The database’s new features will improve the member portal, processes for applications, the public registry search for private practitioners and more. I’ve outlined some of the new and upcoming changes below.

NSCSW Member Portal

A significant part of the new database project was updating our member portal. The new member portal came to life early October after a long delay. We know the delay was an inconvenience for members who wished to enter their PD. Thank you for your patience!

The new member portal includes an:

• intuitive navigation so members can find certificates, invoices, and update professional development entries with ease;
• space to upload liability insurance and requests to change member class;
• updated registration certificates; and
• a clearer pathway to renew registration.

Members are encouraged to activate their new member portal as soon as possible (see the steps here). If you have any issues activating or if there are issues with your profile information please contact the College’s Executive Assistant Nancy Viner at

Application process

Both the Board of Examiners and NSCSW staff work hard to ensure there is an efficient and transparent application process.

The new database features an online upload capacity for application requirements (where we could) and automates notices to ensure new applicants are kept in the loop about their applications.

It also features:

• an online upload for CV’s and job descriptions,
• the capacity to consent to release information,
• a digital reference form so an applicant’s references can instantly send in references, and
• a status bar to indicating what documents the College has received (including transcripts, criminal record checks, and child abuse registry checks).

Since the improved application portal went live in July, the average time for applicants to complete the process decreased to 6 weeks.

Advanced features for Private Practice listings

We’ve ensured private practice listings are clear so the public can easily search for and find Private Practitioners.

If you’re a private practitioner, please update your employment information during the 2019 renewal process and complete your contact information at the bottom of the employment section. Please include your private practice email and website so the public can access your services.

Changes to the Public Registry

The new public registry combined all three registries into one search. The public can search for private practitioners through their approved specializations, by regions and counties.

Coming soon…

In the new year, more features will be added to the database including online reports for the , a mentor search where candidates can search for mentors in their regions, an event registration log and more.

Alec Stratford
NSCSW Registrar/Executive Director

Child poverty remains stubbornly high and continues to be on the rise. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives-Nova Scotia reported that child poverty increased from 18.1% in 1989 to 21.5% in 2016.

The child protection system is over-represented by Indigenous and other minorities such as Black Canadian children and youth according to a recent report by the Canadian Association of Social Workers (CASW).

Additionally our FOIPOP request last spring showed that applications to the provincial court’s Family Division under the Child and Family Services Act increased by 8% after the amended Act was implemented. This indicates that more intrusive child protection interventions are happening more often. This is not the intent of the province’s child protection services.

Last week, Nova Scotians were again provided with compelling evidence through a Raising Canada report, which paints a startling picture of the state of Canada’s children. It states that suicide is the second leading cause of death of Canadian children and youth. Over the last 10 years, there has been a 66% increase in emergency department visits, and a 55% increase in hospitalizations, of children and youth due to mental health concerns. In Nova Scotia alone 806 children were hospitalized for mental health concerns in 2016.

The statistics are striking, but not nearly as compelling as the stories that social worker’s bear witness to daily of children and youth who are struggling in Nova Scotia.

Children and youth are struggling to have their stories heard, their rights acknowledged and their voices as part of the decision-making process on the systems and programs that impact them.

Social workers know that when the voices of the vulnerable and marginalized are raised up and given space that our society moves towards greater equality.

The time is right to create a Child and Youth Advocate office to ensure that the voices of our province’s children and youth are at forefront of the policies and programs that actively serve them.

Nova Scotia is one of the only provinces without a crucial Child and Youth Advocate office.  In other provinces these offices are involved in right-based public education, conflict resolution, conducting independent reviews and making recommendations to governments on programs and services delivered to children and youth.

A Child and Youth Advocate office would prioritize the voices of these vulnerable children and youth combining individual advocacy with vibrant policy and systemic advocacy.  In other provinces Child Youth advocates have advanced policies that led to more holistic and coordinated services for children and youth. Learn more in this backgrounder.

That’s why we are launching a campaign calling on the provincial government to create a Child and Youth Advocate office to protect and promote the rights of Nova Scotia children and youth

An open letter on our campaign website ( asks Premier Stephen McNeil to pass the legislation that would create a Child and Youth Advocate office. The legislation, An Act Respecting an Advocate for Children and Youth, was introduced by the NDP Tuesday, September 11, 2018.

