Professional development is at the heart of ongoing development of knowledge, skills, and values in the ever-changing landscape of social work practice. Social workers across Nova Scotia are engaging in life-long learning opportunities helping them to provider safe(r) social work services in community, clinical and hospital settings, education, private practice, and more.
While the 2025 registry year has just ended, we have lessons and insights from the year to share and insights into what NSCSW has planned for PD in 2026. We plan on continuing to offer PD content in alignment with our new Code of Ethics & Standards of Practice, our Safe(R) Social Work Framework, and emerging needs and issues. We are also developing new ways to integrate learning experiences through our Circle of Learning program for a small group of interested members.
Output & outcomes
In 2025 NSCSW offered and supported over 65 professional development activities for social workers. Throughout the year we engaged with over 2300 participants and offered 130+ hours of learning content. Many of these activities were lunch and learns, webinars, and workshops offered by NSCSW, while some were sponsored self-hosted activities in communities run by social workers. Across the PD activities, we supported learning and development in each of our mandated PD categories, along with many activities deepening social workers’ learning in anti-oppression, systemic issues, complexity, and decolonization. Each session and activity was offered in support of the provision and delivery of equitable, ethical, and responsible social work services.
There are many activities from this past year worth highlighting, including:
- Virtual mini conference: Building connections & activating hope
- Post-graduate seminar: Bowen family systems theory
- Workshop: Anti-oppressive documentation
- Roadshows: New Code of Ethics & Standards of Practice
- Communities of Practice & closed spaces for:
- Black & African Nova Scotian social workers
- Mi’kmaw and other Indigenous social workers
- 2SLGBTQIA+ social workers
- In-person mini-conference: Transforming social work’s role in addressing GBV/IPV
Throughout the year we collected feedback from participants in our learning activities. Out of the 2300 people engaged, we received anonymous evaluation survey responses from 446 respondents. The responses from the survey forms, along with feedback provided by email and in the sessions indicate that members and the partners who attend our PD offerings see them as valuable and impactful in the development of social work competence.
- When respondents were asked, “How would you rate your learning experience overall?” The average response is 8.8/10, with the most common response being 10/10.
- When respondents were asked, “How applicable was this PD activity to your practice area and context?” The average response was 8.7/10 with the most common response being 10/10.
- When asked how well we met our objectives in developing knowledge, skills, and values, respondents reported:
- Know more about the topic area
45% agree, 44% strongly agree (total 89% supportive) - Have more skills related to the topic area
49% agree, 31% strongly agree (total 80% supportive) - Have shifts in feelings, attitudes, and/or values related to the topic area
43% agree, 30% strongly agree (total 73% supportive)
- Know more about the topic area
We trialed out new learning opportunities this year, including the closed-group communities of practice. These spaces were offered with the belief that communities of practice grounded in shared lived experiences and realities can support social workers in deepening and strengthening their practice.
- “I didn’t feel intimidated or judged and I could be myself.”
- “I feel empowered and feel proud of my peoples.”
- “I feel more hopeful. The shared wisdom and listening space was really helpful.”
- “I feel more support and hope for our collective ability to do transformative work in this province for our communities.”
- “Increased positive energy and collective hope.”
In our evaluation survey we asked participants, “As a result of this activity, what is different for you now.” Out of the 403 responses, these are the general themes across our learning activities.
- Increased Awareness and Reflection: Participants gained a deeper understanding of their practices, including the importance of anti-oppressive approaches, critical self-reflection, and the impact of their actions and documentation on clients and communities.
- Commitment to Ethical and Inclusive Practices: Many expressed a renewed focus on aligning their work with ethical standards, decolonization, and culturally responsive practices, particularly in documentation and client interactions.
- Practical Tools and Strategies: Participants appreciated learning concrete skills, having access to templates and frameworks to improve their documentation, developing their advocacy, and overall, a sense of professional development.
- Connection and Community Building: The activities fostered a sense of shared purpose, reducing feelings of isolation and encouraging collaboration and networking among social workers.
- Focus on Wellness and Self-Care: Many were reminded of the importance of prioritizing self-care and community care to prevent burnout and maintain effectiveness in their roles.
Throughout 2025, we also occasionally received critical feedback, with members expressing unhappiness and frustration with the role of the NSCSW, our focus on social justice and decolonization, and occasionally making disparaging comments about facilitators and hosts. While we invite critical feedback, there were times where the feedback was unwarranted and counter to the values and ethics of the social work profession. For this reason, the 2026 evaluation survey is no longer anonymous and we will aim to follow-up with unwarranted feedback.
