Opening doors for social work advocacy and leadership

Friends, I am delighted to share the work that the Nova Scotia College of Social Workers achieved in 2018.

Through the work of our six amazing staff and nearly 100 volunteers we have achieved a great deal during the past year. At last year’s AGM, the membership voted to adopt an ambitious five-year strategic plan aimed at laying the foundation for the new College of Social Workers in order to protect the public while guiding the profession towards a high achievement of ethical standards. In our first year of implementation I feel incredibly proud of what we have achieved.

Our goal to regulate the profession by ensuring the highest standards of professional and ethical social work practice for the people of Nova Scotia is off to a good start.

Last year we launched and revamped the Candidacy Mentorship Program (read about it on page 24), providing clarity and support through the new webpage which went live in October. The new design features activities, resources, and a framework to achieve the objectives of the program.

We were able to embed the NSCSW Standards of Practice into our website, making them more searchable and easier to find for both social workers and members of the public. Through the work of our communication team we also updated and revamped the complaint section on our website to support both members of the public and the College, and to build an understanding of the process and what is to be expected.

To support both the candidacy and complaints processes we have been building the capacity of the new NSCSW database, which launched in the summer of 2018, towards a more streamlined digital reporting system. The new database, which certainly had glitches upon launch, was well received by members who reported that it was far more intuitive and easier to use then the old system.

We have also made strides towards greater labour mobility. At a national level, all provinces have agreed to implement a tele-practice policy, allowing social workers to practice through phone and internet services with greater ease. We continue to see discussion with our Atlantic neighbours towards a similar agreement to ensure physical mobility throughout the Atlantic provinces.

Our goal to become a recognized leader in advocacy and social justice working to protect Nova Scotians has also taken big steps forward.

Over the last year the NSCSW has committed itself to working with the progressive community to use scholarly research, public education, and advocacy to promote discussion and pose substantive questions that are central to the political dialogue in Nova Scotia. As an organization, our goal is to provide new ways to understand social issues and offer political positions that are in solidarity

with the stories of the marginalized. In this way, we believe we will be effective at achieving our legislated mandate to advocate for the development, enhancement, and promotion of policies to improve social conditions and promote social justice. As social workers, we have the tools, vision, and values to support this change. Our strategy involves four interconnected projects:

• By building a social policy framework, which you can read more about in the Social Policy Committee’s story (page 22).

• Through our child protection advocacy; in 2018 we built an advisory committee that is working towards the goal of mobilizing community voices to raise political and public discourse on the essential role of child protection in Nova Scotia, in order to ensure that child protection is a central platform issue in the next provincial election.

• Through our mental health care advocacy which you can read more about in the Social Justice Committee story (page 20).

• Through the creation of the Nova Scotia Action Coalition for Community Wellbeing, which mobilizes community members dedicated to working strategically and collaboratively towards community wellbeing and a better quality of life for everyone. The Coalition exists to connect a community of action-oriented organizations and people who are committed to social inclusion and building a Nova Scotia where no one lives in poverty.

Evidence of success can already be seen. The College’s voice was featured in 15 different media stories in 2018.

Our goal for Nova Scotians to value social work knowledge, experience and training also has had success.

Our primary tool for connecting with the public has been our social media platforms and Connection magazine.

Our reach on social platforms has increased; on Twitter we increased our followers by 21.3%, and by 25.3% on our Facebook page. We continue to see Nova Scotians engage with the values, knowledge and experience we share through stories, blogs and images.

Connection is a core way to share our stories and struggles, and to celebrate our profession. It illustrates the realities and challenges that social workers face, promotes the profession’s passionate work, and brings stories from our community to life. We welcome all submissions that relate to the social work profession (read the Editorial Committee’s story on page 12 to learn more). This full-colour digital magazine is distributed to social workers, government, community & advocacy groups and more, and is produced three times during a calendar year in the fall, winter & spring. The three issues of Connection we produced in 2018 were read by an average of 940 people, with each issue growing in readership.

Our goal of becoming a centre for social work resources, professional development, ethical consultations and research, and act as the collective voice for social work, is also well on its way.

We offered a record number of trainings across the province last year, including a very well-received conference on Innovation in Social Work Practice which saw close to 170 participants. Last year we also started the process of building a full slate of diverse training opportunities to be delivered across the province (see Professional Development Committee’s story on page 16). Working with the social work community we have built 18 opportunities that we are able to offer at discounted rates to members, and that we believe are aligned with training wishes and needs of social workers across the province. We also started work on understanding the impacts of vicarious trauma and burnout on social workers. It is our goal to provide tools for the use of employers and social workers, to create greater well-being.

Our goal to be responsible, accountable and transparent with our members has also seen efforts to ensure that communication is timely, engagement is authentic and discussions are robust.

Throughout 2018 we continued to use the bi-weekly newsletter and our blog to communicate with members on central issues regarding the regulation of the profession and on our advocacy efforts. The Council of the College also completed a governance review in 2018; Council has restructured itself to ensure effectiveness in governance while taking steps to ensure that council members have the time and capacity to be engaging with members in their areas. I also continued my social work month tour, engaging with social workers around the work of the College and asking for feedback and guidance on our strategic plan.

I remain proud of the work achieved by the College in 2018 and feel incredibly privileged to be engaging with the public on behalf of our over 2000 members.

Registrar/Executive Director Alec Stratford, MSW, RSW