Q & A: Meet Tin Vo, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream

Dr. Tin Vo’s longstanding interest in social justice and the social determinants of health first led them to a career in public health, where they focused on program planning, evaluation, and research. But they reached a point where they wanted to tackle the social determinants of health in a more direct, hands-on way. This led Vo to complete a PhD in social work at Wilfrid Laurier University. We asked Vo about the evolution of their career prior to joining U of T’s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work this summer, their past and current research, and what most excites them about teaching.  

Your undergraduate degree was in molecular biology and genetics. What were your early career aspirations?

Well, I wanted to help cure HIV. Just a small ambition! I worked my way through four years of lab bench research, and at the end of my degree realized that I enjoyed working with humans much more than with bacteria and proteins.

What made you choose public health next?

I debated between a master’s in public health and a master’s in social work. I wanted to address the social determinants of health through community development and social justice work, and I thought health might be the better route because my education so far had focused on human health.

Can you describe your career as a public health practitioner?

My master’s in public health focused on a social justice approach to health promotion, and through my studies I fell in love with program evaluation. After graduation, I went into the field designing and evaluating public health programs across the spectrum of public health, from infectious diseases and chronic disease prevention to substance use and mental health. It was fun and interesting, but after about five years I didn’t feel as challenged as I wanted to be.

What led you to a PhD in social work?

At the time, I was working closely with social service agencies and mental health providers, and I noticed that social workers were implementing concrete, tangible strategies to address the social determinants of health. I thought, “What if I merge social work and public health going forward?”

What was the focus of your PhD?

I chose a subject that related to my lived experience. I was interested in how homophobia, transphobia, racism, and other systems of oppression impact people’s wellbeing, so I looked at how discrimination in 2SLGBTQ+ leisure spaces affects individuals’ mental health and sense of belonging. These spaces – like queer sports leagues, social groups, clubs and bars, and virtual platforms – are often assumed to be inclusive. But they’re not always, and people can experience discrimination based on their gender identities, race and/or disabilities. I conducted a bi-national survey across Canada and the US of more than 500 people around their experiences of discrimination in these spaces, their mental health, and their social wellbeing. I also interviewed a little more than 20 participants to dive deeper into their experiences.

What were your main findings?

The research participants fell into three mains groups based on how they experienced the queer spaces: as welcoming, hostile, or somewhere in between these two. Not surprisingly, the people who felt welcomed had more positive mental health, and negative mental health for those who described the spaces as hostile. Individuals with disabilities tended to experience the most discrimination – often revolving around inaccessible queer spaces.

Why are queer leisure spaces important?

Queer and trans spaces are vital to the wellbeing of queer and trans folks, as it’s very unsafe for queer and trans folks in general society today with the harmful, discriminatory public policies alongside violent interpersonal incidents. They need places to escape, where they can find community and the social support that’s going to be helpful when they inevitably face challenging experiences.

How do you plan to build on this research at FIFSW?

I’m in the early stages of building my research program. I’m interested in continuing to explore how we create inclusive queer and trans spaces of care in community and postsecondary settings. I’m also building on my postdoctoral research, which focused on the sexual health of queer and trans men in Canada and Australia. I am also working with community partners to develop a project that explores how intergenerational engagement between queer and trans youth and older adults shapes identity formation, loneliness, and belonging in northern Ontario.

What made you take this full-time role at FIFSW after all your years of practice?

This position is focused on community-based social work research and practice, something that’s been important to me throughout my career. In program evaluation, I always prioritized program users’ perspectives. I do the same thing in my research – involving the people that are directly affected by the research at every stage. Also, I fell in love with teaching during my doctoral studies. I started my PhD thinking that I’d go back into public health practice, but it really excited me to see the light bulb moments happen in the classroom. It brought me a lot of joy.

What do you enjoy most about teaching?