Join us in supporting the creation of a Child and Youth Advocate office by:

• Visiting & sharing the campaign website
• Joining the conversation on Twitter and Facebook by using the hashtag #childyouthadvocatens
• Writing a letter to Premier Stephen McNeil advocating for a Child and Youth Advocate office at: Office of the Premier, O. Box 726, Halifax, NS B3J 2T3

Let’s help give Nova Scotia’s children and youth the voice they deserve.

Alec Stratford
NSCSW Registrar/Executive Director

Prisoners in the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility or “Burnside jail“ are currently involved in international prison strike.

Their list of demands, posted to the, call for justice and ask that we recognize the roots of this struggle in a common history of struggle and liberation. Their demands challenge the system to be restorative and work towards rehabilitation.

Our prison system is often the last stop for Nova Scotians who face extraordinary struggle rooted in oppression. Marginalized Nova Scotians are often discarded and find themselves in the criminal justice system when our economic, social, education and healthcare systems fail to include or understand their perspectives.

A clear example of this trend is reflected in what Rebecca Bromwich calls the – a major problem precipitating a disproportion of vulnerable, poor, indigenous and racialized youths from state care into the criminal justice system, and finally into prison.” (From the National Magazine, April 2017).

Instead of being empathetic and reflective, our systems often move to punish those who don’t meet the standards set by the dominant colonial, racist and classist lens and often seek to deny the humanity of their marginalized experiences.

The stories of both paint a picture of a system that overuses solitary confinement, has untrained and unscreened guards, provides poor health care, has unsanitary conditions and is an unsafe environment for both inmates and guards.

Advocates state that Nova Scotians are spending more than $6,000 a month to violate someone’s human rights, re-traumatizing them, denying healthcare and ultimately making our communities less safe.

Social workers bear witness to the current structural and systematic oppressions facing our clients daily. Rooted in colonialism, racism, and neo-liberalism, these oppressions continue to deny the inherent rights and dignities of many Nova Scotians.

As professionals, many of us see a society that is unable to empathetically connect with the perspectives of the vulnerable and marginalized. We continue to invite Nova Scotians to make a tough choice, rooted in critical reflection, to name the privileges and advantages that many of us have in relation to marginalized folks and ask that we all towards liberation from the oppressive structures.

Prisoners in the Burnside prison are asking to be treated with the inherent dignity and worth that we all deserve. Advocates are asking that the public write to their MLAs and Justice Minister Furey about the prison protest. Organizers also collecting donations for inmates to use the prison phones and buy food from the canteen.

As social workers, I believe we need to support this action

Alec Stratford
Registrar/Executive Director

The report, , is a critical first step and for the first time, a bird’s eye view of the social work profession in child welfare across Canada. This research further grounds core areas for advocacy and validates what the College gathered from our community consultation last spring.

Some of the more concerning statistics indicate that:

• 44% of social workers have experienced threats or violence on the job;
• 75% have unmanageable workloads as a critical issue in their practice;
• 45% of social workers who left the field did so due to stress and/or vicarious trauma and;
• 72% say administrative responsibilities prevent them from spending adequate time with clients.

The statistics reflect how demanding caseloads, the complexity of issues faced by families and an unsupportive work environment lead to vicarious trauma, greater burnout and turnover.

The report also indicates that the system is over-represented by Indigenous families, children, and youth as well other visible minorities such as Black Canadian families.

These are all issues facing Nova Scotia child protection social workers.

Child protection social workers did report satisfaction with the opportunities to practice the essence of social work such as building relationships and helping clients along their journey to change indicating that child protection can be an incredibly rewarding career. It is also encouraging to note that 88% of social workers reported that their colleagues are their greatest sources of support.

The take away from this is that the child protection services would be strengthened in Nova Scotia if the Department of Community Services (DCS) placed greater value on social work knowledge and methods and prioritized social workers capacity to have adequate time to spend with clients.

As indicated by a respondent in the report “social work is all about relationships and if there is not enough time we cannot establish a relationship and, as a result, cannot adequately address risks to children.”

The College raised these critical concerns with both the leadership and the DCS Minister as have many of our members working within the Child Youth and Family Services Division. The department responded that their goal is to empower front-line social workers but that transformation takes time.

However, in the last provincial budget () we saw minimal increases to the Child Youth and Family Supports Division full-time staff positions, a mere 5.3 positions. What remains unclear still is how DCS intends to change its current trajectory to adopt an empathetic view of the current situation within our child protection system, without putting more resources on the table.

