office workers at desks. A support worker mid-shift, a youth worker on an outreach round or a teacher between lessons is not opening a workspace app to say one sentence. So the quick, human conversation moved to WhatsApp, and the governance stayed behind. Socialheads is built for the way that conversation really happens.
Consumer messaging
WhatsApp, Signal, Snapchat and similar
Encryption protects a message in transit. It does not tell you who spoke to whom, keep the record when someone leaves, or give a safeguarding lead a lawful way to look when there is a concern. Those are different problems.
CRM and community platforms
Contact databases, membership and engagement tools
They manage relationships at the level of records and campaigns. Socialheads is the conversation itself, between two people who know each other.
Which of these do we actually need?
The clearest way to place Socialheads is by the job each system does when something goes wrong.
- A safeguarding recording system holds the concern once someone raises it.
- A filtering and monitoring system watches activity on your technology.
- Socialheads governs the communication channel between a practitioner and a young person, and keeps the record of it.
Most services need more than one. The one to buy next is the gap you actually have.
Straight answers
Does Socialheads replace our case management system?
No. It produces communication records you can attach to a case, and it is not a place to hold assessments, plans or statutory records.
Does it make our service compliant?
No. Your service is the data controller and we act as your processor. Compliance depends on your setting, your policies, your practice and your people. Socialheads supports your responsibilities and gives you the evidence. The duty stays with you, which is the right way round.
Do we still need CPOMS or MyConcern?
If you use one, yes. Socialheads does not record safeguarding concerns or build chronologies. It gives you the conversation to attach when a concern is raised.
Is this surveillance of young people?
No. Access is limited to named roles, safeguarding access is deliberate rather than routine, and every access is itself recorded. Young people are told plainly how it works. A record that anyone could read without leaving a trace would be surveillance. One that only certain people can open, and only leaving a trace, is accountability.
Do staff need a work phone?
No. Staff use their own device without giving out their personal number, and the conversation belongs to the service rather than the handset.
Does a young person need to download an app?
No, and this matters. App store accounts usually need a payment method attached, and not every young person has a bank card or a phone of their own. Socialheads runs in a web browser, so a young person can reach their conversation from a library computer, a shared device in the home, or a friend's phone. Access should not depend on owning something.
If that sounds like the gap you have, the next step is a conversation about your service.