BC Social Workers

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Using LinkedIn to Boost Your Career & Private Practice

How to Network Online Using Linkedin

Using Linkedin As An Online Networking Tool

Kessler, W. (2013).

Savvy business owners, marketers, recruiters, sales people and people looking to explore job options are using Linkedin to gain access to people, jobs, news, groups, updates, and industry insights that help them network more effectively, identify the right prospects, and position themselves for their next job or career.

Why Linkedin is the Best Online Networking Site

LinkedIn is the largest professional network in the world. Membership recently surpassed 259 million members, as growth increased to 38% year-over-year with members in over 200 countries and territories around the globe.

An Increasing Number of Employers Use Social Networks to Find Candidates

Overall, 92 percent of employers and recruiters already use or plan to use social networks to find job candidates this year. And the search appears to be paying off. A full 73 percent of the recruiters polled said they hired someone who was found or introduced through a social network. Among those, 89 percent found someone through LinkedIn, 26 percent through Facebook, and 15 percent through Twitter.

Linkedin Strategic Announcements

In the third quarter of 2013 Linkedin reported the latest strategy information:

Linkedin Members engaged at record levels across desktop and mobile devices. Strength was driven by investment in core products improving how members manage their identities, their networks, and consume and publish content.
LinkedIn launched University Pages, the first step in an initiative to make LinkedIn an indispensable resource for students. To date, over 1,500 University Pages have been created in more than 60 countries.
LinkedIn launched Sponsored Updates, its first mobile advertising product, to deliver relevant content to members from marketers in the LinkedIn desktop and mobile feed.

What New for Linkedin?

In October, LinkedIn launched several new mobile products, including a re-imagined iPad app; Intro for iPhone, transforming the mobile email experience; a new Pulse app to deliver relevant news and insights with LinkedIn integration; and Recruiter Mobile for customers of the flagship Talent Solutions Recruiter product. Clearly, Linkedin is adapting to the growing expectations and needs among job seekers, recruiters, and employers.

Why Network Online? Potential Benefits Include:

A recent survey from Jobvite found that 94 percent of job recruiters tap into LinkedIn to find qualified candidates, up from 93 percent last year and 87 percent in 2011. But the other popular social networks are growing in influence as well.
- Reach a broader base of potential target population
- Improves Search Engine Optimization (SEO) through links to your website, landing page or blog as most social media sites index w/search engines
- Contributes to list building efforts- opt–in email/newsletter
- Contributes to jump starting company branding efforts by increasing company visibility and building loyalty and trust
- Brand Building-allows more control of cyberspace-provide company information before others do
- Brand Monitoring-find out what people are saying about your company live and be positioned to comment on it
- Damage control-Respond to negative feedback to prevent/dispel rumors
- Gain intelligence by what your competitor’s web presence/offers/content

Ways to Network Online Using Linkedin

Raise the visibility of you/your business online by doing the following:

Create a Business/Company page on Linkedin(it is free)
Join a Group on Linkedin related to your profession/ affiliation / target market
Start a group on Linkedin to attract people you want to connect with and interact with and learn from
In your Linkedin group provide an answer to a “Discussion” question
Ask a Discussion question on your Linkedin group
Comment on, or “Like” someone’s Discussion question or answer in the group
Ask people to connect on Linkedin
Respond to requests to connect with you
Poll group members on Linkedin
If you’d like to communicate with a person with whom you are not connected-Ask someone you are connected to(who is connected to that person) for an “introduction”
Write “status updates” on Linkedin-post a link to an article you wrote, promotion, event, job posting, or quote
“Endorse” people for a skill on Linkedin
Say Congrats on a new job to someone you know on Linkedin
Send “InMails” on Linkedin (Paid Service)

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Infant Mental Health Educational Conference and General Assembly - Vancouver - November 9th, 2013

Western Canadian Association of Infant Mental Health
A branch of the World Association of Infant Mental Health

Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Infant Massage in Canada - 2004-2013

2013 Educational Conference and General Assembly
IAIM- AIMB Canada ®

Date: Saturday, November 9th, 2013
Time: 8:30 – 4:30 PST
Location: St. Paul’s Hospital
Providence Building Lecture Theatre - Room SPH 1477
Vancouver, British Colombia

Speakers

Dr Pratibha Reebye - Reactive Attachment Disorder
Dr Deidre Ryan – Post-partum & Perinatal Disorders
Presentations followed by concurrent IAIM-AIMB Canada General Assembly
& Dr. Reebye’s new infant massage video and discussion.

