2023-2024 Year in Review: Teaching and students
Over the 2023-2024 academic year FIFSW celebrated students, continued work to strengthen field education, and enhanced its efforts to improve student connection and support. Plus: at the end of the year, we hired three new faculty members who promise to bring new expertise, experiences, and perspectives to our Faculty.
Here is a look at some of our accomplishments in teaching and student support from the past year.
Spotlight on students
Vithusan Arunakirinathan had many reasons to celebrate this spring: convocation, a new job and a 2024 University of Toronto Student Leadership Award. The award recognizes Arunakirinathan’s many contributions to the faculty, including reviving social work’s Graduate Student Association, which lapsed in the pandemic, and promoting interprofessional education as an Interprofessional Education Representative.
PhD candidate Samantha Manewitz was a featured guest on Ontario Today for a segment on polyamory. A registered social worker and sex therapist who specializes in sexual diversity and LGBTQ issues, Manewitz helped dispel myths about polyamory and offered insights on consensual non-monogamy and sexual diversity.
PhD Students Vilmara Lucas and Carolyn O’Connor worked with Associate Professor Stephanie Begun and in partnership with Midaynta Community Services to facilitate a body mapping project with a group of Somali-Canadian women in Toronto’s north-west end who have been impacted by gun violence. The art-based exercise provided the women with a way to express their grief. It also strengthened their solidarity and increased awareness about the challenges they’ve faced and how they worked to overcome them.
Shuruthii Thiyagosoruban (pictured above) shared what inspired her to pursue training in palliative care as part of her MSW. Thiyagosoruban is the recipient of the Seydegar-Spears Fellowship in Palliative Care for People who are Dying in hospice, in the home or on the street.
Sabrina Williams, who graduated from FIFSW’s Indigenous Trauma and Resiliency field of study in the fall, spoke about her experience in this unique Master of Social Work program and her plans post-graduation.
Favour Aina shared how receiving the Dr. Mary A. Wright Award, a new entrance scholarship established in 2023, gave her a strong sense of belonging. Through her MSW degree, Aina wants to find ways to help reduce the overrepresentation of young Black men in the criminal justice system.
Laura Ramos Barbosa is among a number of international students who have gone on to work at U of T’s Centre for International Experience (CIE). Originally from Brazil, the Master of Social Work student, took on a role as University Health Plan co-ordinator while pursuing her studies.
Student life and support
Efforts to build and strengthen student life and support programs continued this past year with a focus on student engagement and mentorship.
Read about some of the platforms and initiatives developed over the 2023-2024 academic year.
Enhancing field education
Practicums are one of the most important elements in the education of future social workers. FIFSW is exceedingly grateful to our partners and the field instructors who dedicate their time and expertise to Master of Social Work students.
Practicum: By the numbers
- 552 Field Instructors
- 365 Practicum sites
- 591 students
2023-2024 events
- Field Instructor Appreciation Breakfast
- A Day in the life of a social worker panels
- Me? A field instructor?
Event spotlight: FIFSW Field Instructors share insights and advice with students
On October 4th and 5th, Field Instructors from seven community organizations came to the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work to share their experiences and advice for new students interested in learning more about the profession. The panelists helped shine a light on the many opportunities available to those with a degree in social work. Click here to read some of the insights they shared.
Building knowledge and capacity in field education
Established in 2015 to celebrate FIFSW’s 100th anniversary, the Bertha Rosenstadt Trust Fund in Health Research provides funding for organizations to engage in research in consultation with FIFSW that expands social work field education knowledge and capacity. This year grants were awarded to North York General Hospital and the Toronto Humane Society.
Eileen McKee, Assistant Dean, Field Education and Charmaine Williams, Dean, FIFSW; with Everton Gooden, CEO of North York General Hospital and Jennifer Burt-Yanoff, Professional Practic Leader in social work.
Phil Nichols, CEO of Toronto Human Society; Dillon Dodson, Director of Social Work at Toronto Humane Society and Charmaine Williams, Dean FIFSW.
Learn more about the Bertha Rosenstadt Trust
Join FIFSW as a Field Instructor!
Talk It Out Counselling Clinic
FIFSW’s Talk It Out Counselling Clinic was established at U of T during the pandemic in response to increasing challenges to mental health equity. Operating on the principles of anti-oppression and trauma-informed care, the online Clinic trains Master of Social Work students to deliver mental health counselling to those who encounter multiple barriers to mental heath care.
The school-run mental health clinic works alongside community agencies to provide direct practice practicum opportunities to MSW students. Moreover, the students’ work it is making a real difference in the lives of the people they serve by providing access to culturally attuned services to diverse populations
Read a 2024 study of the program led by Associate Professor Lin Fang.
Bridging the gap: A new course taught by Raza Mirza brings learners of different generations together
The course Aging & Health (HST308H1) takes an in-depth look at issues faced by Canada’s senior population, dismantling many of the myths and prejudices attached to getting older. Part of the Health Studies program offered by the Faculty of Arts & Science, it’s taught by Raza Mirza, an assistant professor (status) with the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work. A member of U of T’s Institute for Lifecourse and Aging, housed at FIFSW, Mirza has spent his career improving the lives of senior citizens. When he started teaching the course in 2018, he began by inviting older people to the class as speakers, in order to share their lived experience of aging with undergraduates. But last year he had an idea: what if the students came to them?
Arts & Science published a story on the Aging & Health class on its website.
New Faculty
Over the summer, FIFSW announced three new faculty members. Each bring new experiences, perspectives and expertise to our Faculty, which will enrich opportunities for our students.
Dr. Tin D. Vo joined FIFSW as an Assistant Professor (CLTA) in community-based social work practice in July. Tin’s interdisciplinary, community-engaged research centres on social climate and exclusion as determinants of health with an emphasis on belonging, resilience/resistance, and overall wellbeing. Their research evaluates policies and systems for diverse populations, and explores the intersectional lived experiences of historically marginalized communities to enhance their belonging and wellbeing in various contexts, including higher education, leisure spaces, and community settings. Tin has worked in the public sector and with nonprofit organizations for more than ten years as a Credentialed Evaluator, program planner, researcher, and private consultant.
Dr. Amar Ghelani joined FIFSW as an Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream in August. A registered social worker with 18 years of direct practice experience supporting youth, adults, families, and groups with complex mental health concerns, Amar has worked in healthcare, prison, shelter, school, mobile crisis, outpatient, and addiction treatment settings in cities across Canada. He has specialized training in CBT, DBT, and suicide intervention, as well as a certificate in trauma counselling.
Dr. Carolyn Mak officially joins FIFSW as an Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream in January 2025. A practicing social worker in the Toronto community for over twenty years, Carolyn is the recipient of the 2023 OASW School Social Work Achievement Award and the 2024 International Coalition of Girls Schools H. William Christ Educator Prize. Her recent publications and presentations include topics such as social-emotional learning in girls schools, teaching and learning about anti-Black racism in social work spaces, and decolonizing social work practice.
