A National Summit to Advance Social Work in Team-Based Primary Care Across Canada

In partnership with the Canadian Association of Social Workers (CASW), a team of primary care researchers and social workers — led by Associate Professor Rachelle Ashcroft — is convening a national Summit at the University of Toronto to strategically build momentum for the integration of social workers in team-based primary care across Canada.

On October 15th and October 16th, 2025, this pan-Canadian Summit will bring together primary care and social work clinicians, leaders, researchers, and educators, and policymakers to advance system-level guidance, supporting social workers’ integration and practice at the limits of their scope.

While all Canadian provinces are currently undergoing transformative expansions of team-based primary care, vast variations currently exist in the extent to which social workers are integrated in primary care across the country. As outlined in the CASW’s recent report, social workers add to the comprehensiveness of primary care by providing services for much needed mental health care and the social dimensions of health.

The Summit will identify key national priorities that will help propel Canadian primary care and social work forward.

The agenda and itinerary for the Summit will be added to this page in the coming weeks – more details to come!

Project Team Members

Rachelle Ashcroft (PI)

Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto

Fred Phelps

Canadian Association of Social Workers (CASW)

Louis-Francois Dallaire

Centre Intégré Universitaire de Santé et de Services Sociaux de la Capitale-Nationale

Carmen Logie

Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto

Jennifer Rayner

Alliance for Healthier Communities

Deepy Sur

Ontario College of Family Physicians

Keith Adamson

Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto

Glenda Webber

Canadian Association of Social Workers (CASW)

Ivy Oandasan

The College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) 

Emily Gard Marshall

Department of Family Medicine, Dalhousie University

Ajirioghene Evi

Ontario Association of Social Workers

FIFSW PhD Students

Peter Sheffield

PhD Candidate

Urvashi Joseph

PhD Student

Contact

For more information about the National Summit project, please contact: Dr. Rachelle Ashcroft at rachelle.ashcroft@utoronto.ca

Organizers of The National Summit to Advance Social Work in Team-Based Primary Care Across Canada are grateful for support from the Canadian Association of Social Workers (CASW-ACTS), The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRCC) and the Sanda Rotman Chair in Social Work.