Fighting rising intimate partner violence in Canada through the Universal Caregiver model
By Thea Baines, University of Toronto This piece was originally published in Rabble.ca and written as part of the Centre for Global Social Policy’s Opinion Piece project, with funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Canada Research Chairs. Worldwide, intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) is recognized as the most pervasive […]
Who is the “villain” – Exploring polarization in the context of identity, roles, and role ambiguity
Chase Rivera Introduction Over the winter break, I have been practicing a lot of self-reflection – About myself, about the content I learned in the past semester, my practice/aspirations, and most importantly, my relationships with others. Both in the past and the present. And this is while engaging in the usual holiday events – […]
Lonely by Nature, or by Design?
By Shekuva Alizada Why are some people drawn to extreme ideologies? Hannah Arendt argued that the answer lies not in pathology but in loneliness — and what that means for social workers and others working in the field. I will call him, Noah, a composite of several people I have encountered over the years. He […]
Policy Analysis with Application: Evaluating IRCC’s Reduction of International Student Visas through a Social Work Lens
Policy Analysis with Application: Evaluating IRCC’s (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada) Reduction of International Student Visas through a Social Work Lens Amirsadegh Kashanipour Canada’s federal government abruptly introduced a cap on international student study permits in early 2024, reducing new permits by approximately 35% to relieve housing and infrastructure pressures (IRCC, 2024). In 2025, the […]
Abortion as a Social Work Issue
Liz Beddoe, Professor of Social Work, University of Auckland, New Zealand Abortion and social work Abortion is one element of reproductive healthcare, alongside contraception, pregnancy care, infertility, sexual health, and gender-affirming care. Social workers may contribute to abortion care in many ways including direct clinical practice, advocacy and research. A recent scoping review by […]
Assisted dying in social work
Donna McAuliffe, School of Allied Health, Sport and Social Work, Griffith University, Australia d.mcauliffe@griffith.edu.au Assisted dying is an issue that draws out some of the greatest philosophical questions that have been debated through history, dating from ancient Greek and Roman physicians and philosophers, through to the Hippocratic Oath and the do no harm mandates of […]
Don’t Kill Each Other… and Call It a Day?
Shamil Alizada, UBC SOWK Alumni In my Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) classes at UBC, one phrase comes up so often it starts to blur into background noise: “Make people feel seen.” It’s well-intentioned. Used casually, though, it can slide into a slogan. The issue is not dignity or relational practice. The issue is what […]
Artificial intelligence & social work: A critical perspective
Neil Ballantyne, Open Polytechnic of New Zealand Abstract Over the last decade, a growing number of scholarly contributions have discussed the implications of the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) for social work. Several oMer critical reflections on the introduction of predictive risk modelling in fields such as child protection. More recently, scholars have started to […]
Reflections on a Violently Polarized World, the Self, and Liberation Work
Candice Estranero Recently, I have been thinking about the divisive violence that may result from sociopolitical polarization. Recurring in contemporary news, we observe polarization in the resurgence of xenophobia and discrimination of LGBTQ2S+ folks by the political Right as they police and displace bodies. We also hear about calls for gun law reform while gun […]
Abolitionist social work
Ian Hyslop, University of Auckland Abolitionist theory rejects social work within state systems which uphold the current socio-political status quo. This power formation is deemed to be demarcated by liberal capitalism, coloniality, patriarchy, white supremacy and heteronormativity. Abolitionist practice calls for social work to disengage itself from the carceal institutions of liberal capitalist states […]