The report highlights 5 core recommendations made by social workers to address child protection services:

1. Address the disproportionality of indigenous families and other visible minorities such as Black Canadian families involved with the child welfare system.
2. Improve working conditions for social workers by addressing workload.
3. Support organizations to improve staff retention and reduce turnover.
4. Support organization to develop strategies to promote mental health and wellness and address post-traumatic stress experienced by social workers.
5. Raise the value organization place on social work knowledge and methods and the importance that social workers have adequate time to spend with clients.

We maintain that the pathways to achieve these goals includes mentorship, training opportunities and manageable caseloads – not rigid bureaucratic processes focused on bottom lines.

Nova Scotia needs a collective voice to advocate to change this system. We are asking for your support to help share the findings of this report. We ask that you visit the download the report and share the video and infographics with your organizations and through your social media feeds. Our goal is to continue to engage Nova Scotians in a critical conversation about the child welfare system.

Alec Stratford
Executive Director/Registrar

Read the full report on the CASW website at

Nova Scotians can subscribe to receive updates related to Nova Scotia’s child welfare system at http://nscsw.org/2706-2/.

I was hopeful I’d find words of wisdom about our collective responsibility to address systematic inequalities in our province. Unfortunately, Ms. Lethbridge simply reinforced biases of gender and inequality in 1,000 words or less. In fact, I argue her words actually further supported shaming and blaming, and did more damage than the MLA.

In Ms. Lethbridge’s scenario, Steve, a middle-class male, works hard, owns a home, is married with children and makes good choices, while Clara, a “poor” female becomes an obese, chain-smoking single mother of three who is a burden on hard-working taxpayers. The Claras of our world must have felt a sense of doom and gloom for their future after reading this column — however, if we follow Ms. Lethbridge’s argument, they are probably unable to read while drowning in despair over their life, with no hope of ever being successful. All because they didn’t eat breakfast before going to school as a child.

If given the same opportunity as Ms. Lethbridge to reach out to a broad audience on a Saturday morning, I would have said the following:

MLA Hugh MacKay’s recent post regarding chronic disease was short-sighted in understanding a complex problem in our province. He argues that there need to be “tough words for a tough problem,” which is what he believes he was elected to deliver.

Sadly, in my experience, his words reflect the opinion of the broader electorate. We are horribly unkind as a society. We focus a lot of energy on assigning blame to others instead of taking responsibility and demanding action. It is much easier to blame people for their circumstance and chalk up their lived experiences to the fact that they are making bad choices — instead of recognizing that simply because of our gender, race or social circumstances, we have an advantage that has not been given to others. We often use this advantage to assign blame for choices and to justify the mess our province is in.

My message to our MLAs is simple: please use your advantage and tough words

• to address the growing social and economic divide in our province;
• to talk about why we have food banks with permanent structures to deal with food insecurity instead of providing a basic, guaranteed income to families;
• to question why we have people living in rat-infested, unsafe housing without access to basic necessities such as heat and safe drinking water;
• to address why transition houses are filled to capacity while families wait for access to safe and clean housing;
• to ask why adults in our community cannot eat or work because of chronic pain when they cannot afford basic dental care;
• to question why we live in a province where we have stopped caring for our neighbours and blame people for not meeting the standards we have set for a healthy lifestyle, instead of questioning our own responsibility in taking away their ability to make healthy choices.

I am invoking the same argument as Mr. MacKay and using my tough words. It is easy for all of us to simply sit in judgment of another person’s circumstances, be critical of their choices, and believe we do not have the power to change systems — the very ones that are designed intrinsically to create disadvantages.

It takes courage to stand up and say we are not going to tolerate these systems any longer and fight for change that is real and will result in tangible differences in the lives of all our citizens. I challenge you to take the unpopular and uncomfortable path of recognizing our unearned advantage and using this to bring about real transformation.

However, if at this point in your life this is not possible, can you at least simply be kind to others and get out of the way of those who are ready and welcome the opportunity for change?

Michelle Ward (BSW, RSW), Westville

Kelly Regan, Minister of Community Services, stated that these changes were brought in because:

“We want all Nova Scotians to have the dignity, self-esteem, and self-confidence they need to move their lives forward. That’s why we’re changing the way we work with Nova Scotia’s most vulnerable people. We want to provide people living on low incomes the resources they need, and for those who can work, we want to provide the supports they need to join the workforce.” 

