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Contact us at socwork@uwindsor.ca |
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Our Mission Is To Promote Social Justice Through Quality Professional Education |
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School of Social Work March 2022 Newsletter
We acknowledge that The University of Windsor sits on the traditional territory of the Three Fires Confederacy of First Nations, comprised of the Ojibwa, the Odawa, and the Potawatomi. We respect the longstanding relationships with First Nations People in this place in the 100-mile Windsor-Essex Peninsula and the straits - les détroits of Detroit.
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The School of Social Work celebrates Social Work Week!
We would like to thank social workers for their commitment to the community and all of the work that they do. We encourage you to review the O.A.S.W's Social Work resource page for ideas to participate in Social Work Week at 2022 Social Work Week (oasw.org) and join them for their free for their Social Work Week Seminar Series. Please use the hashtags #MoreThanEver and #SocialWorkWeek2022 in your social media. Please see further resources below:
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Social Work Week updates from S.W.S.A.
(Social Work Student Association)
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Happy March from the
SWSA team!
We are so happy to announce the wide array of resources available to BSW students during Social Work Week from March 7th till March 11th. All events/resources will be shared via our Instagram (@swsauwindsor).
On March 9th at 10:30 am, MSW RSW Melissa Carriere will be offering a discussion on social work and resilience to all students on SWSA’s Instagram live. Melissa Carriere is not only UWindsor Alumni to both the BSW and MSW programs, but she is also a social worker and the Client Care Coordinator at Trans Wellness Ontario in Windsor. We encourage all students to attend the live discussion and come prepared with any questions you may have for Melissa! If you are unable to attend the event, please note that it will be posted to SWSA’s Instagram on a later date.
Throughout the week you can also tune into our Instagram stories for an inside look on what a day in the life of a 4th year placement student looks like! You will get a sneak peak from organizations such as The John Howard Society, Trans Wellness Ontario and Windsor-Essex Child and Youth Advocacy Center. Who knows…? You may just get an idea of where you’d like to be placed in 4th year!
Also being featured during Social Work Week are our wonderful School of Social Work faculty! At the University of Windsor, we are incredibly fortunate to be surrounded by such knowledgeable, compassionate, and skilled social workers. Check out our Instagram account to hear more about our faculty member’s experiences as social workers and gain some valuable advice as you step into your professional role. This is also a great opportunity to learn and connect with social work faculty who you are not as familiar with!
We will also continue to share self-care tips, academic and career options for BSW students, future collaborations with on-campus groups (such as Bystander, @bystander_uwindsor) and hope to answer any social work-related questions you may have!
We hope to take this time to show you our appreciation for you, and all of our fellow social work colleagues. Keep a close eye on your email and our Instagram for updates on our upcoming Social Work Week events.
All the best,
The Social Work Student Association
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School of Social Work Events |
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The School of Social Work would like to thank Senator Wanda Thomas Bernard for her recent presentation, "Emancipation Day in Canada" on February 16th. Senator Thomas Bernard's event was insightful and powerful. We are honoured to have hosted this event. Please stay tuned for upcoming collaborations with Senator Thomas Bernard!
If you would like to be notified of our upcoming events or join our newsletter mailing list,
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The Disability Studies program in the School of Social Work, is proud to co-sponsor the Art Gallery of Windsor’s upcoming community exhibition: Disability [R]evolution.
The Art Gallery of Windsor is looking for submissions of creative work from members of the disability community across Windsor-Essex for our upcoming community exhibition. Members of the disability community of all ages and artistic experiences are welcome to participate.
Participants who submit work can submit to one of two themes: Time Capsule (If you could create a time capsule filled with artifacts for a future that you want to see for people with disabilities, what would you include?) or Exhibition Response (Choose an artist or an artwork from our exhibition Crip Ecologies: Vulnerable Bodies in a Toxic Landscape and create a response to it).
The deadline to submit work is March 11th, 2022. If you require help/accommodations to submit your work, please email Abbey Lee Hallett at ahallett@agw.ca.
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Disability Studies Student Association's (D.S.S.A.)
