Gathering community, gathering momentum

A report from the Social Justice Committee

This past year proved to be a pivotal year for the Social Justice Committee, under the leadership of Maggie Stewart, RSW. Our committee continued to grow, both in its membership and its accomplishments, as we sought to implement the recommendations of the Nova Scotia College of Social Work’s 2021 study: "Repositioning Social Work Practice in Mental Health in Nova Scotia" (https://nscsw.org/reposition).

The Repositioning report highlights the multiple overlapping and intersecting problems affecting social workers in Nova Scotia’s mental health service sector. This report highlights that almost all of these social workers experience severe moral distress in their jobs, in part because of the way the system is designed and funded, and in part because of the lack of understanding amongst their colleagues, and the system as a whole, of what social workers actually do. This has formed the burning mandate for our committee to better support our members by advocating on their behalf and also to create tools and strategies to assist them in expressing their moral distress into concrete actions that can lead to a better tomorrow.

Since, the social justice committee has dedicated itself to implementing the recommendations of this report. We hosted a virtual mini-conference on October 14, 2022 where over 300 individuals registered to listen to Repositioning co-author Dr. Catrina Brown, RSW, present the findings of recent research that sought to compare the data from the original report with national data. Perhaps not surprisingly, her findings show that Nova Scotia is not unique in the significant moral distress social workers feel when forced to work in systems that neither understand nor support their efforts to advocate for their clients.

This year’s conference served as a rallying cry for our second annual Advocacy Day, which was hosted in collaboration with the Canadian Mental Health Association- Nova Scotia Division (CMHA-NS) and Shelter Nova Scotia. This served as a powerful affirmation of our allyship with those whom we serve through our social work activities. Rather than advocate on behalf of others, we sought to amplify the voices of those with lived experience regarding our system’s current deficits when it comes care for those with mental health and addiction challenges, as well as those who lack the structural supports to wellness, such as housing.

Our committee recognized that our call for the integration of the psychosocial, spiritual and structural components of care into our medical system would only be effective if we joined together with others. In addition to bringing together individuals and organizations to represent the first voice perspective, we partnered with our colleagues from other disciplines who share our concerns and our moral distress.

Our second annual Advocacy Day powerfully featured the president of Doctors Nova Scotia, the president of the Nova Scotia College of Family Physicians, a psychiatrist, a nurse, a retiring family physician, public health researchers and a number of our colleagues from other disciplines. We also had two Indigenous Elders and a number of social workers and others coming together to share their concerns and their hopes. This conference was livestreamed and recorded, and is a powerful reminder that, even though we may often feel alone, we are not alone.

While this in itself was a powerful comfort and inspiration, our committee understands that change is needed urgently.

We are grateful that representatives from the Office of Addictions and Mental Health were present to listen and hear our concerns. We believe that Advocacy Day is a powerful platform for future collaborative efforts between all of us. The silos that divide us are colonial constructs that reflect a false distinction between mental health, physical health, social wellbeing and more.

Ultimately, the goal that we articulated in our conference is to work together to break down silos and build bridges. Our short term goal is increased funding and support for mental health services, so that we can shift from crisis to prevention in the ways we address mental health and addiction services. This goal cannot be separated from our broader goal, which is for the different silos in government to come together across departments to ensure that health care shifts from a biological-medical model of care to one that is personcentered, trauma-informed, community based and holistic.

From a systems theory perspective, if we want government to come together in service provision it is essential that we, who are part of the system, model the change that we want to see by coming together across disciplines to advocate.

We advocate not only for our shared values, but for our shared vision of a more comprehensive health care system where mental health is not separated out, but rather integrated into the care that every person needs and deserves.

This will form the efforts of the committee over the coming year, as it seeks to continue this advocacy plan. The More than a Diagnosis campaign which was launched on March 24, 2023 was launched concurrently with a second intersectional project that our committee initiated with the Legal Information Society of Nova Scotia (LISNS), which helped us to create a plain language advocacy toolkit called We have Power: A Guide to Engaging with your MLA and Using your Voice for Change. This growing resource is intended to not only help social workers amplify their own voice, but also those of the individuals and communities they serve.

The collaboration between the NSCSW and the LISNS reflects our committee’s vision for our College, and indeed, our profession: to continue to break down silos by partnering with those who share our values, as part of our larger commitment to social justice through decolonization and reconciliation. The We Have Power guide will continue to be developed over the course of the coming year, highlighting social workers and community advocates, in order to inspire more people to join us in our advocacy efforts.

Our committee dedicated the listening campaign portion of More than a Diagnosis to the memory of Michelle Towill, RSW, who passed away in December 2022. Michelle was a long time member of this committee, as well as a past chair of the connections committee. In addition to her work in developing our Big Ideas in Mental Health panels, Michelle helped to craft the vision that has blossomed into this conference and campaign.

Michelle was fiercely dedicated to social justice, working with individuals experiencing housing insecurity and homelessness, as well as those struggling with mental health challenges and addiction. In January 2023, many members of the committee gathered together at her Celebration of Life to grieve her passing. From this sadness emerged our commitment to transform our bereavement into a legacy of social justice and equity.

The committee hopes that this alchemy of grief into advocacy can inspire our members to support those with whom they work to do something similar, and the creation of the We Have Power toolkit seeks to model this therapeutic modality. While traditional counseling methods can be helpful short-term, this committee affirms that the most therapeutic way to help those who are depressed and anxious because of systemic issues is to join them in advocating for a better future for us all.

2022 COMMITTEE MEMBERS:

Cassie Shaw-Bishop, Jodi Butler, Megan Flynn, Chris Hessian, Phoebe Johnston, Prasanna Kariyawa, Emma Larson-Ure, Juanita Paris, Deb Philpitt, Adrianna Pilgrim, Janet Pothier, Dermot Monaghan, Colin James Morrison, Jim Morton, Mario Rolle, Naj Siritsky (staff liaison), Patricia Stephens-Brown, Emily Stewart, Maggie Stewart (chair), Michelle Toweill, Valerie White