Many advocates spoke out in favour of these changes noting that they “will lessen the burden of poverty.”

The editorial board of the Chronicle Herald also :

“Long-needed government improvements to social assistance in Nova Scotia aren’t going to satisfy everyone — and nor should they — but, overall, the province seems to be both engaged and moving in the right direction when it comes to helping people in poverty.”

However, there are challenges with the changes that were brought forward.

The recent changes to the Income Assistance Program are embedded in a traditional worldview that poverty is largely the result of an individual deficit, that people need to work harder to join the workforce, and for those who can’t work, we feel sympathy for their suffering and we want to relieve the pain. The grounding principle in this worldview is that the free market is the best and most efficient way to alleviate poverty. Where it can’t the social welfare system will provide remedial services to relieve suffering.

This worldview and the policy that flows through it lacks a structural analysis of our broader social and economic context. This approach to poverty reduction is the equivalent of treating terminal cancer with a narcotic to relieve the pain and suffering, without removing the tumor.

Social service and health providers bear witness to the stories of Nova Scotians who find themselves in poverty daily. These Nova Scotians face circumstances that could happen to any of us – a workplace injury, struggles with mental illness, job loss etc… These situations are compounded when Canada’s racist, colonial and patriarchal biases are added to these stories. When we witness these stories, what stands out is a feeling of powerlessness.

As our partners at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives-NS is not simply low income, poverty is felt. It is a social condition manifested in families’ struggles to afford the cost of housing, food, childcare, clothing, and transportation in the face of low wages, precarious work, racial and gender discrimination, a weak social safety net, inadequate public services and lack of affordable and available child and family services.

The policies moved forward by DCS lack this understanding of poverty. The changes made stem from the sympathy felt towards those “other people” who are less fortunate. Social work scholar Brené Brown refers to sympathy as lack of perspective taking where we just feel sorry for others. We don’t connect on a deeper level to their experience, we only react to what they feel. Sympathy drives disconnection and motivates us to take minimal steps to relieve suffering with the hope that things will get just better.

To move in the right direction of real engagement we need a structural analysis rooted in empathy with a real strategy to address these deeply felt issues. Brown describes empathy as a choice and a hard one that is rooted in perspective taking. It is when we see the world as others see it through a non-judgemental lens. It means being reflective of our own privileges and advantages in relation to others and acting to change our own perspective in solidarity with one another towards liberation from the oppressive structures.

Our country and province need to recognize that with a change in perspective we will find that we have the tools to create real change. A recent that looked at how much countries spend on social expenditures shows how Canada falls well below the OECD average – even lower than the United States. What can be found in this report is the realization that we have the financial capacity to put resources in places to truly tackle the issue of poverty.

To address poverty and move forward with real engagement as a province, we first need to focus on perspective taking and recognize that some of us have an advantage that is not given to others. It means challenging our current values to ensure that the stories of the oppressed are truly heard and that action is taken to change our current structures.

Nova Scotia and Canada as a whole continue to drift towards greater social and economic inequality. write in The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better that where these divides occur there is eroded trust, increased anxiety and illness, and excessive consumption. This has lasting impacts on a range of social issues.

Many of our current political issues are tied to how we view poverty, from community safety and the justice system, to the mental health and health care systems and to the challenges that many teachers face in the classroom.

Together as Nova Scotians, we need to reflect on our own social location and empathetically engage with each another to move towards real engagement and real change.

Alec Stratford, NSCSW Executive Director/Registrar

In June 2016, the federal government passed the legislation for medical assistance in dying (MAID). Canadian doctors and nurse practitioners can now provide medical assistance in dying (MAID) and social workers specifically in the healthcare field play a key role as they help clients grapple the complexities of exploring and requesting MAID.

When this option for MAID was introduced the College’s Professional Standards Committee, an evolving committee whose tasks and objectives fall within the College’s Standards of Practice and Code of Ethics, was created. They went to work with the goal of establishing guidelines to support Nova Scotia social workers as they navigate helping clients who are exploring and requesting MAID.

To develop the guidelines, the Committee first reviewed the provincial legislation and MAID eligibility criteria and thoroughly reviewed the current Standards and guidelines of other Canadian regulatory social work bodies. The Committee connected with the Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSHA) as they developed their policy around access to MAID for Nova Scotians. This policy – to be released – will govern medical practitioners including social workers as they work with clients in the context of MAID.