Most of my teaching will be about program evaluation and research methods. I’m a research nerd, and I love getting learners to think about how to work with communities in research and how to choose and use the best methods to answer their questions. To make the learning meaningful, I attempt to integrate more practical, case-based learning to allow learners to build useful research skills that they can apply in their future career. A lot of students enter social work with the mindset of being a clinician, and so research may not be top of mind. I hope that I can help them see, by the end of their degree, how valuable research is, especially as we think about evidence-informed practice. Even if they choose not to engage in research activities, I want them to understand where it comes from, and how to use it.

Q&A by Megan Easton; Photo by Jim Moore

Q&A: Meet Amar Ghelani, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream

Dr. Amar Ghelani worked in shelters, addiction programs, mobile crisis intervention, prisons and various mental health settings for nearly two decades before joining U of T’s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work this year as an assistant professor in the teaching stream. In many ways, it’s been a smooth transition because Ghelani sees social workers as natural educators. He completed his PhD at the Wilfred Laurier University Faculty of Social Work, where his research examined cannabis use in youth who have experienced psychosis. We asked Ghelani about his time on the frontlines, his current research and how he’ll ground his teaching in his rich field experience.

What led you to social work?

I was always interested in social issues and mental health, and I was looking for an opportunity to help people, learn from people, and contribute to social justice movements. But there was one interaction I had on the street with a couple experiencing homelessness and addiction when I was a teenager that really opened my eyes to the kinds of problems people face. I didn’t really know what social work was then, but I knew I wanted to work with unhoused populations, wherever that took me.

So where did this interest take you, after you earned your undergraduate degree in social work?

I started at a shelter in Ottawa working the overnight shift and on the street outreach team, then moved to an addictions treatment centre for homeless men. Then I decided to do my MSW at UBC, where I focused on trauma and addictions and did a placement in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside with Indigenous populations. Later, I was a youth and family counsellor in a community service, did mental health crisis intervention with Peel Regional Police, worked in an early psychosis intervention program, was a DBT therapist, and spent four years as a prison social worker with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. I also spent a few years here at U of T’s Health and Counselling Centre as the mental health care coordinator. My last position was in forensic assessment at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

These all sound like challenging frontline roles. What kept you going, and how did you avoid burnout?

I’ve always really enjoyed all the jobs that I’ve done, including working with complex populations. In most of my jobs, it hasn’t even felt like work. I think it helps a lot if you’re open to continuous learning and consulting with people who’ve been doing the role for a while. Also, I just like hearing people’s stories and being helpful to them. It energizes me. Seeing people overcome addiction or trauma and grow really drives me. 

What prompted you to do your PhD? 

It was the legalization of cannabis, actually. I’d worked with cannabis users for my whole career, and it was the most complicated drug to me in some ways. Often, people don’t see it as a problem, but it does contribute to certain issues and plays an important role — sometimes positive, and sometimes not so positive — in people’s lives. I worked with youth who’d had a psychotic episode, and I wanted to understand cannabis use in this population from the users’ perspectives.

What made you take this full-time role at FIFSW after all your years of practice?

Well, this is my dream job. It’s in the teaching stream and I’ve always loved teaching. Social work, to me, is teaching. So I’ve always been kind of a teacher, especially early in my career at the homeless shelter, where I was leading addictions groups. I’ve also facilitated anger management groups for youth involved in the criminal justice system. I really learned how to keep people’s attention and make learning practical for people struggling with life problems. Apart from my teaching skills, I feel like after more than 18 years of practice I have some useful insights for social work students.

What are some of those insights?

A widespread mental health crisis is happening right now, and social workers are vital to supporting individuals and families through that crisis. Social work students need to develop practical skills, including applying evidence-based interventions and measuring their effectiveness. That’s one of the things that I really want to get across to students: we have to set goals and know how to evaluate progress so that, when clients reach out for help, social workers know that they’re being effective and competent.

You’re in the teaching stream, but you’ll also be conducting some research. What are your current projects?