Plans for 2026
With the 2025 registry year completed, we turn our attention to 2026. This year, based on member feedback, our guiding documents and strategic priorities, we will be continuing to develop our PD program including webinars, lunch and learns, workshops, and our first in-person conference since 2019.
Value 7: Providing culturally responsive competent professional services
Guiding Principle 7.1: Social workers are committed to the ongoing development of their professional abilities and knowledge, aiming to ensure the delivery of culturally responsive professional services.
NSCSW Code of Ethics & Standards of Practice (2026)
Professional development is central to the ongoing growth of social work practice, and this year we will continue with many of our offerings for members, allied health professionals, and community partners. Please look to our member newsletter and follow us on our Eventbrite page to stay informed about our upcoming offerings. We aim to announce our learning activities at least 6 weeks before the day of the session, with workshops and more substantial offerings having 8-10 weeks of promotion. Many of our sessions will continue to take place at 12:00 pm, and we will continue to record and upload webinars and lunch & learns whenever possible to our YouTube account.
On May 28 and 29 we will be holding our in-person conference, Navigating Complexity Together. The two-day conference is focused on supporting the development, connections, learning, and growth of Nova Scotian social workers in navigating complexity in practice as we wrestle with the existential issues of our time. The conference will also be an opportunity to reflect on 10 years of NSCSW operating as the regulatory body for social workers in Nova Scotia. The conference will be held at the Black Cultural Center for Nova Scotia in Cherry Brook. We have received incredible proposals from social workers across Nova Scotia and Canada, which speak to our conference theme and strive deepen the learning and practices of social workers in social justice, equity, and decolonization. We are incredibly excited for this upcoming conference and look forward to releasing more information and early-bird tickets in a few weeks.
We will continue to offer our open communities of practice and our self-care focused sessions (Cultivating Our Wellness). We will also continue with our closed-group communities of practice with four sessions each.
It is our hope to continue with our in-person touring Roadshow in the fall of 2026. Last year we visited Yarmouth, New Minas, Halifax, Antigonish, and Sydney. This year we will aim to visit 5-6 communities across the province with workshops focused on social work ethics and advocacy.
With the success of our Anti-Oppressive Documentation Workshop in fall of 2025, we are aiming to potentially reoffer this session along with other in-person and virtual workshops. We are currently running a four-part virtual series building on our Guidelines for Parenting & Decision-Making Assessments, with the second session taking place on March 9, 2026. On April 24, 2026, we will offer “Anger Management – Trauma & Social Justice Informed” with Jacqueline (Jackie) Barkley, MSW, RSW, at the Halifax North End Memorial Library; details for this in-person workshop will be announced soon.
We are developing further workshop ideas and webinars around relational and restorative practices, Black joy, queer joy, artificial intelligence, homelessness, sex work, social polarization and violent extremism, intuition and social work ethics, gender-based and intimate partner violence, and more! All of our learning activities are focused on deepening knowledge, skills, and values related to safe(R) social work practice.
As in previous years, we also encourage all our members to coordinate and plan their own PD opportunities. We have budget available to support external events. We also love the opportunity to come to your place of employment and deliver PD opportunities, either in-person or virtually. If you are interested in this opportunity, email me with a proposal at [email protected].
As part of our ongoing effort to embed EDIRA (equity, diversity, inclusion, Reconciliation, and accessibility) in our governance, administration, and programming, we have kicked of our Circle of Learning cohort this month with 20 members participating. This cohort will be exploring ways to plan for, complete, integrate, and report on PD in a different format than is expected as part of our PD Program. These participants will still be required to complete their minimum required hours and categories/sub-categories as part of the PD program, but how they integrate that learning and report on their growth as a social worker is fundamentally different. While this cohort is already started, we wanted to share the template document we are using to support participants, along with our presentation from our first session. If you are someone who benefits from some self-reflection and planning when it comes to your PD, you might benefit from using the template document to support your PD activities throughout the year. While only members participating in the Circle of Learning program can submit this document as part of their annual renewals for 2026, we are exploring the potential for this program to become more widely available in 2027.
As a regulatory college, we are proud to be able to support our members in developing their practices as professional social workers. In 2025 we had a record year with many offerings supporting social workers, allied health professionals, and community partners to practice more ethically and equitably. For this year, we intend to do the same while deepening our commitment to education and opportunities focused on social justice, anti-racism, decolonization, and ethical practice.