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Item Open Access The Deserving Poor: A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Ontario Disability Support Program Application Process(2014) Quintero, David; Good Gingrich, LuannThree policy directives of the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) are examined using a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to help reveal how these directives act as a barrier to the disabled community in Ontario seeking access to social assistance benefits. Arguments are made suggesting that the policy directives help to sustain a system of inefficiency through its adherence to administrative and neoliberal economic discourses rather than one based on social justice. Connections between discourse and the applications process are made using an order of discourse methodology to make links between discourses found in the policy directives and the application process for ODSP. Findings suggest that the policy discourses both procedurally and substantively classify members of the disabled community into those who are deserving of social assistance and those who are not. This classification process has serious implications that relegate those considered undeserving to receive assistance from a much more problematic Ontario Works (OW) program. This paper provides background information on the relationship between OW and ODSP and the implications associated with their overlapping functions. A review of existing literature on the ODSP application process is included and reveals strong connections between the application process and the problems many applicants experience by going through the process ranging from stigmatizing social constructions to having to remain in a low socioeconomic status. Possible reforms are suggested based on reviews of the social welfare system conducted from several sources that advocate a more inclusive and social justice based social welfare program for Ontario. Discussion of how social workers play a role in possible reform efforts is also explored.Item Open Access What Do We Mean By Support? A Discourse Analytic Study of Practitioners’ Talk about Facilitating Support Groups for Eating and Body Image Issues(2014) Ki, Patricia Hoi Ling; McGrath, SusanThe purpose of this research is concerned with the ways service providers define, construct, and understand their practices and approaches in facilitating support groups in community-based settings for adults living with eating and body image issues. It aims to identify the discourses and power relations that both give shape to and are continually shaped by facilitators’ understanding and practices. Critical feminist analyses have found that psychomedical treatment models for ‘eating disorders’ often paradoxically reinforce the gendered discourses and discursive practices that constitute eating and body image issues in the first place. Examining the ways that group facilitators understand and define their practices through a critical feminist perspective and discourse analytic framework opens up new possibilities in practices of support to disrupt the discourses and power relations that contribute to eating and body image problems. The findings of this study suggest that psycho-medical, humanist, and gender discourses are dominant in participants’ constructions of their practices of support. Particularly, individualized understandings about eating and body image issues are reproduced. At the same time, individualizing and psychologising ideas are also challenged and resisted, especially in the ways participants question social and cultural norms and contemporary treatment methods when describing their understandings of support. The participants’ practice contexts outside of medical institutions may position them as having less expertise in relations to those afforded higher statuses within discourses of medicine and psychiatry, yet their discursive positions also seem to allow space for alternative ways of working.Item Open Access Models of Psychosis and the Limitations of Psychiatric Knowledge(2014) Ricker-Wilson, Maya; Rossiter, AmyIn this paper, the medical discourse on the constructs of “psychosis” and “schizophrenia” is challenged by a literature review of contradictory evidence, alternative theories, phenomenological explorations of psychosis, and perspectives of people who have experienced psychosis. One purpose is to expose the violence that occurs in constructing madness as an illness and “treating” it through pharmacology, while another is to deconstruct the binary of “sane” versus “insane” by examining the social and existential factors that may contribute to the development of psychosis. Implications for social work practice are discussed.Item Open Access The Experiences of Low Income Single Mother:The Impact of the CAS ‘Duty to report’ when using and accessing External Support Services(2014) Dunne, Lori; Heron, BarbaraThe primary goal of this research project was to explore how the CAS ‘duty to report’ regulation impacts the decision of low income single mothers without prior CAS involvement to access and use support services external to CAS. Feminism was employed as the major theoretic principal and was used to gain an understanding of how such regulations can