Storytelling & social work

A report from the Connections Committee

Our committee underwent a leadership change this year, and we are deeply grateful to Rachel Smith, RSW, for all that she has done to advance our collective work.

Given the College’s commitment to social justice advocacy using a narrative strategy to reframe political debates into ethical imperatives to action, our work on Connection magazine has been an integral tool in the battle for justice and equity. Our magazine is sent to elected representatives across the province, and as such, it has been an important component of the College’s advocacy strategy.

We worked hard to develop a powerful issue on selfmedication, bringing together numerous voices and perspectives to highlight the ways in which our system’s current approach to mental health and addiction is lacking.

In particular, it illustrated the profound gaps in current policy and services, and the harm of our province’s lack of a traumainformed, low-barrier, culturally safe approaches to mental health and addiction that focus on harm reduction. This issue once again reflected our members’ diverse perspectives and served a critical role for amplifying our advocacy efforts. Some of the people and organizations we featured in this issue later became central participants in the social justice committee’s second annual Advocacy Day in March 2023.

The committee also entered into deep dialogue with members of the social work decolonization committee as we prepared for a powerful issue on the topic of decolonization and reconciliation. This work is foundational, and the creation of this issue will once again serve as an important vehicle for education and advocacy. In order to honour the month of June as National Indigenous History Month, this issue will be published in June.

We have also continued our work developing communities of practice, which has turned into a series of quarterly virtual gatherings. These offer opportunities for social workers to meet online over lunch and just talk – about their practice, their values, and their ambitions for the future. The idea behind this series is to create a safe space for social workers to connect amongst themselves and discuss issues of concern, share ideas and resources, brainstorm strategies for advocacy and be inspired and nourished by their colleagues. Given that most social workers are not connected to other social workers on a daily basis in their work activities or environments, this is an important strategy to foster engagement and build a cohesive network that will also help us to be more effective in mobilizing for future advocacy needs.

Finally, we grieved the passing of our former committee chair, Michelle Towill, RSW, who passed away in December 2022. In addition to serving as chair of this committee, Michelle was a long-time member of the social justice committee. Michelle had an undergraduate degree in English, and a love for stories. Her passion for writing was a gift for our committee, and her spirit is an abiding blessing to all of us who were blessed to work with her and learn from her.

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. She was deeply rooted in her own spirituality and never met a stranger- eagerly embracing new experiences, new people and new ideas. Her love for people and stories formed the basis of this committee’s expansion of its work, from Connection Magazine to building communities of connection through words and relationships. She will be missed, and we are grateful for the opportunity to honour her legacy with the work that we will continue to do at the college.

2022 COMMITTEE MEMBERS:

Rebecca Faria (staff), Bernadette Fraser, Michelle LeBrun, Christine Merrigan, Dermot Monaghan, Valence Parmar, Amy Pinnell, Annette Samson, Naj Siritsky (staff liaison), Rachel Smith (chair), Hannah Stewart, Michelle Towill