We will conclude with a panel discussion and celebration of 10 years of infant massage in Canada.

Contact us at aimbiaim@gmail.com for registration and information.

Early Bird Fee (before October 20, 2013): $30 for IAIM or WCAIMH members, $40 for non-members.

Registration at the door: $40 for IAIM or WCAIMH members, $50 for non-members.

McGill School of Social Work accused of perpetuating systemic racism

McGill School of Social Work accused of perpetuating systemic racism
Chan, H. (2013). McGill Daily.

A course lecturer and doctoral student at the McGill School of Social Work has filed a human rights complaint against McGill University, alleging systemic racism on the part of the School. In his complaint, Woo Jin Edward Lee alleges that the Employment Equity Guidelines of the School of Social Work, and generally campus-wide, perpetuate practices that discriminate against racialized persons for faculty positions.

The complaint was sent to Quebec’s human rights commission, and was officially received on July 4 of this year, on the premise of “discrimination based on race intersecting with gender and sexual orientation in violation of sections 4, 10 and 16 of the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms.”

According to the School of Social Work’s updated list of professors, Lee is the only racialized person and visible minority – not including Indigenous peoples – registered as a lecturer this calendar year.

“I don’t think there is any representation of people of colour when it comes to the administrative level,” said social work undergraduate student Sidara Ahmad, adding, “I don’t think there is an understanding of what people of colour – students of colour – go through. I don’t think there is any acknowledgement of the discrimination and racism they face.”

Lee, a self-identified member of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community, and a visible minority, is currently a course lecturer for SWRK 325: Anti-Oppression Social Work Practice. He is also a doctoral student specializing in the experiences of LGBTQ immigrants and refugees.

In April 2013, Lee said, he applied for a part-time faculty lecturer position at the School of Social Work, recognizing the lack of racial diversity at the School. “Out of 22 tenure- and non-tenure-track faculty members, one or two are racialized, and one is LGBTQ,” he told The Daily in an interview.

A month after applying, Lee said he was notified that he had not even been short-listed for an interview. The five candidates short-listed for the position were all white women.

According to Lee, when meeting the director of the School, Wendy Thomson, he was informed that his application was rejected because he lacked clinical experience. The job posting never mentioned the necessity of such experience, Lee said, asking only for five years of experience as a social worker in Quebec’s community, health, or social services. The job posting also included the University’s statement committed to diversity and equity in employment, “[welcoming] applications from indigenous peoples, visible minorities, ethnic minorities, persons of disabilities, women, persons of minority sexual orientations and gender identities and others who may contribute to further diversification.”

“The hiring committee’s internal and unwritten requirement regarding clinical experience produces a recurring, adverse impact on racialized persons who are underrepresented in clinical institutional settings in Quebec,” said Lee about his application rejection.

“I have been serving as course lecturer at the School of Social Work since 2008, in addition to devoting hundreds of volunteer hours in serving the McGill social work department and broader Montreal community,” said Lee. “It’s disappointing and saddens me that I was not at least short listed for the part-time faculty lecturer position.

There are hiring criteria and procedures that must be reviewed by the human rights commission because there have been so few racialized teaching professionals that have been hired by the School within the last ten years. This is why I hope that my complaint of systemic racism in hiring will lead to change and better representation of the Montreal community among the School’s staff.”

Ahmad told The Daily about the very real implications of being a racialized person in the School. “I am one of the very few students who is racialized in the School of Social Work, and as soon as I started the program, I had a situation where there was discrimination and racism involved. [Lee] was one of the few faculty members who provided the support and the space to talk about it.”