govern specific behaviours when single mothers access or use support services external to CAS. The need for this study derives from a lack of qualitative research that directly explores this phenomenon. Six individual, qualitative, semi-structured interviews were conducted for the purposes of this research project. The results emphasized the participants’ experiences and the findings spoke to the challenges of single motherhood in relationship to ‘duty to report’ and the perception of those who have an obligation to report.Item Open Access The birth of a well-adjusted individual in neoliberal times: Self-esteem discourse and its implications on bodies of color(2016) Zhang, Heidi; McGrath, SusanThe concept of “self-esteem”, identified within sociology and psychology fields as self-concept, reflects a person’s overall subjective emotional evaluation of his or her own worth. Ever since its inception into academic literature in 1890 by the American psychologist William James, it has experience and continues to experience an important scientific status in finding out more about the human mind, human emotions and human behaviour. Self-esteem literature and research has also worked its way into social work research and practical applications especially when working with marginalized clients whom social workers wish to integrate smoothly into society either through mood regulations, behaviour interventions or other strategies such as family settlement and employment. From a post-structural and explicitly Foucauldian framework that also analyzes from post-colonial and critical race theories, I argue there is little literature within contemporary social work that looks at the problematic ways self-esteem as a dominant discourse organizes and privileges certain beliefs about the body as normal and healthy while negatively viewing others as harmful to selfhood and to the greater society. This research attempts to examine the ways self-esteem as a dominant discourse facilitates a reproduction of an Eurocentric and colonialist knowledge base that can have both discursive and material consequences for racialized clients participating in psycho-social educational programs within mental health agencies as a part of the current recovery model.Item Open Access """This Indian dance is so cool"": Identifying and analyzing racialized discourses in music videos"(2016) Akhtar, Minahil; Macias, TeresaThis research paper identifies and analyzes discursive productions and promotions of Others in and through twenty-first century music videos. Discourses of white and non-white subjectivities are examined. In-depth synthesizes of the data and discussions reveal that discourses surrounding white subjects laud this positioning whereas discourses related to non-white subjects are degrading. This paper unveils and critiques the existential dependence of dominant regimes on subjugated storylines.Item Open Access The Gays Aren’t All White, The Desis Aren’t All Straight: Exploring Queer Subjectivity in the Toronto South Asian Diaspora(2017) Kanji, KhadijahThe purpose of this research project is to approach a better understanding of queer South Asian diasporic identity and experience as it exists in Toronto, Canada. It attempts do so through the narratives of five individuals who self-identify with this subjectivity . A review of literature found that our current sexual subjectivities have emerged in co-production with our racial ones – demonstrating both the social contingencies of ‘sexuality’ as we understand it today, and the current utility of sexuality discourse towards racializing ends. This review also found that South Asian queer diasporic individuals – in the negotiation of their multiple Otherizations – have the potential to be both complicit in, and resistant to, the overlapping structures of race and sexuality through which human difference is organized and hierarchized. Given this theoretical context as a foundation, this project found that queer South Asian diasporic individuals encounter both racism and homophobia/transphobia, and yet lack the availability of community spaces in which to process and heal from such incidents – and as such, experience feelings of loneliness, displacement, and invisibility. Further, many subscribe to a belief in a conflict between their racial and sexual identities – a conflict that has inspired different and opposing strategies for reconciliation. All participants found both value and limitations in the frameworks and languages available for organizing their subjectivity – including in the concept of ‘queer’ that is increasingly adopted as a catch-all for non-normative sexualities worldwide - but differed in their conceptualization of the self as ‘essential’ versus context-dependent. An unanticipated finding was a common distancing from the institutionalized religions they had been socialized into. These findings elicited further analysis on the complicity of queer South Asian diasporic individuals in processes of racialization, the limitations of Western queer ‘Pride’ movements, and both the elusiveness and hope of a ‘home’ for those Otherized on multiple grounds. Finally, and importantly, this project found that the stories of queer South Asians living in Toronto are ones of savvy, resilience, creativity, resistance – and indeed, of joy.Item Open Access “We just know who we are”: lesbian refugees in the Canadian immigration system(2017) Dearham, Kaitlin (Kat)This paper explores the experiences of lesbian refugee claimants in the Canadian immigration system. Lesbian women attempting to escape violence and persecution face specific challenges in the asylum seeking process, from navigating the patchwork settlement sector to being asked to demonstrate their sexual orientation to a representative of the Canadian state. Through the use of in-depth interview with lesbian refugees, this paper documents lesbians’ experiences with the refugee claim process from landing to post-hearing. In it, the author argues that while lesbian refugee claimants experience marginalization based on the intersection of several marginalized identities, they assert self-determination and resistance throughout the process. Claimants must interact with discourses of homonationalism, homonormativity, and authenticity, which serve as gatekeeping mechanisms for the settler state.Item Open Access Horticulture as Therapy in Toronto: Unearthing Healing and Wellness in a Post-Industrial Setting(2017) Fontaine, JamesThis paper explores how community service providers in Toronto use Horticultural therapy to engage with local ecological landscape in supporting client rehabilitation and wellness. A qualitative Deep Ecology theoretical framework through an inductive, revised, grounded theory research methodology was used. This research hopes to further the understanding of how community program service providers could facilitate therapeutic processes through engaging with ecology in Toronto's urban landscape. This study strived to deepen understanding of benefits in the use of land and environment for community and therapeutic programming in an urban setting. Data was collected through semi-structured, interviews with six service providers who are facilitators or developers of wellness programs which offer forms of horticulture for therapeutic benefits. Subsequent questions inquired how service providers see urban issues as intersecting into their work in the metropolitan context of Toronto. Providers expressed how their work in urban environments enables, in their words, the creation of natural oases. Adaptability is a strong theme evident in the year-round horticultural programming available in Toronto’s temperate climate. A significant age range (0-95) and diversity of populations was found to access needs-specific horticultural programs in institutional and community settings. Connectedness appeared as a strong guiding principle in local horticulture therapy programming. Varied critical perspectives were offered by the professionals on the distancing or entrenchment into the naming of their programs as a ‘therapy’. Food production in horticulture and its power of bringing people and cultures together in Toronto’s metropolitan environment emerged as a theme. Horticultural wellness programs access local natural resources, topography and waterways to broaden the practice of counselling for trauma, grief, death, addiction and life-changing experiences. Implications for broader acknowledgement of environment and occupied landscapes in Canadian social work practice, theory, and research are discussedItem Open Access Exposing and Closing the Knowledge Gap in Canada for Indigenous People: What is working to support Indigenous students in schools today from an Indigenous perspective(2017) McKay, TsitraThe major focus of this project explores what factors enable Indigenous people to continue in education despite all the barriers they face. Furthermore the research looks at how the education system can continue to improve to support Indigenous people through post-secondary. Moreover, the research looks at what the implications to government and educators are now that the TRC (2015) recommendations have been released and how they are being implemented. Most importantly my research was done in collaboration with Indigenous peoples through a sharing circle and interviews using Indigenous research methodology which is holistic, sacred and honors Indigenous knowledge.Item Open Access Money, Drugs, and Voluntary Trusteeship; Applying Harm Reduction to Money Management Programs for People Who Use Substances(2017) Dixon, MichelleThe objective of this research is to explore whether the Harm Reduction Trustee Case Management program at St. Stephen's Community House is reaching its objectives by improving overall quality of life for clients who are actively using substances and have a history of homelessness. Methods: A qualitative, non-experimental approach was used. Eighteen (18) retrospective pre-test-post-test questionnaires were completed. Questionnaires sought information pertaining to whether improvements in stability in terms of housing, financial, substance use, and overall quality of life were identified by clients. Results: All program outcomes measured, indicated improvements based on client responses. Post- test results indicated that 100% of clients are housed and maintaining their housing. One hundred percent (100%) of responses indicate that clients are practicing safe using strategies in terms of using substances since joining the program; and 78% of responses indicate improvements in terms of budgeting skills. Conclusion: The program evaluation has demonstrated that the Harm Reduction Trustee Case Management program it meeting its objectives and offering support that improves housing retention/stability as well as improving overall quality of life for clients enrolled in the program.Item Open Access School of Social Work Feature Profile with Part-Time Professor Peter Joseph Smyth.