National Social Work Month 2024

Seven points of unity; Many possibilities

This March we come together with colleagues across Nova Scotia —and across Canada—  to honour and celebrate our shared values that guide us on our individual and collective journeys of truth, reconciliation, equity, and inclusion:

  1. Respecting the Dignity and Worth of Persons
  2. Promoting Social Justice
  3. Pursuing Truth and Reconciliation
  4. Valuing Human Relationships
  5. Preserving Integrity in Professional Practice
  6. Maintaining Privacy and Confidentiality
  7. Providing Competent and Professional Services

Together as social workers, we persist in weaving a tapestry of hope and resilience, striving through ethical, evidence-informed, and empowering professional practice to create a more just future where all are valued and honoured.

This year’s celebrations in Nova Scotia include the return of our conversation series; we hope you’re able to either join the virtual kickoff gathering on March 1 or one of the in-person gatherings with Alec in each of our four chapters, so that your perspective and experience can help guide the College as we develop a new strategic plan. And we’re very much looking forward to our third Advocacy Day mini-conference, an opportunity for social workers, social work students and social work educators to increase their capacity for individual and collective advocacy; this mini-conference is free and open to the public. 

We have some amazing door prizes that we will be giving away at our virtual events, including books, artwork and free tickets for our annual May conference. We can’t wait to see each of you and honour the amazing work that you all are doing. From our points of unity, let’s imagine the many possibilities social workers have for building a peaceful and compassionate world, and how we can bring them to life here in Nova Scotia.

March events

Conversation series

this series for NSCSW members only

Selected webinars from CASW & affiliates across Canada

Further reflections on the theme

National Social Work Month is an opportunity to celebrate ourselves, individually and as a profession, as well as to speak out for the values we share. But if we were to ask ourselves or one another whether we feel celebrated, or ready to celebrate ourselves, many of us might say no. Many of us became social workers because of our deep empathy and compassion for others; this means that many of us are struggling.

According to the findings we published in our 2021 mental health report, Repositioning social work practice in mental health in Nova Scotia, most social workers working in Nova Scotia’s mental health system experience moral distress due to the lack of alignment of health care policies with the values taught during their social work education and affirmed by our profession’s code of ethics.

Our College advocates for conditions that contribute to public well-being and safer social work practice in our province; this necessarily includes addressing the significant concerns that can emerge from an erosion of professional identity and a lack of resources and support. All of the events and advocacy initiatives we have planned for this month tap into our seven identified points of unity, reminding us of the shared values that form the foundation of our practice.

We hope you can join us. As social workers and caregivers, we may not be used to celebrating ourselves, but doing so can be an act of self-care; it is an infusion of faith in oneself and one another, so that we can keep doing the work we believe to be essential. Perhaps we celebrate this month, not by being self-congratulatory, but by taking some time to pause and consider where we have been, and all we have accomplished, and what still remains to be done.

What did we do that we are proud of?
What did we do that we need to learn from and change?
What must we do next?
And what unites us along the way?

Resources

Employer letter

The College mailed information about National Social Work Month to provincial employers with large numbers of social workers on staff. Feel free to send this to your own manager or HR department if you are a social worker or have them on your team.

NSWM resources and info for employersDownload

Posters

Small NSWM 2024 poster 8.5 x 11Download
Large NSWM poster 12 x 18Download

Booklist

Looking for something to read? These books will be given away as door prizes at some of our events this month, but you can also ask for them at your local library or bookstore:

  • Healing the Soul Wound: Trauma-Informed Counseling for Indigenous Communities, Duran, Eduardo
  • Making a Home: Assisted Living in the Community for Young Disabled People, Powley, Jen
  • Abolitionist Intimacies, Jones, El
  • Discovery and Recovery: A Short Story Collection, Boulter, Louise
  • Restorative Just Culture in Practice: Implementation and Evaluation, Dekker, Sidney
  • Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto, Hersey, Tricia
  • Decolonizing Therapy: Oppression, Historical Trauma, and Politicizing Your Practice, Mullan, Jennifer
  • Decolonizing Pathways towards Integrative Healing in Social Work, Clarke, Kris
  • Africentric Social Work, Mullings, Delores V.
  • Reframing Trauma Through Social Justice: Resisting the Politics of Mainstream Trauma Discourse, Brown, Catrina

Further resources for the national campaign will be available at nationalsocialworkmonth.ca beginning on March 1.

Tags: advocacy Mental Health national social work month social work ethics Strategic plan
mail_outline