Lee has been studying at the McGill School of Social Work since 2007, and is the recipient of numerous fellowships and scholarships for his studies. More recently, Lee was one of only four recipients in McGill history to receive the Award for Equity and Community Building, in the academic staff category. He was nominated by 16 students and community members. According to an article published in the McGill Reporter, this award “recognizes the work of students, faculty and staff committed to advancing equity and diversity at McGill.”

“For me, just seeing where the students are before they take [Lee’s Anti-Oppression Social Work Practice course] and where they are after, it’s essential,” said undergraduate social work student Katrina Topping, who had previously taken Lee’s Anti-Oppression course, adding, “It challenges students to question who they are, both as people and as social workers.”

Lee has been teaching at the School for six years – as a course lecturer for five years in addition to being a teaching assistant for one year. He has also worked in the Montreal community sector for another six years and spent five years practicing social work with marginalized children and youth in Calgary.

“I think that there does seem to be some type of resistance to incorporate AOP – anti-oppressive practice – in a really big way,” said Topping.

Another current social work undergraduate, Annie Preston, added, “I think there is a structural change in the School that needs to be happening to push for this.”

On his part, Lee has been pushing for change. “There has been a lack of racial diversity that was apparent from the very beginning, it was something that I noticed when I served as Equity Commissioner for PGSS,” said Lee, who also co-created the Racialized Students Network (RSN).

In addition to the RSN, Lee is also the co-founder of AGIR, a community organization that advocates for LGBTQ immigrants, refugees, and non-status migrants in the Montreal area. He is also a member of the Social Work Association of Graduate Students (SWAGS), and was the co-coordinator of Ethnoculture, an annual event that raises awareness about LGBTQ racialized and ethnic minority communities in Montreal.

In the fall of 2009, the Principal’s Task Force on Student Life and Learning launched the McGill University Student Demographic Survey to “foster sensitivity to cultural and personal differences in the delivery of academic and other administrative supports to our students.” The survey was completed by 2,070 McGill students.

According to the survey, 26 per cent of students from any ethnic group – excluding students who identified solely as white – reported discrimination by fellow students, and 18 per cent reported some level of discrimination by McGill employees.

Section 2.6 of McGill’s Handbook on Student Rights and Responsibilities describes discrimination as “any action, behaviour, or decision based on race, colour, sex [...] which results in the exclusion or preference of an individual or group within the University community. This includes both the actions of individual members of the University and systemic institutional practices and policies of the University.”

According to Fo Niemi, co-founder and executive director of the Center for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR), his organization does not receive many complaints from universities.

However, Niemi argues that this is more of a reflection of an unsafe environment for disclosure of discrimination rather than an absence of discriminatory experiences themselves. “In universities and corporations, the many professional and managerial positions produce a professional stigma when someone raises a claim of discrimination.”

Another explanation for the rarity of complaints arising from university staff lies in a Supreme Court of Canada decision, under which unionized people cannot independently appeal to the human rights commission unless the union has found a specific reason to file a grievance in the place of the employee. “That might explain why in many unionized workplaces, such as universities, we do not see very often claims of discrimination going forward,” said Niemi.

As a part-time course lecturer, Lee is a member of the newly-formed McGill Course Lecturers and Instructors Union (MCLIU). However, the union is currently in negotiation with the University for its first collective agreement, and Lee believes he would not have been able to go through the usual grievance procedure in place.

Among the remedies sought, Lee’s complaint asks the Commission to require changes to the hiring policies of the University in general and the McGill School of Social Work in particular, and to order the School to adopt a mandatory employment equity action plan to increase the number of racialized individuals among the School’s faculty and course lecturers. Lee also seeks material and moral damages.

“There are many other students that have been in situations where they have been discriminated against,” said Ahmad, adding, “and found support with [Lee].”