Something I’ve noticed throughout my career is that one of the most challenging things that social workers do is help people who have signs of psychosis or active psychotic symptoms. There isn’t much education and not a lot of opportunities to practice social work skills with people who are acutely psychotic. This faculty has a lot of excellent simulation opportunities for developing clinical skills, but not for psychosis. So part of my research right now is doing a scoping review to understand how other health fields have incorporated psychosis-focused simulations, and how social work can adopt them. I’m also working on a grant proposal to develop materials to train actors to portray people with psychosis using the advice and guidance of people with lived experience of psychosis.

What are you teaching this year? 

I’m teaching Elements and Lab, which focuses on foundational practice skills, mental health and social work, advanced mental health practice, and crisis intervention. I have pretty varied experience in all these areas, and I’m really looking forward to sharing it.

Q&A by Megan Easton; Photo by Jim Moore

Recent publications by Amar Ghelani

Ghelani, A. (2023), Perspectives on cannabis risks and harm reduction among youth in Early Psychosis Intervention programs: a qualitative study, Mental Health and Social Inclusion,  Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/MHSI-06-2023-0064

Ghelani, A. (2023) Perspectives toward cannabidiol (CBD) among youth in Early Psychosis Intervention programs: A qualitative study. Early Intervention in Psychiatry, 18 (1), 10-17

Ghelani, A. (2022) Knowledge and Skills for Social Workers on Mobile Crisis Intervention Teams. Clinical Social Work Journal, 50, 414–425 . https://doi.org/10.1007/s10615-021-00823-x

Ghelani, A., Douglin, M., & Diebold, A. (2022). Effectiveness of Canadian police and mental health co-response crisis teams: A scoping review. Social Work in Mental Health, 21(1), 86–100. https://doi.org/10.1080/15332985.2022.2074283

Improved services and supports are needed to help youth transition out of foster care, say co-directors of the Fraser Mustard Institute for Human Development Policy Bench

Ashley Vandermorris (left) and Barbara Fallon are Co-Directors of the Fraser Mustard Institute for Human Development Policy Bench.

On October 28, Co-Directors of the Fraser Mustard Institute for Human Development Policy Bench, Barbara Fallon and Ashley Vandermorris, testified to the Senate Committee on Human Rights on the topic of youth aging out of foster care.

A professor at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, Fallon holds the Canada Research Chair in Child Welfare and has spent the past 25 years researching the needs and trajectories of children and families in the child welfare system. Vandermorris is a staff paediatrician in the Division of Adolescent Medicine at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), where her work focuses on youth confronting intersecting structural vulnerabilities. She also serves on the board of directors of the Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children.

“Children in foster care do have an equal right to access the supports they need to thrive and succeed,” said Professor Fallon in her opening statement. “This is even more important during the critical period in which they transition into adulthood.”

Fallon and Vandermorris’ testimony drew on a 2020 Policy Bench report on children aging out of care [PDF]. Commissioned by the Ontario Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services, the report included a literature review with a focus on policies and programs that might improve outcomes for children and youth in foster care.

Canada does not have a national standard or guidelines for youth leaving care, stated Fallon and Vandermorris in their joint testimony. Moreover, there has been little research on culturally informed, evidence-based interventions to support them. As a result, Canadian youth transitioning out of foster care are at risk as they continue to confront challenges and hardships on the road to full independence.

“Access to supports and services for youth leaving care is based on legislated age cut-offs regardless of the individual’s developmental readiness and financial or emotional ability to make the transition to independence,” said Vandermorris. “A more flexible approach to aging out that is not based on specific age cut-offs would be more developmentally appropriate.”

The Policy Bench co-directors argued that early evidence shows that extending support to youth until they are actually developmentally ready to live independently may result in better outcomes — not just for the youth themselves, but for society as a whole.

“Improved services and supports are needed to help youth successfully navigate this process, promoting more positive trajectories into adulthood,” Fallon said.