(2017-11) Smyth, Peter; Saadi, SalmaOur first profile is with Part-Time Professor Peter Joseph Smyth. Peter Smyth has been an part-time professor with the School of Social Work for thirty years. He has taught a variety courses including: Social Work with Groups, Introduction to Social Work and Social Policy. He believes he makes a difference by devoting his practice to humanistic social work as well. Being aware of, and opposing, the medicalization of human suffering is foundational to Peter’s work, as is his opposition to prejudice and the stereotyping and stigmatizing language we have been socially conditioned to use. This has permeated his approach to teaching and practice. He brings with him thirty-five years of experience in the fields of Mental Health, Rehabilitation, Adult Education and Organizational Consultation. He holds numerous certifications in the various areas of Teamwork, Leadership, Coaching, Communication, and Problem Solving. He is a senior consultant and executive development specialist with EduVision Inc., a consulting and management education firm. As a Lumina Learning practitioner, he is qualified in the administration and facilitation of personal, team, and leadership development. We had the opportunity to ask Peter about his work experience, his commitment to social work and his love for teaching.Item Open Access Putting a Bow on Death and Dying Health Care Professionals’ Experiences with Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) A Foucauldian Discourse Analysis with Agambian Insights(2018) Townsley, AlisonThis paper employs a Foucauldian Discourse Analysis perspective to enrich the understanding of the experiences that health care professionals in Ontario, Canada have with medical assistance in dying. Interview data is analyzed by situating the health care professional as an effect, as a producer, and as a challenger of power-knowledge systems. Philosophical theories of Giorgio Agamben are applied to the data to challenge Foucauldian principles, and to bolster the discussion of defining of the body that deserves to live, and the body that deserves to die. Major findings that emerged include the dominant discourse of aligning right and good within confines of the law, and the absolution of quantification and generalizability in relation to definitions surrounding dying. In terms of next steps for social work practice, this paper concludes by asking social workers to interrogate why we feel the need to ‘put a bow on death and dying’, so that we may engage in critical conversations with our colleagues.Item Open Access Exploring the Impact of Client Suicide on Social Workers: A Phenomenological Study(2018) Duffy, AmberThis research aims to further the understanding of how the phenomenon of client suicide is experienced. Using phenomenology, registered social workers were interviewed to garner an understanding of how client suicide is experienced within the social work perspective. Client suicide research has largely focused on the experience of other professions such as psychology and psychiatry, despite social workers often working with people who have suicidal ideation. Understanding how social workers make meaning of, and are possibly affected by their clients dying by suicide, is valuable in avoiding trauma, grief, and burn out. This research used a constructivist lens to interpret how various social workers experienced the same phenomenon differently, examining the question, “how do social workers describe their experience of client suicide and its impact on their personal and professional lives?”Item Open Access An Examination of How Dominant Notions of Normalcy Inform the Experiences of Non- White Subjects Living with Chronic Illness(2018) Iyer, MinakshiThe subject of normalcy within critical disability studies explores the dichotomy of normal and abnormal and how this informs the way disability is discussed within society. Using a post-structural and critical approach, this research has examined the intersections between race and disability within the narratives of non-white subjects living with chronic illness. What this research reflects is a global conversation regarding the ways in which capitalism, whiteness and ability impart limitations upon participants in this study, and how community activism and friendship serve as a form of empowerment and solace while navigating these structures of dominance.Item Open Access Feature Profile: Michelle Del Carmen, Field Instructor and President of The Centre for Dreams(2018-01) Del Carmen, Michelle; SAADI, SalmaFeature Profile: Michelle has been a part of The Centre for Dreams family from the very beginning. The need for the program came to light the day her brother John turned 21 and was finished school. Michelle graduated from The University of Windsor with a Bachelor of Social Work in 2000 and has been working