Job Postings: Knowledge Exchange & Social Learning Coordinator & Child and Youth Friendly Communities Manager

Knowledge Exchange & Social Learning Coordinator

Canadian Mental Health Association BC Division
Knowledge Exchange and Social Learning Coordinator –
Healthy Minds/Healthy Campuses
Job Title: Knowledge Exchange and Social Learning Coordinator
Position Type: Full-Time, Temporary, One-Year
Hours of Work: 1.0 FTE (37.5 hours per week)
Location: Vancouver, BC
Years of Experience: 3 years relevant experience
Start Date: As soon as possible
Application Deadline: Tuesday November 12th @ 12 noon

Canadian Mental Health Association BC Division
Vision Statement – Mentally healthy people in a healthy society
Mission Statement – As the nation-wide leader and champion for mental health, CMHA facilitates access to the resources people require to maintain and improve mental health and community integration, build resilience, and support recovery from mental illness.

Job Summary

As the Knowledge Exchange and Social Learning Coordinator for the Healthy Minds/Healthy Campuses Community of Practice, you will play an important facilitative and documenting role within our community of practice (CoP). You will report to and take strategic direction from the Director, Public Policy, Research, and Provincial Programs and work in close collaboration with the Coordinator, Healthy Minds/Healthy Campuses.

This position will be responsible for a variety of knowledge exchange and social learning activities designed to support CoP members in their collective work to advance a provincial vision of healthier campus communities. You will play a lead role in designing, planning, and implementing a variety of knowledge products, including the launch of the community’s new website and online learning platform. You will also work in close collaboration with the Coordinator, Healthy Minds/Healthy Campuses in the implementation of effective face-to-face and virtual social learning events (e.g. the community’s annual summit, webinars, online discussions). You will facilitate access to appropriate and tailored evidence, and information about promising practices, to support province-wide inter-campus learning related to population focused and systemic responses to promote student mental health and reduce harmful substance use. You will play a key role in producing the evidence-based content required to support the effective mobilization of knowledge throughout our learning community.

While the Coordinator, Healthy Minds/Healthy Campuses is responsible for building and fostering linkages between stakeholders at colleges, universities, institutes and their communities across BC, your duties and responsibilities will include a focus on building and strengthening the linkages between the community of practice and the BC research community. You will build and foster new relationships with researchers to enhance community capacity to engage in research about campus mental health and substance use and apply the best available evidence, while facilitating the effective participation of community members in knowledge generation and exchange opportunities.

See the entire posting here.

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Child and Youth Friendly Communities Manager

Marketing & Communications Coordinator

Check out our "Get Involved" page to view the posting.

Please share widely with your networks, on your websites, in your newsletters. This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to child rights work in BC. The application closes at 9:00AM on November 12th.

Help us spread the word on social media! Here's a suggested tweet:

Passionate about children's rights and healthy communities? @scyofbc is hiring!

Visit the website for more information.

Friday, November 1, 2013

Training - DBT - Vancouver - this week

"Distress Tolerance and Interpersonal Effectiveness Skills in Dialectical Behaviour Therapy"

Dear Colleague,

The DBT Centre of Vancouver is pleased to offer a full-day workshop, "Distress Tolerance and
Interpersonal Effectiveness Skills in Dialectical Behaviour Therapy," taking place on
Wednesday, November 6, 2013, at the Italian Cultural Centre, 3075 Slocan St, Vancouver.

This one-day workshop, presented by Dr. Alex Chapman, will focus on skills to help clients
learn how to tolerate emotional distress and upsetting situations (past and present) and to
interact more effectively with other people using Distress Tolerance and Interpersonal
Effectiveness Skills. Following this day of training, participants will be able to:

- Describe and use at least one core Distress Tolerance Skill to help clients survive crises
and overwhelming situations
- Describe and begin to use in practice the skill of Radical Acceptance
- Describe and use in practice some of the core Interpersonal Effectiveness Skills

The workshop is designed for mental health professionals (psychologists, psychiatrists,
counsellors, etc.) providing counselling or other psychological services.

The DBT Centre is approved by the Canadian Psychological Association as a provider of
continuing education activities. Attendees will receive a certificate confirming attendance
for 6 CE credits.

For more information and to register online, please go to
http://dbtvancouver.com/workshops/2013nov/. You may also refer to the attached
document/registration form for your convenience. Thank you.

