All Webinars

The COVID-19 pandemic has escalated health care social workers’ professional responsibilities and obligations, complicated goals of care, and restricted hospice and palliative care decision-making at end-of-life. Consequently, social workers’ roles are shifting as they encounter complex medical and ethical scenarios that have heightened experiences of moral distress. Encounters of moral distress arise when institutional or individual factors constrain an individual from executing a plan they identify as ethically justifiable; they are tasked with having to act in a way that conflicts with their personal and/or professional values and ethics. The implications of moral distress are far-reaching and have long-term effects on providers’ mental health and well-being. Yet, the impacts of COVID-19 have centered largely on nurses and physicians, hands-on direct care medical providers. This two-part presentation will start with a focus on the triggers and consequences of moral distress for health care social workers and conclude with strategies to reduce moral distress, identify self-care practices, and foster moral resilience, professional efficacy, and wellness. 

Part 1: 
- To introduce participants to the concept of moral distress and the unique triggers for health care social workers 
- To examine the physical, psychological, emotional, and occupational stressors attributable to moral distress and how they differentiate from encounters of burnout and compassion fatigue.  
- To consider the positive effects of moral distress and how this may result in moral resilience, professional efficacy, and social work empowerment. 

In 2019, the human right to adequate housing was recognized in Canadian law via the National Housing Strategy Act. Since then, the National Right to Housing Network has been working with governments, community organizations, and rights-claimants to implement this legislated commitment to realize the right to housing for all—and thus end homelessness and housing need across the country. This presentation will explore what the right to housing means, why a rights-based approach to housing is transformational, and what systemic violations of the right to housing look like, to help attendees recognize and respond to these barriers within their work. Presenters will provide attendees with concrete examples of the right to housing in action, and explore ways in which social workers can build rights-based approaches to housing into both their practice and advocacy work. 

Webinar Objectives 
·    To introduce attendees to the right to adequate housing and the NHSA
·       To help attendees recognize violations of the right to housing that they may come across in their practice
·       To identify concrete ways social work practice can advance the right to housing 

Circles For Reconciliation is an organization founded and incorporated on the principles of an equal partnership between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, which is reflected in our staff, board, advisory committee, and activities. Our goal is to “create and maintain mutually respectful relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people,” as defined by the Commissioners of the TRC. We foster the creation of such grassroots relationships by forming ten-week Circles across the country, which each involve weekly meetings of ten participants (five Indigenous and five non-Indigenous) and are led by two trained facilitators (of whom one is Indigenous and one is non-Indigenous). 

Webinar Objectives 
The key objective of this webinar is to introduce participants to the work of Circles For Reconciliation and explain how our model can be applied to both local communities and organizational workplaces in order to advance reconciliation

Spirituality is a key component of the human experience and human identity. In this webinar series, an overview of the ethical implications of spiritualty to social work practice will be presented, and a perspective on the ways in which diversity can impact the integration of spirituality and social work. The ethical and practical implications of these issues will be discussed.

Session 3: Ethical and practical implications of integrating Spirituality in the Social Work Setting- tools and methods

Webinar Objectives:
• Review connections of spirituality, ethics and social work
• Introduce some areas of focus concerning spirituality, ethics and social work
• Define spirituality and religion as they relate to the field of ethics in social work
• Consider implications for social work practice

Eating disorders are a complex, biopsychosocial mental health issue that can present numerous challenges for care. In this webinar, attendees will reflect on what it means to provide person-centered care for someone affected with an eating disorder. Grounded in latest knowledge, presenters will share information about varying modalities and types of support that could be helpful for clients’, and provide practical resources to aid with resourcing clients as they engage in the ongoing process that is recovery. 

Webinar Objectives

• To reflect on what it means to build a therapeutic alliance with someone who’s affected by an eating disorder
• To explore different modalities and types of support for people affected by an eating disorder
• To learn about relevant resources and referral pathways to best support your clients 

Abolition is not only about dismantling colonial and carceral systems – it is about building the world we want to live in. In the final webinar of this three-part series, abolition and transformative justice through a decolonial lens will be introduced as a path forward for social work.  Participants will be invited to re-imagine their social work practice, teaching, and research with an eye towards Indigenous sovereignty, Land Back, resurgence, and self-determination. 

Webinar Objectives 

1. Introduce participants to abolition and transformative justice through a decolonial lens 
2. Examine the implications of abolition and transformative justice for social work practice
3. Explore current social movements working towards Indigenous sovereignty, Land Back, resurgence, and self-determination and identify social work’s responsibility to centre these efforts in practice, research, and education.

FASD 101

Webinar Objectives 

The webinar will cover: 

• What is fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD);
• What are the impacts of FASD on the brain;
• How FASD is diagnosed;
• What are the signs, symptoms and behaviours;
• Resources/best practice approaches to working with individuals with FASD; and
• An overview of the Centre of Excellence and the process of assessment.  

Spirituality is a key component of the human experience and human identity. In this webinar series, an overview of the ethical implications of spiritualty to social work practice will be presented, and a perspective on the ways in which diversity can impact the integration of spirituality and social work. The ethical and practical implications of these issues will be discussed.

Session 2: A panel discussion focusing upon this same topic- challenges and opportunities

Webinar Objectives:
• Review connections of spirituality, ethics and social work
• Introduce some areas of focus concerning spirituality, ethics and social work
• Define spirituality and religion as they relate to the field of ethics in social work
• Consider implications for social work practice

What does it mean when food is advertised as “guilt-free”? Or when someone tells us that we “look great! Did you lose weight?”. In this webinar we will examine diet culture as a social system of beliefs and look at how our ideas about bodies and food are impacted. Presenters will explore weight stigma and how this stigmatization affects people on individual and systemic levels. Attendees will learn strategies for adopting anti-oppressive and eating disorder informed approaches to their practice.

Webinar Objectives
• To explore topics such as diet culture, weight stigma and health using an anti-oppressive lens.
• To reflect on the implications of weight stigma, diet culture, and language on eating disorders and disordered eating.
• To share tools and strategies for adopting eating disorder informed approaches to care

Veuillez noter que ce webinaire se déroulera en anglais

In our presentation, we plan on introducing ourselves and our connection to children and youth in care. We will open our presentation with an exercise called “Your Inner Circle”. This is an interactive exercise where we will be asking the participants to identify people who are in their “Inner Circle” with four main questions and comparing those answers to the answers of a Youth in Care. This will highlight the extreme differences between a Youth in Cares “Inner Circle” and the participants “Inner Circle”. The objective is to create awareness and educate the participants on what it is like for a youth to grow up in the Provincial care system.

We will then transition into our second exercise called “Hard Talks”. The objective is to create awareness and educate the participants on the impact of living in the care system in New Brunswick. We will be presenting the information through two small skits that highlight older child adoption and the need for foster/adoptive homes.

Our hope is for the participants to see the value in collaborating with other community stakeholders to increase the awareness, supports, and education needed to allow each child and youth a successful transition into their healing journey. We want others to understand their own professional roles and the impact they can have on the children and youth and the benefits of being trauma-informed. 

Webinar Objectives
- To create awareness and educate participants on what it is like for a youth to grow up in care. 
- To highlight the ongoing importance and need for foster homes. 
- To encourage stakeholder collaboration to increase the awareness, supports, and education needed to best support children and youth. 
- To encourage participants to understand their professional roles, how they impact children and youth, and to encourage the use of trauma-informed practice.