Spring 2022 Events
Spread the Word to End the Word
February 28th to March 2nd
DSSA’s Spread the Word to End the Word event was a huge success! On Monday February 28th we had a post about the Spread the Word event and what it’s all about. On Tuesday March 1st, we made a post about the harms of using the r-word, along with a little bit of history behind the use of the r-word. Finally, on Wednesday March 2nd we made a post that our followers could like, comment on, and/or share as a way to pledge to end the use of the r-word. We also opened it up to our followers to share how they planned on being more inclusive. Along with this post, we shared a compilation of videos with special appearances from DSSA members, family and friends, St. Joseph’s Catholic High School students, Best Buddies, and Roots 2 Wings! Everyone involved shared their pledge to end the use of the r-word and to spread the word to end the word. It was amazing to see our community come together for this!
We want to thank everyone who contributed and interacted with our posts for Spread the Word, it wouldn’t be successful without you all!
We also want to send out a special thank you to our Social Media Representative, Fatima Charara, for her amazing work on the posts and for reaching out to other people to share our content. We wouldn’t be able to do these amazing online events without her!
Remember, advocating to end the use of the r-word doesn’t stop when Spread the Word stops! Keep educating the people around you about the harms of the r-word on the disability community and continue to promote removing the r-word from everyone’s vocabulary!
Rock Your Socks Down Syndrome Day Walk
Sunday, March 20th at 11:00am-2:00pm
DSSA is so excited to announce that we will be holding our first in-person event in 2 years! That’s right, our Down Syndrome Day Walk is back!! This event is sponsored by Blain Property Maintenance.
The Rock Your Socks Down Syndrome Day Walk is being planned by two DSSA members – our First Year Rep, Denise Sargent and our Secretary, Ailish O’Connor!
The Rock Your Socks Down Syndrome Day Walk will be held Sunday March 20th from 11:00am-2:00pm at Bert Weeks Park on Riverside Drive East at Parent Avenue. There will be a booth set up at Bert Weeks Park and the walk will be along the river. Participants are also welcomed to do the walk virtually at their own convenience and share pictures/videos if they are comfortable! Participants can sign up for the event at www.rockyoursocks2022.eventbrite.ca. Registration will close Wednesday March 16th. There will be warm drinks, water, and some snacks available at the booth for participants. Check out the Facebook page to stay up to date on the event –https://fb.me/e/2n4iNuuXl.
Participants can collect pledges from friends and family or may choose to donate. Once participants register for the walk, they will be emailed a pledge form. This form allows participants to keep track their pledges/donations. The pledges/donations can be submitted through this Square link – https://square.link/u/1PP8pdaC. On the day of the walk, participants are to bring their pledge form to submit to members. Colourful socks and masks will be distributed to all in-person participants who provide at least $5 in pledges/donations. As well, the top 3 participants with the highest amount in pledges/donations will win a grand prize donated by Cartoon Kingdom and Taya from Sunshine Dance Studios.
All the proceeds will go to Up About Down, a Windsor-based organization of people committed to enhancing the quality of life for individuals with Down Syndrome and their families (https://www.upaboutdown.org/).
We will give an update on the Covid protocols for this event soon, but as of right now, masks (or some alternative) will be required. If you don’t bring one, there will be some provided.
We are so excited that we are finally able to hold an event in person and that we can say “we hope to see you there” and actually mean it!! So…WE HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!!
Disability Inclusion Webinar
Tuesday, April 5th from 5:00pm-7:00pm
DSSA is thrilled to announce that we will be holding another Disability Inclusion Webinar!! We had such a huge success last year; we knew we had to bring it back this year!
The purpose of our Disability Inclusion Webinar is to explore disability topics and issues that students, staff, and faculty may not have had the opportunity to learn about otherwise. We open this event to ALL students in ALL programs, as well as any staff and faculty who are interested in joining. We do this because students in programs outside of Disability Studies often do not get the opportunity to take classes on disability. As well, it doesn’t matter what program students are in or what career path they choose, they will more than likely work alongside people with disabilities or have clients who are disabled. This Webinar will focus on how we as students, staff, and faculty can best interact with those in the disability community. This Webinar will be a great first step in the students’, staff’s, and faculty’s journeys towards learning about disabilities. We also hope that it provokes a commitment to lifelong learning about disability issues.