DBT Centre of Vancouver, Inc.
1040 - 1200 Burrard St
Vancouver BC V6Z 2C7
P: 604-569-1156
F: 604-569-1230

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Training: Elder Mediation, Jungian & Leadership and Life Purpose

Elder Mediation - People's Law School

Our next Legal Lunch will be held on Wednesday, October 30^th.

Elder Mediation is a term which refers to third party assistance to resolve disputes between older adults and those close to them. As the population ages, more and more adults will be faced with difficult decisions about care of an aging parent. This seminar will be presented by Joan Braun, L.L.B., M.S.W., the former Executive Director of the BC Centre for Elder Advocacy.

I hope you or your clients will be able to join us for this free seminar. I would appreciate if you could post the attached poster on your notice board.

Register here.

Regards,

Kathryn McCart

PLEI Coordinator

People's Law School

T: 604.331.5404

E: kmc@publiclegaled.bc.ca

www.publiclegaled.bc.ca

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2013 C. G. Jung Society of Vancouver

James Hollis Weekend

November 15 Lecture:

What is a Mature Spirituality? - St. Andrew's Wesley Church

Tickets $20

November 16 Seminar:

Hauntings: Dispelling the Ghosts Who Run Our Lives - Museum of Vancouver

Tickets $110

Tickets currently on sale at Banyen books 3608 W. 4th Ave. Vancouver 604-737-8858 (and at the door).

Details for this event are at the attached link above.

Please pass it along to anyone you think might be interested, and thanks for helping us to advertise.

We look forward to seeing you there.

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[Angie is an amazing and inspirational change agent and coach. If you're looking for a way to get to the next level in your life you may really get something valuable out of this training. *Tracey*]

Leading Self: Leadership and Life Purpose Using the Satir Model

With

Angie Dairou, MA

November 23, 24, 2013 9 am – 5 pm

Cost $300.00 per person (SIP Member and Early Bird Rates Available)

Location: Phoenix Center, 13686-94A Avenue, Surrey, BC V3V 1N1

What is your Life Purpose and how do you stick with it when there are so many distractions in the world today? What is congruent leadership and how do you lead yourself, lead others and lead globally without losing your sanity?

All too often, those who lead do so at the expense of peace, balance, health and fulfillment.

It is possible to design your life so that joyful achievement is balanced with peace.

Nurturing healthy relationships while achieving goals is possible, but only when we are grounded spiritually in our life energy. This allows us to listen to our life purpose and be directed by a deeper place than just the emotional or cognitive levels of our experience.

This workshop will support participants in grounding themselves as the leaders of their lives and opening up to a bigger purpose than they may have previously thought was possible.

It will focus on Leading Self and will include:

Exploring Life Purpose: Why our greatest wounds create the fuel for our greatest service in the world
Creating Balance: how to prioritize congruently and balance nurturing relationships with getting things done. Managing your energy so that external factors don't manage you.
Life Purpose Strategies: The importance of creating support systems for both technical and Human support and accountability.
Dealing with Stuckness and Distraction: Why being stuck is normal and why getting unstuck usually requires us to do less and be more.
Somatic Strategies: Using Somato-Respiratory Integration along with Satir questions to uncover the anchors of old coping and unleash energy.

For more information contact, or visit the website

Cindi Mueller, SIP Administrator

604-634-0572

admin@satirpacific.org

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Job Postings: ED, Nanaimo; Manager, Case Management, Vancouver

Executive Director
Columbian Centre Society

The Columbian Centre Society is a Registered Non-Profit Society, demonstrating excellence in psychosocial rehabilitation for adults with mental health and addictions concerns, and/or cognitive challenges. The Society currently owns and operates five residences in Nanaimo, BC, providing rehabilitation services for approximately 30 adults, and is also involved in associated community engagement activities.

Columbian Centre’s intent is to encourage a society that values and supports all people, including those experiencing psychiatric, addiction, and cognitive challenges through thoughtful, community-driven leadership and programs that promote recovery, social inclusion, safe housing, and public education. Our resources are dedicated to incorporating contemporary knowledge and best practices in the delivery of mental health and addictions programs, and fostering dialogue among local communities to generate responses to emergent and ongoing social challenges.

