Update from CASW President: Social-Work Specific Advocacy
A key component of CASW’s dual mandate is to promote and support the profession – and many of our national advocacy priorities are profession-focused. Given the number of members interested in these issues, I wanted to take some time to provide an update on two social-work specific advocacy items: student loan forgiveness for social workers and social work’s inclusion in the Public Service Health Care Plan.
Student Loan Forgiveness for Social Workers in Rural/Remote Areas Forthcoming
Many of you are likely aware of CASW’s advocacy over the last several years for the inclusion of social workers in the existing Canada Student Loan Forgiveness Programme. Historically, the Canada Student Loan forgiveness programme was open to only doctors and nurses practicing in rural or remote communities.
We are delighted to inform you that our advocacy was successful: this change was included in the Liberal election platform (page 13) and solidified as a government initiative through its inclusion in the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion’s mandate letter (7th bullet). This means that the promise has been made concrete by assigning the commitment to Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) for implementation.
Though this is very positive news for the profession, CASW’s work does not end here: we are communicating with the team responsible for this initiative at ESDC, who have advised us that the next step is stakeholder consultations set to begin this summer.
CASW is on the list for consultation and will continue to push for the swift implementation of this promise, though government officials have advised that these types of changes normally take ~18 months after the onset of consultations. We will keep you informed of updates relating to this initiative.
Public Service Health Care Plan: Social Workers’ Inclusion
In early 2020, in response to the pandemic, the Government of Canada (GoC) announced temporary changes to the Public Service Health Care Plan (PSHCP) to include Registered Social Workers (RSWs) as mental health practitioners.
CASW subsequently launched an advocacy campaign, working both independently and in partnerships, to have these changes made permanent – and called out immense historical oversight of withholding access to professional mental health services by excluding RSWs from coverage for its members prior to the COVID 19 pandemic.
This resulted in an official response from the President of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, letting us know that negotiations were underway on a number of potential changes to the plan, including level of coverage and a broadened list of eligible professions.
Indeed, PSHCP’s own 2020 survey found that “psychologists, psychotherapists, and social workers represented the group of medical practitioners most accessed by members. These practitioners were also given the highest ratings for helpfulness during the pandemic.”
We are monitoring this issue and will continue to apply pressure whenever possible. We will keep you advised of any updates.
These are the profession specific updates for now, we have some other irons in the fire: for instance, we are trying to secure funding for a national social work sector study to better understand the profession and make plans for its future and are working with some external partners on the possibility of a child welfare caseload study to eventually propose best practices and standards.
As always, if you have any questions or feedback, the CASW Staff are at your service.
In health,
Joan Davis-Whelan
CASW President