PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

RESILIENCE AND GROWTH

BY APRIL MUNRO-WOOD, MSW, RSW PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE CHAIR

COVID-19 affected all aspects of living in 2020. Families lost loved ones. Distance and masks became mandatory. Social programs and health care services bore a heavy burden. Bubbles and border restrictions became the norm. Striving to carve out moments of normalcy seemed impossible. And yet our province, our country, our world pulled together to make a difference. The impossible became possible. We learned the importance of working together to stay safe. We learned to stretch our learning, overcome our technological disadvantages.

We found new ground. New ways to communicate. To discuss. To build. To explore our questions.

In the midst of all this change, the 2020 conference, Mental Health, Today & Tomorrow, was cancelled but not lost. It felt like a victory when we learned several of the presenters agreed to reconfigure their presentations into webinars, giving our membership access without exposure.

At the same time, a group of strong, resilient committee members continued to meet every two weeks, via Zoom, to offer support to each other. We discussed how we could reinvent our yearly conference to remain safe and abide by necessary restrictions, and offer our membership a topic that required examination and thought. This laid the foundation for our first virtual conference, Challenging Our Social Justice Lens, set to take place on May 14 & 15, 2021.

The committee remains a vital part of the College. It is my honour to continue to serve as chair to such a wonderful, thoughtful and dedicated group. The assistance provided by our staff liaison, Annemieke Vink, was invaluable. All of our committee members remain ever so dedicated to offering the membership content that strengthens the practice of social work.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:

Craig Besaw, Brandy Gryshik, Crystal Hill, Helen Luedee, April Munro-Wood (chair), Claire Sampson-MacDonald, Joanne Sulman, Annemieke Vink (staff)

This committee is actively looking for new members. Should you feel this is an area of interest, please contact Nadia Siritsky via email, at nadia.siritsky@nscsw.org.