Columbian Centre is seeking a dynamic and dedicated Executive Director to support the expansion of the Society’s partnerships and programming in the context of this mission, and building upon the successes of the current Executive Director, beginning March, 2014.

Reporting to the Board of Directors, the Executive Director directs and coordinates the achievement of the organization's philosophy, mission, strategy, and annual goals and objectives. In addition, the Executive Director is responsible for liaison with external authorities and regulating bodies that govern how the Society carries out its business. To this end, the Executive Director is responsible for developing and directing the planning, implementation and evaluation of the programs and the operational policies and procedures necessary to carry out the resident services that the Society is required to provide under the terms of its service contracts. The Executive Director is expected to take an influential role in community social and health services development and educational programs. The Executive Director must also be familiar with the development of best practices and new evidence-based treatments within a contemporary psychosocial rehabilitation environment.

The key elements of leadership include oversight and direction of service operations and financial and capital resources including fundraising, human resources, public relations, and Board administration and support. The new Executive Director will be someone who leads by example, and is a seasoned administrator.

He/she will be knowledgeable and competent in community mental health and addictions programming with emphasis on psychosocial rehabilitation. A minimum of ten years’ experience managing non-profit rehabilitation operations, with at least five years at a senior level; experience with community collaboration, fundraising and strategic planning; and, working in a unionized environment is essential. A good working knowledge of provincial legislation in the following areas: Worksafe, BC, and BC Employment Standards is required.

Additional information about the position of Executive Director, and about Columbian Centre Society, is available on our website: http://columbiancentre.org

Applications for this posting will be accepted by email at ccs.ed.recruit@shaw.ca, until midnight, October 31, 2013.

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Covenant House Vancouver

Manager, Case Management Services

1 Full-Time Position

Job Function

Within the Mission Statement and Principles of Covenant House Vancouver, the Manager of Case Management Services oversees the department and all related programs and services. Within the context of a client centered and integrated case management model of service and in accordance with established standards of professional and best practice, the Manager ensures that case management services are inclusionary, flexible and meets the needs of youth across the continuum of services.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities:

Responsible for direct implementation of and adherence to, Covenant House philosophy, policy and procedures

· Provide input to the Director, Program Services in the development of annual service and strategic plans and annual CMS operating budget
· Provide leadership and ensure case management services are integrated within the continuum of services
· Manage and oversee the administrative and daily operations of Case Management Services
· Manage department spending and staffing costs as per the approved budget
· Manage contract, grant, and/or government funding: approve and monitor budget expenditures; prepare budget revisions; provide interim status reports on all accounts; oversee, coordinate, and/or assist with proposal writing to develop additional funding
· Complete monthly and quarterly activity reports for supervisor and agency, noting trends, identifying issues of concerns and recommending solutions
· Participate in quality assurance and improvement activities
· Manage the maintenance of client files to ensure they are up to date and consistent
· Responsible for, hiring and training of staff, volunteers and practicum students
· Meet regularly with staff for formal supervision, performance appraisals and provide ongoing informal supervision
· Provide support to Case Management Services staff and other program staff as required
· Provide or coordinate ongoing professional development workshops to all program departments

Qualifications:

Minimum Masters of Social Work
· Minimum of 3 years of related experience in directing a case management team preferably at Covenant House Vancouver
· Clinical Credentials & Supervision skills required
· Working knowledge of integrated case management
· Working knowledge of Stages of Change model
· Working knowledge of statistics and outcomes
· Familiarity of attachment theory
· Program evaluation skills
· Ability to conduct staff training workshops
· Demonstrated leadership and strong supervision skills
· Goal oriented, able to plan and delegate
· Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
· Computer literate, in particular familiarity with databases

Other Information:

· Schedule: Monday to Friday

· 35 hours per week

· Occasional weekends and evenings and on-call as required

· Full benefits package, including sick and personal leave

· Preferred start date: November 18, 2013

Contact Information:

· The application process may include an interview by panel as well as a written component.

· Deadline: Position will remain open until a suitable candidate is found.

· For more information on the job and application instructions click here