A joint initiative between the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto and SickKids and housed in the Edwin S.H. Leong Centre for Healthy Children, the Fraser Mustard Institute for Human Development Policy Bench brings together leaders with transdisciplinary expertise to support optimal human development and health equity across the life course. Its work strives to ensure that policies relevant to child development are based on the latest evidence across a multitude of disciplines – including health, psychology, social work, education, economics, and medical sciences.

• Learn more about the Policy Bench.
• View a video of Barbara Fallon and Ashley Vandermorris’ testimony to the Senate Committee on Human Rights and the official minutes from the meeting.
• Read the Policy Bench report on Children Aging Out of Care.

Amanda Grenier aims to spark action to address rising homelessness among older people

To improve services and meet community needs, policy makers and other professionals need a clearly defined and comprehensive understanding of what late life homelessness entails

Homelessness among people over the age of 50 is on the rise, a phenomenon formal housing strategies often overlook — but researchers from the University of Toronto and McGill hope to prevent this oversight in the future.

A new study published in The Gerontologist now provides a clear definition of late life homelessness informed by the lives and experiences of older adults. Drawing on interviews with older people who are unhoused and community workers in Montreal, Canada, the researchers aim to spark action and changes in policy and practice.

“We became interested in late life homelessness in 2011 when local service organizations told us that they were witnessing increasing numbers of older people in shelters and that they felt ill prepared to address their complex needs,” says Amanda Grenier, a social work professor at the University of Toronto’s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work and researcher at Baycrest Hospital (pictured, left). “We soon realized that the experiences of older people were absent from Canadian housing initiatives.”

The researchers’ definition of late-life homelessness points to a host of interconnected systemic issues that restrict access to support and contribute to increased inequalities, exclusion, and unmet needs. For example, the configurations of service for seniors are organized based on age, but people who are unhoused may experience reduced mobility or health concerns in their 50s. At the same time, community services without age criteria can overlook needs that are typically associated with aging.

The accumulation of disadvantage over time is another factor that defines late-life homelessness. Intersecting forms of oppression are well documented in research on homelessness among younger people, but often overlooked when it comes to older demographics. The researchers point to policy strategies that focus on physical health but ignore the cumulative impact of disadvantages experienced by an individual over time — due to racism, colonialism or sexism, for example — making the ability to bounce back from income, housing, or care setbacks a bigger challenge.

Space and place or the built form of our buildings and cities is a third component of what makes late-life homelessness unique. Older people without a residential address face challenges accessing community-based homecare programs. Additionally, programs for those who are homeless often take place in inaccessible settings. Changing mobility needs can impact the physical endurance needed to travel to shelters and safely navigate between spaces of support, leaving older people to age in places that most would consider ‘undesirable’.

The final characteristic of late-life homelessness includes patterns of non-response or inaction on the part of programs and policy that leave older people with histories of homelessness to suffer unmet needs. This includes examples of health and social systems that require clients to have an address and the practice of shuffling older people who are homeless between different programs because those programs aren’t able to address their intersecting needs.

Grenier and her co-author, Tamara Sussman from McGill University’s School of Social Work, argue that to effectively address late-life homelessness, policy makers and other professionals need a clearly defined and comprehensive understanding of what late life homelessness entails. To this end, they propose the following definition based on research with older people and in community settings:

Late life homelessness is an experience of unequal aging produced through age-based structures and social relations that restrict access to supports, reflect disadvantages over time, is lived in places that are not conducive to aging well and result in exclusion, non-recognition and unmet need.

“While attention to late life homelessness is starting to increase, older people still often remain overlooked in official  strategies and policy response,” says Grenier. “Recognition and inclusion will require continued vigilance.”

Amanda Grenier is the author of the book Late-Life Homelessness: Experiences of Disadvantage and Unequal Aging. 

