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Sharing social work stories that connect

Social workers are leaders who provide essential services to support Nova Scotians lead healthier, happier lives. We’re sharing their stories, struggles and celebrating their successes in Connection magazine. Connection illustrates the realities and challenges that social workers face, promotes the profession’s passionate work and bring stories from our community to life.

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. We welcome all submissions as they relate to the social work profession.

A piece of NSCSW history

Connection began as a newsletter back in 1966 when the College (then Association) was just three years old. We’ve built on our member’s support and recognition of Connection by transforming the publication into the full-colour magazine you see today.

The new Connection magazine reflects the College’s evolution as we continue to regulate the profession while working in solidarity with Nova Scotians to advocate for improvement to social policies and programs.

Read the current issue: Summer 2023

Read previous issues

Future Publications
Connection is transitioning to a new format. Stay tuned to hear more!

In the meantime, article pitches can still be sent to [email protected]. The topic of the next issue is neurodiversity & burnout; pitches are accepted until June 21, 2024, and writing will be finished during the summer.

Connection is no longer likely to include advertising, but organizations that hope to reach social workers may consider our job board or a brief announcement in our biweekly newsletter.

Contribute to Connection Magazine

Connect with Nova Scotia’s social workers, advocacy & community groups, heath care professionals and more.

We invite your original articles on:

  • New developments in any area of social work
  • Findings from research that relates to the practice of social work or social justice
  • Opinion pieces on social justice and social work related issues

Please see our magazine sections below to write for a specific section of Connection.

Send your submission to the College’s Communications Coordinator, Rebecca Faria at [email protected].

Include a biography (100 words) with your website if applicable and briefly tell us why/how your submission is relevant to social work. Supporting photos are encouraged may be used if space permits.

Connection Editorial Guide

All Connection edits are based on the Canadian Press (CP) Style Guide (17th ed.) and Caps and Spelling (20th ed).

The Connection Editorial Committee reserves the right to edit all articles and reviews all articles for suitability and to ensure they meet the submission guidelines. The NSCSW reserves copyright for all articles published and published to the College’s website nscsw.org. Article contributors will have an opportunity to approve or amend substantive editorial changes.

Note that additional grammatical or style changes grammatical or stylistic may be made when the piece is copy edited. Articles appearing in Connection or on the College’s website may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the College’s written permission. Requests for reprinting or reuse will be considered on a case-by case basis.

Read our editorial guide

Writing for a specific section in Connection

Ethics in Action

How do you put social work ethics into action?

Share a story depicting your ethical decision making process. How did you consider your personal perspectives in relation to those that you work with, the environment you work in and the influence of the dominant narrative on those perspectives.

Frame your story through the following questions:

  1. What was the client’s point of view?
  2. What is/was my perspective as a worker?
  3. How did I, as a social worker, handle differences between the client and my own views?
  4. What choice was required?
  5. What were the alternative courses of action? What positions do these alternatives represent?
  6. Did the solution align with your goals as a social worker?

Social Justice

What’s your experience working towards social justice?

Social justice is a pillar of social work practice. Share a story or op-ed that described your experience working towards social justice.

Here are suggestions to frame your story:

  1. Focus on one social justice story—one event, or one place or one important relationship. Take some time to think about the elements of your story in the context of the challenge, choice and outcome. In this case, the outcome might also be the thing you learned, in addition to what actually happened.CHALLENGE: What specific challenge did you face?
    CHOICE: What was the specific choice you made?
    OUTCOME: What happened as a result of your choice? What hope can it give us?
  2. Share a story about the collective – Who are some of the “us’” that you’re a part of? (i.e. your generation, your classmates, the international climate movement). Share some stories that give readers an indication of the collective’s shared purpose and goals. , their values and the strengths of your collective?What are some stories of your generation or of the climate movement that give you the belief that together they could work to join you in creating real tangible change in the world.CHALLENGE: What was the challenge we faced?
    CHOICE: What specific choice did we make? What action did we take?
    OUTCOME: what happened as a result of our choice? What hope can it give3.     Share your social justice strategy – Share a “hopeful” strategic choice that readers can make. Craft a call out to readers that involves a commitment of time and resources. Vividly describe what can be achieved collectively if we take action together.
    If you are called to address a real challenge, a challenge so urgent you have motivated us to face it as well, then you also have a responsibility to invite us to join you in action that has some chance of success. A ‘story of now” is not simply a call to make a choice to act – it is a call to “hopeful” action.CHALLENGE: What is the challenge we face? What images make that challenge real?
    CHOICE: What specific choice are you asking us to make? What specific action should we take and when?
    OUTCOME:  What specific outcome could happen as a result of our choice? What hope can it give us?

Private Practice

Are you in private practice? We want to share your stories!

Share your honest perspective of your journey through building a private practice.

Here are some suggested topics:

  • Professional development in private practice
  • Choosing the path of private practice
  • Use of technology in practice
  • Choosing your niche
  • Creating a good referral base
  • Dealing with insurers
  • Building your business
  • Being your own boss: Building a private practice that works for you

Diverse Communities

We want to hear stories from the perspective of one the many diverse voices in our province.

This could include, but is not limited to, these voices:

  • Indigenous
  • African Nova Scotian
  • Acadian
  • LGTBQ
  • Disability community etc.

Research

Share your social work research with a wide audience.

Submit a plain language abstract of your research and describe the application of your research in practice.

Share your voice and any stories that connect your experiences to your research.

Research articles should provide a clear statement of the findings and their implications for social work practice. Please include an accompanying bibliography.

Social Worker Spotlight

We want to celebrate the often untold stories of social workers doing great things.

Do you know of a social worker who goes above and beyond in their practice? Suggest them as our social worker spotlight.

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