After over a year of research, planning and consulting, the Committee presented the College’s Guidelines for Social Workers on Medical Assistance in Dying to Council for approval in April 2018.

Regardless of a social worker’s specific role in MAID, the College’s Guidelines for Social Workers on Medical Assistance in Dying provides our members with an understanding of their responsibility to be aware of the extent and parameters of their scope of practice. The guidelines are based on the College’s Standards of Practice & Code of Ethics and on the applicable legal and policy obligations.

The College’s Guidelines for Social Workers on Medical Assistance in Dying highlights applicable values from the Code of Ethics and applicable standards from the Standards of Practice in five sections: Respect, Self-Determination & Informed Consent, Social Justice, Competence in Professional Practice, Cultural Diversity and Appropriate Referrals. 

Read the guidelines here

Want to learn more about MAID in social work practice? The Professional Standards Committee will host a professional development workshop this November. See the College’s Newsletter over the next few months to learn more.

In , “Behind the Numbers: The Federal Role in Poverty Reduction”, the authors note that days after the 2015 election a Globe and Mail opinion piece pointed out something many antipoverty activists already knew. Every territory and province with the exception of British Columbia has a Poverty Reduction strategy in place or in development. Until now the big missing piece has been the federal government.

This report is quite timely as the Trudeau government just promised such a strategy in their election platform. The most recent international rankings in 2017, shows that of the 41 developed nations, Canada lags behind in several areas related to poverty reduction. The UNICEF report placed Canada near the bottom in terms of global goals to end poverty and hunger.

The problem is we are still discussing the role of the federal government and not actually implementing a poverty reduction strategy. In 2009 the Federal government rejected a Human Rights Council recommendation to establish a poverty reduction strategy. The Canadian government claims that addressing poverty is a provincial responsibility. Much of the current debate centres on the issue of jurisdictional responsibility and many advocates for the elimination of poverty argue that any sustainable plan to address poverty on a national level must come from the federal government. However, the federal government argues that the plan to eliminate poverty is the responsibility of the provinces as laid out in the constitution act of 1867.

Joe Gunn of Citizens for Public Justice, said the Prime Minister’s 2016 mandate letter to Jean Yves Dulcos, the new Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, made a commitment to a poverty reduction strategy which was a welcomed surprise. Canada has worked toward a national anti-poverty plan since 2009. A similar commitment was made in the 2011 liberal platform but there was no mention in the Liberals 2015 Federal election campaign platform.

This leaves anti-poverty activists with several questions like how high on the government’s priority list is this? How soon will the plan be implemented? Joe Gunn believes that the mandate letter could have been framed in a more ambitious manner as a poverty eradication strategy.

The question remains would it have made a big difference.

Outside of my comfort zone

Finding a placement as a Master’s of Social Work student is not an easy feat but I was intrigued when I received a call about a placement with the Nova Scotia College of Social Workers. After meeting with Alec, the Executive Director/Registrar, I was excited about the placement and to conduct a community-based research project on child protection service gaps in Nova Scotia. I originally planned to complete a clinical placement specializing in play therapy so this was very different for me!

From my first day, I knew this placement would challenge me and help me grow. I’m from Ontario so I knew absolutely nothing about child protection within Nova Scotia. I had a lot to learn but I had no idea how much I would grow through this placement.

During my initial literature review, it became evident that the child protection service gaps were not unique to NS and they are identifiable throughout Canada. Within the literature review, I came across the Motherisk Scandal. In 2015, Motherisk Labs at the Hospital for Sick Kids was discredited for faulty hair analysis drug test used as evidence in child protection cases. In 2016, many provinces who previously utilized the testing in child protection cases ceased using hair-based drug and alcohol testing.

Unlike Ontario, Nova Scotia’s Department of Community Service’s (DCS) Minister Kelly Regan stated that they would not be conducting an inquiry and will only review individual cases if people came forward. Nova Scotia’s choice not to pursue an inquiry solidified how deeply intertwined it is with other service delivery gaps ranging from managerialism, cultural diversity and structural issues.

After the literature review, I completed many community-based research tasks. I had little research experience outside of class requirements so I was surprised at how much work goes into the initial stages of a project. From a scoping statement, backgrounder, town hall meetings, and narrowing the focus of a broad research topic. Before long my placement time was ending just as the project was starting to take off. Although I did not see the project completed from start to finish, I look forward to seeing how the research evolves.