Study reference:

Grenier, A., and Sussman, T., Late life homelessness: A definition to spark action and change, The Gerontologist, 2024;, gnae123, [Open Access First View] https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnae123

Related:

• New book co-edited by Amanda Grenier offers a thought-provoking overview of precarity and ageing
• Can AI be ageist? Professor Amanda Grenier is part of a research team now working to find out

The power of cultural connections

Inspired by her own experience, Fall 2024 graduate Folashade Kortee is now helping Indigenous students at U of T strengthen their wellbeing and sense of belonging by connecting with their culture

Associate Professor Jane Middelton-Moz and Folashade Kortee

When Folashade Kortee discovered just how much her wellbeing increased when she connected to her roots and culture, she became passionate about giving other young people the same opportunity. The Master of Social Work – Indigenous Trauma and Resiliency (MSW-ITR) program gave her the skills and knowledge she needed, and today the new graduate is doing exactly what she set out to do.

Kortee recently started in her role as the Indigenous Wellness Counsellor and Coordinator at the University of Toronto, a job that draws on both her lived experience as a person with Métis-Cree and Nigerian heritage and the expertise she gained as an ITR student at U of T’s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work. “I’m so excited to be supporting Indigenous students with culturally relevant wellness programming,” she says.

Not long ago, Kortee believed that she was destined for a career in traditional healthcare. As a teen, she worked as a lifeguard and swim instructor and was interested in all things related to physical wellness. Then she gained a whole new perspective from a course on the social determinants of health during her undergraduate health sciences degree.

“It got me thinking about how so many people in my community are affected by how easy or hard it is to access education, healthy food, social services and culture,” says Kortee. At the same time, she was becoming more curious about her own identity. “Growing up, I sometimes found it hard to embrace my culture, even though I was interested,” says Kortee. “Often I’d be the only Indigenous and Black person in the room at school or work, so I focused a lot on fitting in.”

In 2018, Kortee’s sister invited her to join a hand drumming group with other young Indigenous women. “I felt at ease and was able to find my voice,” she says. “It affected every part of my life in a positive way.”

As she continued to explore her culture and find strength in community, one of Kortee’s mentors told her about the MSW-ITR program, which prepares graduates to help individuals, families and communities affected by historical and intergenerational trauma in culturally relevant ways. Wisdom from global Indigenous peoples and the latest scientific knowledge inform the program’s approach.

“I immediately felt that it was what I’d been looking for, since I had a background in health sciences and was getting more and more interested in Indigenous healing practices,” says Kortee, who received support from the Fu Hui Education Foundation for her MSW studies.

During the two-year program, she completed two field placements working alongside Indigenous social workers delivering mental health care to Indigenous clients at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and Weaving Wellness Centre. ITR students come from across Canada and beyond and can complete their placements in their home communities. There are five week-long intensive sessions where students gather in person to learn together and participate in ceremonies, community building, and deep reflective learning, but the rest of the program is online.

“I had amazing placements where I learned so much, and I formed a lot of strong bonds with my classmates,” says Kortee. “An important part of the ITR program is looking at our own wellbeing and the impact of trauma, and creating a support network around each other.”

Now she’s providing support to Indigenous students at U of T as a registered social worker collaborating with a multidisciplinary health team and U of T’s First Nations House. “I’m bridging Western and traditional healing methods, just as the ITR program does,” she says.

Working in partnership with advisors and the elder-in-residence at First Nations House is a crucial part of Kortee’s role. “Getting in touch with their culture can be so integral to Indigenous students’ health and wellbeing,” she says. “It helps them recognize and use the coping skills that were always in them.”

Outside of her job, Kortee runs wellness programs for Black and Indigenous youth in the Toronto community. “Sometimes I think about how much it would have changed my life to have accessed my culture at an earlier age,” she says. “It motivates me to keep doing what I’m doing.”