We are very lucky to have some guest speakers join us! There will also be some content on community organizations for people with disabilities in Windsor. The remainder of the content will be presented by DSSA members.
The presentations will go for an hour and a half, and the last half hour will be used for questions. We understand that April is a busy month, but even if you can only stay for some of the presentation, we would love to have you!
We are super excited to be able to host this event again! It’s always nice to see students, staff, and faculty outside of Disability Studies participating in these events. We also want to point out that even if you joined us last year, we would love to have you again as there will be some new topics discussed, as well as new guest speakers! We hope that this information resonates with you and that you carry it with you throughout your lives and careers.
We will also be giving away some DSSA merch to 3 lucky winners at the end of the Webinar!
Here is the link for registration – https://forms.office.com/r/kc327z2rCx. Registration will close Monday March 28th at 11:59pm. Soon after registration closes, a Teams invite will be shared with the participants.
Save the date, we will see you all April 5th!!
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to Kelly and Celeste at dssa@uwindsor.ca
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Upcoming Important Dates & UWindsor Info |
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Spring 2022 graduation: The School of Social Work graduation date has been announced yet, however it has been confirmed that the Spring 2022 Convocation ceremonies will be held between JUNE 14 - 17, 2022. Please refer to the Convocation website for further information, updates and due dates.
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Welcome Dr. Katherine Rudzinski, Postdoctoral Fellow |
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Dr. Katherine Rudzinski is a SSHRC-funded Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Social Work, University of Windsor. She has a Master of Arts in Criminology, specializing in addictions, and a doctorate in public health sciences from the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto. She was a Mitacs Elevate Postdoctoral Fellow jointly with the Casey House Foundation.
She has 15 years of experience working with and for people who use drugs on community-based research projects, including as research coordinator at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). She has been a Co-I on projects funded by Ontario HIV Treatment Network (OHTN), Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), and Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).
She is currently Co-PI on an OHTN-funded project examining the challenges and opportunities of providing harm reduction services, such as supervised consumption services, in a clinical care setting for people living with HIV/AIDS who use drugs. She has expertise in social theory, resilience, harm reduction, gender, and mixed-methods research. Her present research will focus on examining the gendered dimensions of harm reduction and how pandemic planning and policy have impacted women who use drugs.
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Dr. Filipe Duarte
Dr. Duarte has recently been appointed to the Outstanding Scholars Advisory Group as a representative for F.A.H.S.S. Special thanks for taking on this role and representing the School of Social Work and the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.
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Dr. Adrian Guta
Dr. Guta is this year’s recipient of the Excellence in Research Award for social sciences from The Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research and the Canadian Association for HIV Research. The award celebrated the contributions of Canadian researchers in HIV/AIDS research in Canada and internationally.
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Ms. Mary Kay Morand
Ms. Mary Kay Morand was recently granted her second AAS contract renewal effective July 1, 2022. Mary Kay began her permanence track position in July 2019 as a Field Learning Specialist and then transitioned to Coordinator of Field Education Programs, On-campus in February 2020. In 2010 Mary Kay who is an alumni of our school began her career with us as sessional instructor before joining our Field Education team.
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Ms. Nicole Scott
Ms. Nicole Scott was recently granted an AAS contract renewal effective July 1, 2022. Nicole began her permanence track position on June 1, 2020 as a Field Learning Specialist. Nicole is an alumni of our school and began her career with us as a sessional instructor before joining our Field Education team.
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Shaun Ouellette
Shaun is a three time graduate of the University of Windsor with two of those degrees being his BSW and MSW from the School of Social Work. Upon graduation with his BSW, Shaun started working at the Windsor-Essex Children’s Aid Society and spent 5 years there as a Family Services and After hours worker. During much of this time, Shaun also worked part-time for the Community Crisis Centre at Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital and was one of the first staff hired for the mobile crisis team at its inception.