in the field of disabilities all her life. As a result of having John as her brother, she has been instrumental in advocating for the rights of persons with disabilities from a very young age. She found her niche working at The Centre for Dreams and is very proud to be associated with such an outstanding organization that truly makes a difference in the lives of adults with a developmental disability. Michelle has been supervising students for sixteen years and York students for eleven years. She is also a long-time member of York University’s School of Social Work Field Education Committee, sitting on the committee for 8 years. The Centre for Dreams is a Markham day program that provides services for adults living with a developmental disability from across York and Durham Region. The Centre for Dreams provides special individuals with educational programs and social skills training with the hopes of integrating them into the community – both independently and confidently.Item Open Access Feature Profile: Elene Lam, Alumni, Field Instructor and Executive Director of of Butterfly (Asian and Migrant Sex Workers Support Network)(2018-04) Lam, Elene; Saadi, SalmaElene Lam is the founder and Executive Director of Butterfly (Asian and Migrant Sex Workers Support Network) and the Migrant Sex Workers Project. She has been involved in both the gender and sex work movements, as well as migrant and labour activism for almost 20 years. She has conducted training and presentations to community members, services providers and policy markers on sex work, migration, anti-oppressive practice and human rights in more than 20 countries, including the United States, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong and Switzerland. She also submitted and presented a brief to the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights in Canada and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women of the United Nations in Geneva to advocate for the rights and safety of migrant sex workers. Elene holds a Master of Law, a Bachelor of Law and a Bachelor of Social Work. In 2014, she received a Master of Social Work from York University and is currently doing her PhD in the School of Social Work at McMaster University.Item Open Access Feature Profile - Field Instructor Leyla Didari(2018-07) Didari, Leyla; Saadi, SalmaLeyla Didari is a Registered Social Worker (RSW) with two Master of Social Work (MSW) degrees from Iran and Canada. She currently works as a social worker at Compass ACT Team at Michael Garron Hospital with adults with chronic mental health issues. She is using an eclectic approach tailored to the unique needs of each client. Leyla has over 16 years of experience in a variety of settings and with diverse clients, including both patients with physical and/or mental health issues. Leyla is always challenging herself. She went through so many changes in her life, such as changing her career from nursing to social work, immigrating to Canada and starting over, learning a new language and going through various academic programs in her new country, such as IESW (International Educated Social Worker) Program at Ryerson University, as well as MSW Program at the University of Windsor, while working full time. She is continuously seeking to gain more skills and broaden her education. For instance, Leyla has spent many hours of training to become a WRAP (Wellness Recovery Action Plan) facilitator and a certified Auricular Acupuncture Specialist. Leyla tries to provide an environment of compassion and support to help her clients and families overcome obstacles to move forward and thrive. This is what Leyla had to say about her experience working as a social worker in Canada and supervising York University social work students.Item Open Access Feature Profile: PhD Social Work Alumna Nimo Bokore(2018-08) Bokore, Nimo; Saadi, SalmaAs part of our Feature Profile series, the School of Social Work interviewed PhD Social Work Alumna Nimo Bokore. Nimo completed her PhD at the School of Social Work at York University and currently teaches at the School of Social Work at Carleton University. In this interview Nimo discusses studying at York, her research and teaching at Carleton.Item Open Access Feature Profile - CUPE Faculty and Former Alum William Woolrich(2018-09) Woolrich, William; Saadi, SalmaWilliam Woolrich has several years of experience working in direct practice as a social worker on a forensic mental health team and then managing a supportive housing program. He also has over a decade of experience teaching social work, much of it online, and has several conference presentations exploring innovative teaching methods in post-secondary education. He has a MSW from York University’s School of Social Work and is now a Doctoral Candidate in the Faculty of Education at York University where he is focusing on teaching and learning in higher education and, in particular, examining critical approaches to pedagogy for students considering a career in social service administration. Most recently, he has accepted a full-time faculty position at George Brown College where he teaches in the Community Worker Program. In this interview, William discusses his passion for teaching, his social work field experience and the CUPE 3903 strike.