Shortly before convocation, Kortee ran into Jane Middelton-Moz, a co-founder and professor in the MSW-ITR program. “I thanked her and told her how much it changed my life, giving me the confidence to take on the kinds of roles where I’m empowering other Indigenous students to improve their wellness and sense of belonging.”

Kortee says she was initially hesitant to apply to the ITR program, so she wants to encourage prospective students to take the leap. “I had imposter syndrome, thinking that U of T was so prestigious. But I know now that we need more people like me in these spaces. I hope people trust in themselves and realize they have nothing to lose and everything to gain in applying.”

By Megan Easton

The first of its kind in North America, the Factor-Inwentash Faculty’s Master of Social Work program in Indigenous Trauma and Resiliency is dedicated to preparing advanced social work professionals to work with individuals, families and communities who have been affected by historical and generational trauma. FIFSW is deeply grateful to the Fu Hui Education Foundation for its generous support to help sustain this important program and its students.

Admissions are now open for the Master of Social Work – Indigenous Trauma and Resiliency program. Learn more about the MSW-ITR field of study and how to apply.

Stigma has a profound impact on health outcomes and must be addressed, says Carmen Logie 

Investing in stigma reduction in health care systems will yield results across the care continuum, and should be supported by governments, health-care institution polices, and licensing bodies, say researchers 

A new article published in Nature Reviews Disease Primers underscores the profound role that stigma can play in health care — and how addressing stigma-related barriers can significantly improve health outcomes for individuals and communities around the world. 

“Stigma has harmful effects on health, equity and justice,” says lead author Carmen Logie, a professor at the University of Toronto’s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work (FIFSW). “And while we need more rigorous evaluation of interventions to reduce health-care stigma, we certainly know enough to begin to confront it.”  

Logie and her co-author Laura Nyblade, a fellow at the Social, Statistical and Environmental Sciences, Research Triangle Institute in Washington DC, argue that health-care providers need to be able to identify what drives stigma in health-care settings, so they can take action to address stigmatizing practices as well as internalized, anticipated or perceived stigmatization on behalf of those in need of care. 

Stigma can play a huge role in health outcomes, say the researchers. For example, health-care providers who view weight as a moral issue or lack of personal willpower, may use stigmatizing language in conversation with patients, contributing to their disengagement from care. People who use drugs may be deemed “junkies”, blamed for their substance use and denied services. In some regions, gender-based stigma has resulted in coerced sterilization and lack of informed choices around contraception and education for women living with HIV.  

The good news, say Logie and Nyblade, is that health-care settings are well positioned to identify what drives stigma and make changes to address it through evidence-based approaches. To start, health-care providers can examine misconceptions about disease transmission and infection control, and then make needed changes to institutional policies and practices. “Increasing health providers’ awareness of how stigma is appearing in the ways they deliver services is key,” says Logie, who is also Canada Research Chair in Global Health Equity and Social Justice with Marginalized Populations. 

In Ghana, for example, staff training and activities to reduce fear of HIV infection was shown to improve the caregivers’ willingness to provide services to people with HIV. In Tanzania, stigmatizing beliefs held by HIV clinic staff around substance use was reduced through interventions that addressed commonly held misconceptions. The interventions also successfully conveyed the impact that stigmatizing language used by health-care providers can have on their patients. 

The researchers argue that relationship building and partnerships between health care providers and communities can enhance the ability of both professionals and their clients to strengthen social cohesion, collective resilience and coping strategies. Social movements and dates of significance, such as weight inclusivity movements and World AIDS Day, are examples of ways that people have come together to advocate for awareness and promote change.  

“These approaches move beyond the focus on stigma victimization to recognize and celebrate the strengths of communities who have been marginalized, as well as social histories of mutual support and stigma resistance,” says Nyblade.  

Investing in stigma reduction in health care systems will yield results across the care continuum, and should be supported by governments, health-care institution polices, and licensing bodies, conclude the authors. 

