On June 13, the College hosted members at its 2019 Annual Meeting and Education Day (AMED) at Toronto’s Metro Toronto Convention Centre. The theme of AMED 2019 was Ethics. Insight. Innovation. More than 500 social workers and social service workers – and hundreds more online – participated in AMED this year.
As an employer, you may be interested in telling your staff about AMED and the resources we have posted online. AMED is one way that College members may fulfill their Continuing Competence Program (CCP) requirements. The resources include full video coverage of the Annual Meeting, keynote address and four breakout sessions, which are available on the College’s livestream webpage.
Edited versions of these recordings will be published this summer to our YouTube OCSWSSW / l’OTSTTSO channel, beginning with our highlight video of the event:
Annual Meeting
The morning Annual Meeting featured reports from College leadership on the College’s governance, operations and finances. “As the regulatory body for social workers and social service workers in Ontario, the College’s mandate is to protect the public interest,” said College President Shelley Hale, RSSW, during her report. “In 2018, to fulfill our primary duty, we have made progress on a number of fronts.”
College Registrar and CEO Lise Betteridge, MSW, RSW, announced that College membership continues to grow, reaching 21,063 members in 2018, by registering 2,135 new members.
“When Ontarians use the services of registered social workers and registered social service workers, we want them to know that they are protected,” said Betteridge. “We look forward to continuing to serve and protect the Ontario public in the years ahead,” she added, reaffirming the College’s commitment to public protection. (Visit the College’s livestream webpage to watch the livestream recording.)
Keynote address
The College was very pleased to have Indigenous rights scholar Dr. Jeffrey Ansloos as the keynote speaker for AMED 2019. In his keynote address, entitled “Reconciliation and Social Work and Social Service Work Practice,” Dr. Ansloos drew upon his extensive experience in the community and in clinical and social policy settings, to discuss the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. (Visit the College’s livestream webpage to watch the livestream recording.)
Breakout sessions
In the afternoon, AMED attendees were invited to participate in educational sessions that covered a wide range of important topics. Four of the educational sessions were available via livestream:
- #socialwork: Informal Use of Information and Communication Technology in Social Work and Social Service Work Practice
- Anti-Oppressive Practice as a Transformational Tool
- From “Living to Die” to “Dying to Live”
- Learning from the Kaswenta: Contemporary Social Work/Social Service Work, Indigenous Sovereignty and the Therapeutic Alliance
Visit the College’s livestream webpage to watch the livestream recordings of the breakout sessions. Edited versions of these recordings will be published this summer to our YouTube OCSWSSW / l’OTSTTSO channel.
The College would like to thank all participants, presenters and organizers for making AMED 2019 a successful event. We look forward to welcoming members at AMED 2020.