All Webinars

An initiative of the BC Parks Foundation, PaRx is Canada's national evidence-based nature prescription program that works with healthcare professionals to prescribe time in nature for patient and planetary health. Launched in 2020, PaRx is scaling at a rapid pace with more than 11,000 prescribers registered across the country and support from more than 80 major health organizations, including the Canadian Association of Social Workers. This webinar will discuss the science behind nature prescriptions, practical tips for how to incorporate nature prescriptions into your practice, and how to further support the nature-health movement in Canada.

Despite progress, 2SLGBTQIA+ communities across Canada continue to face significant inequities, stigma, and discrimination. This session will highlight the contemporary realities and experiences of 2SLGBTQIA+ communities, explore core concepts of gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation, and strengthen participant knowledge of and capacity to advance 2SLGBTQIA+ inclusion in their individual practices and their workplaces more broadly. Through a candid, practical lens, attendees will build their capacity to bring 2SLGBTQIA+ to life in their work.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand Gender and Sexuality from a Structural Perspective
• Explore the experiences, identities and realities of 2SLGBTQIA+ communities
• Develop practical skills to provide inclusive care to trans and 2SLGBTQIA+ people

This webinar will explore the rise in anti-2SLGBTQIA+ hate, expressed through 3 years of increases in police-reported hate-motivated violence towards 2SLGBTQIA+ people, protests targeting queer events and spaces, online rhetoric equating 2SLGBTQIA+ people with groomers, and more. Participants will build their capacity to counter anti-2SLGBTQIA+ rhetoric, support 2SLGBTQIA+ people impacted by hate, and play their part as social workers in combatting this staggering rise in hostility towards 2SLGBTQIA+  people.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the Context of Rising Anti-2SLGBTQIA+ Hate
• Build Capacity for Social Workers to Work in Allyship with 2SLGBTQIA+ Amidst Rising Hate
• Explore Opportunities to Address Rising Misinformation about 2SLGBTQIA+ People

One of Sheila’s passions is working with Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities to raise awareness about the national tragedy of missing and murdered Indigenous women (MMIW) and is the original creator of the commonly used hashtag, #MMIW. She continues to work closely with families, friends and Indigenous and non-Indigenous leaders to address the issue of violence against Indigenous women that has resulted in the current crisis. She has succeeded in engaging people in responding to the critical issue of MMIW through a variety of means, including her most recent project —a documentary she co-produced with Leonard Yakir titled “1200+” that highlights some of the systemic issues that place Indigenous women at greater risk for violence and sexual exploitation. With assistance from the Canadian Women Foundation, Sheila also commissioned a curriculum on MMIW that pairs with the film, 1200+.

This session will introduce participants to the topic of health equity in social work practice and explore opportunities for social work intervention and action at multiple levels to advance health equity. Core health equity concepts will be defined and described, including the role of the social and structural determinants of health in shaping the health of individuals, families, communities, and populations. Discussion about what is the scope of the problem of health inequities will support thinking through the role of social workers and others in disrupting systems of oppression, along with the associated principles and practice of critical allyship. Resources and tools to facilitate action in social work contexts, including implementation levers and frameworks, will be shared. An interactive case study will be discussed to bring some of these concepts to light in social work practice contexts building on the work that participants are doing to advance health equity. Learning objectives include:

• Describe core health equity concepts​
• Apply anti-oppression lens to social work practice​
• Identify frameworks, resources and tools that can be used to implement health equity​
• Discover resources from the National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health (NCCDH) that support health equity action

Refugees and newcomers come to us with varying needs, based on pre- and post- migration experiences. Providing culturally responsive and relevant services is one way to ease their transition and support their settlement.  CWICE is known as a thought leader on many issues facing children, youth, and families within the child welfare sector; and intersecting with immigration and settlement needs. In this webinar we will discuss identity, intersectionality, and innovative ways in meeting the cultural and diverse needs of newcomer and refugee clients. This webinar will be important for anyone providing social services. 

Community case conferencing is a routine, integrated practice that helps families and their support collaboratively navigate the child welfare space- especially when a matter is standing still.

With this definition by Ajirioghene Evi in mind, please join her as she engages the audience through a cultural relevance lens encircled by the implantation of community case conferencing on the following: How can community case conferencing address opportunities and challenges of connecting children and families with material and service need through the lens of cultural relevance? What historical and structural factors create barriers to effective culturally diverse caregiving practices and building on the strengths of families and caregivers to support the wellbeing of children and youth in their care be addressed via community case conferencing? What are the benefits of case conferences when supporting Black-identifying families involved with child welfare agencies and other establishments that intersect with child welfare agencies? How can the 11 Race Equity Practices by One Vision One Voice inform child welfare case conferences? How can the Navigating Child Welfare guide and other One Vision One Voice recommended tools and practices inform child welfare case conferences? 

This webinar aims to raise awareness of the need for equity which is often not included in child protection interventions, as the emphasis of child welfare is focused on risk and safety. Thus, not much consideration of the underlying factors such as bias, discrimination, rigidity, and subjectivity that underpins assessing risk and safety, is given much attention. Therefore, as we gain an understanding of equity, the webinar looks at applying 2 truths when executing child protection interventions while leaning into identified best practices to infuse equity into child protection. 

Through the lens of their experience, Tammy and Krystal Lee look at the ways in which mainstream approaches to child welfare conflict with Indigenous approaches when responding to the needs of Indigenous children and families. Through their work at Native Child and Family Services of Toronto, they present culturally relevant services for child and family welfare in urban indigenous contexts.  

In 2018, CASW began the journey of revising the 2005 national Code of Ethics and Guidelines for Ethical Practice grounded in the principles of truth and reconciliation.  The global covid pandemic severely impacted the revision process and the planned in-person consultations, with focus on First Nations, Metis and Inuit social workers, across Canada.

In 2021 the revision process resumed with the CASW Federation Code Committee engaging Barnes Management Group (BMG) as lead. After reviewing the work to date, conducting an international review and interviewing experts on social work ethics, with emphasis on Indigenous perspectives, BMG developed a draft revised Code of Ethics for national consultation.

In 2022 BMG conducted a national survey as well as 28 Diversity Focus Groups across each province and territory on the first revision of the Code of Ethics.  

Closeout National Social Work Month 2023 by joining a bilingual panel, comprised of members of the CASW Federation Code Committee and BMG researchers and writers, that will review the revision project to date as well as the next steps to realizing a new national Code of Ethics in 2023.