Through my work with the College, I realized that I am drawn to the non-clinical side of social work. During my master’s degree, I asked acquaintances and friends what their perception is of social workers. Generally, their response was the stereotypical social workers depicted within the media- a clinical social worker or negative stereotypes.  Yet social work is a broad profession in which each discipline intertwines and depends on the another.

Where a social worker lands is typically based on interests and personality types. I am drawn to child protection and addictions and I originally I wanted to specialize in play therapy. However, after this placement I realized that I am drawn to policy and research.

Inside the College

This realization came gradually happened as I talked with the team members at the College. I found that I looked forward to going into the placement and getting to know the different members of the team. The best way I could describe the team is a family. Each member challenged me to grow and critically reflect on the child protection project but also on many social work issues.

Each conversation held a different meaning yet I never left the office without food for thought. My placement at the College provided me with an opportunity to learn about the different areas that make the College.

Through Alexandra Nelson, the College’s Regulatory and Applications Administrator, I gained insight into the application process and what happens once the application is received. Through Sherry Battiste, the Regulatory and Candidacy Consultant, I learned about the amount of in-depth of work that goes into the complaints process.

I learned about Nancy Viner’s role as the Executive Assistant where she receives phone calls from members and does the administrative work to support the other team members. I saw how Annemieke Vink, the Professional Practice Consultant, puts a lot of work and dedication into developing professional development events for members. Through the Promotions Coordinator, Collette Deschenes, I learned two things; one communications work is a lot harder than it seems and two there is a lot of work involved. Lastly, I learned how Alec Stratford’s position as the Executive Director/Registrar is one where you need to be personable, knowledgeable and passionate about the profession.

Although the team was extremely busy, especially during March Social Work Month they were never too busy to answer a question, teach me something, or include me in meetings or projects that I could learn from.

Growth gained & passions discovered

During my first meeting with Alec, I never would have guessed that would grow so much in just a few short months. It was such a pleasure meeting and get to know the team at the College, to attend community functions during Social Work month, to observe the AGM and spring conference, conduct research and to cross paths with many wonderful social workers working on different College committees.

Are you starting your masters in the fall or looking for a practicum placement? I would highly recommend stepping out of your comfort zone and applying for a placement at the College. You just might be in for a surprise and find that your passion lays within the community side of social work- at least I did.

We have a rich line up of presenters as we spend two days of learning, connection & growth as we highlight innovative social work methodologies, research, and lessons from the past and present to guide us in our future.

Some highlights from the conference include:

• A critical discourse on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the importance of conversations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada, which has challenged social workers to significantly transform their practices.
• We’ll examine the developmental and innovative project out of Luneburg that explores Adverse Childhood Experiences and resilience through an integrative health approach.
• We’ll identify the importance of Jordan’s Principle for First Nations children and how to access support services in the areas of health, social, education, cultural and recreation.
• We will also spend some time identifying foundational community development theory and highlight the practical application of social media to achieve strategic outcomes towards broader social change.

We hope that the conference will be educational, engaging and energizing. Bursaries are available if you’re looking for financial support to attend. These bursaries will cover your conference registration fees and travel costs.For more information & to apply visit: http://nscsw.org/membership/college-bursaries/

On Saturday we’ll host our 2018 Annual General Meeting. Two important resolutions will be brought to the floor.

First, we’ll present our five-year strategic plan with clear goals that will guide the profession, strengthen the College’s voice for social workers and strengthen social justice to protect Nova Scotians.

We’ll also bring the new Candidacy/Mentorship framework to the floor for discussion with the goal to have it adopted by the membership. The new program is designed to provide new graduates with a strategic, supportive and educational professional development experience rooted in principles of adult learning. Candidates will be linked with experienced social workers (mentors) and will be provided with educational and supportive mentorship.

The future Candidacy/Mentorship program will:

• Integrate knowledge, apply skill, and actions ethics in the Candidates first years of practice.
• Support Candidates as they develop a professional identity, grapple with ethical issues, explore professional concerns related to their practice experience.
• Integrate theory and practice, develop self-awareness, and refine a unique practice framework that builds resiliency.

We also have a few by-law proposals to move forward. We’ll ask members to approve fee reductions for new graduates in their first year of practice and we ‘ll discuss some options for private practice. Annual General Meeting packages will be emailed to all members April 20^th, 2018.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Alec Stratford
NSCSW Registrar/Executive Director