“All types and levels of health-care providers need to be engaged in stigma reduction, through the training curriculums, continuing education programs, and more” says Logie. “The time to act is now.” 

In addition to her role at FIFSW, Logie is affiliated with the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health, and the Women’s College Research Insitute at Women’s College Hospital in Toronto. 

Related:

• Carmen Logie and her research team receive a 2024 Impact Award at the International AIDS Conference
• Now on YouTube: Carmen Logie highlights the connection between climate change and sexual health
• New song and music video launched on World AIDS Day highlights the importance of centering places of joy and reducing stigma for communities impacted by HIV
• Carmen Logie receives a CAHR-CANFAR Excellence in Research Award from the Canadian Association for HIV Research

New report on unregulated homestays in Canada uncovers adverse living conditions for international students from Kindergarten to Grade 12

Using a community-based research approach, and inspired by the work of Associate Professor Izumi Sakamoto, Patricia Quan (top left) and colleagues held a one-day in-person storytelling forum at FIFSW with participants who lived in homestays or worked with students who lived in homestays.

International students pursuing elementary and secondary education in Canada can experience physical and mental health challenges in the unregulated homestay system due to adverse living conditions, discrimination and neglect, according to a new community report led by U of T social work graduates.

“It can be quite shocking for people who aren’t familiar with this system to hear what these children go through,” says Patricia Quan, a 2023 Master of Social Work graduate of the University of Toronto’s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work and the principal investigator for the report, In Search of a Safe Harbor: An Exploration of the Experiences of K-12 International Students in Unregulated Homestays [PDF]. A former international student herself, Quan came to Canada on her own in Grade 9 and, like some of her co-authors (who are also former or current international students), lived in multiple homestays — an arrangement where international students who are minors live with host families.

Federal government statistics show that there were more than 70,400 international students enrolled in Kindergarten to Grade 12 (K-12) education in Canada in 2022. While there are no official statistics on how many of these children live in homestay settings, they’re known to be a popular option, says Quan.

Click on the image to view the In Search of a Safe Harbour community report [PDF]

The report is based on the stories of 19 participants who either lived in homestays or worked with students who lived in the homestays. Many of the student accounts, echoed by some of the workers, included descriptions of substandard meals, inadequate heating, a lack of privacy, cultural misunderstanding, and even racism and harassment.

Thanks in part to the mentorship of Associate Professor Izumi Sakamoto, whose research focuses on immigration, Quan and several other U of T graduates co-founded the SafeHarbor Project, which produced the In Search of Safe Harbor report in 2023 with funding from the Laidlaw Foundation. FIFSW PhD graduate Kedi Zhao , now an assistant professor at the University of Regina, is co-principal investigator for the report. The group’s goal is to create positive change in the homestay system.

“Our intent wasn’t to promote the idea that all students have negative experiences in homestays and all homestay providers are bad,” says Quan. “We wanted to expose the flaws in the larger system. Everyone that works or resides in the system — the homestay providers, the educators and professionals that support international students and the students themselves — is confused or poorly served.”

While there is a patchwork of best practices and guidelines for homestay providers, there is no single authority to enforce them, and no established mechanism for young students to express their concerns or report neglect.

“Language barriers, power imbalances and the students’ young ages all make them more vulnerable,” says Quan. “Even if they’re brave enough, resourceful enough and have good enough English to be able to speak up, the system isn’t equipped to address the problems.”

The report makes a number of recommendations, from formal licensing, ongoing monitoring and comprehensive training for homestay providers to more active involvement of international students’ parents. The report’s authors also suggested that community organizations mobilize and empower international students to effectively advocate for themselves.

International students’ families often hire agencies to arrange homestays along with study permits. Only occasionally are the homestay providers designated as the students’ legal representatives (i.e., custodians) who can make major decisions in areas such as healthcare and education in the students’ parents’ absence.

