Standing together A message from the outgoing Board of Examiners Chair
There have been lots of successes and challenges along the way, especially now in the midst of a worldwide pandemic and in our recovery from an unthinkable tragedy in our beautiful province.
As my six-year term comes to a close I want to express that it has been such a pleasure to have been involved in all of the innovative and exceptional work of our College. I would like to welcome the wonderful Joline Comeau as our new chair for the Board of Examiners and I would also like to wholeheartedly thank the NSCSW staff, committee members, volunteers, members and public members who have worked so hard over this past year to ensure that our practice holds a high degree of strength and integrity. As I reflect on all the outstanding social work practice across our province, I am grateful to be a part of our social work community and I have never been more proud to call myself a social worker. There have been lots of successes and challenges along the way, especially now in the midst of a worldwide pandemic and in our recovery from an unthinkable tragedy in our beautiful province. Social work has over a century of experience working with adversity, inequality, trauma and resiliency and now we
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face a long road ahead of restoration and restructuring. As the pandemic moved through our province the Board of Examiners noticed time and time again how social workers were stepping up and digging deep to provide support to others at the very same time they were facing their own work and life uncertainty. Child protection social workers continued to offer needed community visits, and health care social workers donned PPE to get the job done. Many social workers kept shelters and other community programs operating, and mental health social workers (both public and private) shifted in record speed to provide online therapy services. Many of our members, including students, were involved in organizing existing services in innovative ways, creating new services, conducting research, and consulting on response planning. The NSCSW advocated strongly for vulnerable Nova Scotians to have better services while emphasizing that the pandemic is amplifying the social, economic and health inequities that have been here harming people for decades. The College provided guidelines on social working in the context of a pandemic and worked hard to re-register retired social workers and remove barriers to work across provinces.