From there he took a residential substance abuse counsellor position in Detroit Michigan and within 6 months was managing the program. After a couple of years Shaun went back to working in Windsor where he was the Manager of Social Work Services for a local non-profit organization called Drouillard place. Because of various funding cutbacks his position was reduced to half time and he then transitioned to working full-time at Windsor Regional Children’s Centre while keeping the part time position at Hotel-Dieu.
While working for RCC Shaun started the MSW for Working professionals program. During this time the Hospital’s in Windsor underwent a ‘realignment of services’ which resulted in having to let go of the Community Crisis Position and keeping the Regional Children’s Centre position.
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Riham Al-Saadi (Attia), PhD Candidate
Congratulations to Riham Al-Saadi (Attia) for her recent appointment to the WUFA (Windsor University Faculty Association) Council as a Sessional Member! Riham is currently a sessional instructor in the School of Social Work, teaching for the MSWwp and on campus programs.
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Amaar El Hajj, BSW Student
Hello! My name is Amaar El Hajj. I am a third-year Social Work student with a Minor in Psychology at the University of Windsor. On February 16th, 2022, I had the honor of attending Senator Wanda Bernard's "Emancipation Day in Canada" event. As a future Social Worker, I acknowledge the critical demand for students like myself to seek knowledge on the history of anti-Black racism, and how it continues to affect Black Canadians on a systemic level today. We must educate ourselves on the various ways we can advocate for change in our society that addresses and eliminates the racist ideologies and systemic injustices which continue to disadvantage the Black Canadian population.
Senator Bernard's event was a major learning experience for me that I will remember and cherish for the rest of my life. I learned the importance of connecting the roots of anti-Black racism in Canada back to slavery. I also learned about the significance of reparations and how they can be a crucial next step in the fight against systemic anti-Black racism. I am incredibly grateful that I had the opportunity to learn from Senator Bernard. Attending this event has enriched my knowledge on the potential for Emancipation day to be a spark for change in Canada, and for all Black Canadians.
Throughout my journey to becoming a Social Worker, I have recognized the importance of educating myself on the historical roots of racism which have contributed to the establishment and maintenance of systemic oppression. This realization has inspired me to be a life-long learner and to critically reflect on the changes which are needed in our society. In the future, I hope to be a part of a positive change that strives to address and eliminate the systemic barriers which continue to unjustly disadvantage marginalized populations in Canada.
I would like to thank Senator Bernard for her insightful and highly influential presentation. Additionally, I would like to thank the School of Social Work at the University of Windsor for making this event possible.
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Updates from Sharon Munro,
Social Work Librarian
Mindfulness Rooms and Curated Collections at the Leddy Library
By Sharon Munro
There are many exciting initiatives at the Leddy Library these days, two of which are our mindfulness rooms and our curated collections.
The library is in the process of setting up three mindfulness rooms. These areas will be welcoming and comfortable spaces for library users and will be perfect for relaxation, connection, and mindfulness. The library hopes to have these rooms completed and available for use in early May. University Librarian, Selinda Berg, notes that:
All departments and units have a role in improving the mental health of students, including the library. The library is a place where students across all disciplines find themselves during stressful times - midterms, final exams, project deadlines - and creating a space within the library that allows them to engage in spiritual and mindfulness practices has the potential to assist in maintaining students’ wellness.
Keep an eye on the Leddy Library’s Home Page as information about the mindfulness rooms should be appearing shortly in the “New at Your Library” section and on the library’s social media channels.
The Leddy Library has also put together several curated collections of library resources covering a wide range of areas including the following:
These collections give access to a variety of Leddy Library materials including print books, electronic books, archival materials and artifacts. Links to these and future curated collections can be found on the Leddy Library’s Home Page in the “Featured at Leddy” section. And don’t forget that the Leddy Library’s Home Page is your gateway to all of the library’s support services and fascinating resources!
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School of Social Work
167 Ferry Street, Room 205
Windsor, Ontario N9A 0C5
519-253-3000 ext. 3064
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