As a result, young students end up living in rooms within other families’ homes where the homestay providers provide shelter and often meals in exchange for a fee, but may otherwise deliver little to no care or guidance. “Students often feel overlooked or dismissed by their homestay families, which contributes to feelings of being invisible and unheard, and worsens their mental health struggles,” says Quan.

When students faced larger challenges in Canada, rather than address the issue by providing support and resources, the professionals in the sector often recommended that the international students simply “go home” due to the lack of understanding of students’ experience and the limited resources available for temporary residents.

“This default solution actively pushes the students out of Canada, perpetuating long-existing xenophobic sentiments,” says Quan. “It fails to take responsibility for the well-being of these young minors.”

Moving forward, the SafeHarbor Project will now be called Project Anchor , marking a shift from a narrower emphasis on fostering safety to nurturing a broader sense of belonging in homestays for international students in elementary and high school. The peer-led initiative will provide support groups for K-12 international students and continue to advocate for homestay system reform.

“The students who shared their stories with us have found it empowering, and so have I,” says Quan. “We’re using our lived experiences to start building the change that we want to see. It’s going to be a long journey, but I’m dedicated to keep going.”

By Megan Easton

Related:

Yiwei (Patricia) Quan’s research on the experiences of international students receives a 2022 Clara Mayo Grant

To prevent homicide in Toronto, we must start with addressing grief in Black communities, writes Tanya Sharpe for the Toronto Star

Associate Professor Tanya Sharpe wrote an op-ed for the Toronto Star on the rising grief in Black communities due to the loss of loved ones to homicide. She argues that homicide grief has reached pandemic proportions and requires an urgent, co-ordinated public health response.

Writes Sharpe:

Lin Fang and Micheal Shier promoted to the rank of Full Professor

The Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work is pleased to announce that faculty members Lin Fang and Michael L. Shier have been promoted to the rank of Full Professor, effective July 1, 2024. 

“Professors Lin Fang and Michael Shier are two excellent, impactful scholars deeply deserving of this recognition,” says Charmaine Williams, Dean and Professor of FIFSW. “I invite our community to congratulate them both on this achievement in recognition of their outstanding teaching, research and commitment to the University.” 

Professor Lin Fang 

Lin Fang is the Founder and Director of FIFSW’s Talk It Out Counselling Clinic and the Factor-Inwentash Chair in Children’s Mental Health. In addition to 10-plus years of postgraduate clinical experience, Professor Fang has published and presented widely on topics such as adolescent substance use, information and communication technologies, and mental health and cross-cultural experiences among immigrant communities.  

In recent years, Professor Fang has concentrated her scholarship on community-based research, examining how neighborhood and structural factors shape lived experiences of young people, and how young people, in turn, engage and understand the world in which they live. Her research uses community-based participatory and arts-based methods. Some of her projects include “This is My Regent Park”: Perspectives from Young People, a SSHRC-funded project that sought to understand how young people define and relate to their neighbourhood of Regent Park as it undergoes a major redevelopment; and My Script My Voice, a university-community collaboration to empower Asian youth and families in the face of anti-Asian racism. She is currently the Principal Investigator for Project APPA (Asian Parents Participatory Action), a 3-year, SSHRC-funded research project that utilizes participatory action research to work with Asian parents and other stakeholders to promote capacity building, build knowledge and resources, and curate an Asian-centred approach against anti-Asian racism. 

During the pandemic, Professor Fang conceived and launched the Talk It Out Counseling Clinic, where supervised Master of Social Work (MSW) students at FIFSW provide free short-term counseling services to communities that face multiples challenges, including Black and other racialized communities. In its first 2.5 years, the Clinic trained 39 MSW students to provide services to over 450 clients and residents in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Today, as we transition through the pandemic, Talk It Out continues to serve and innovate, striving to be a mental health hub that enables trained social work students to work with communities that need them the most. 

Professor Fang teaches in the Health and Mental Health Field of Study in the MSW program and research methods in the PhD Program and was the recipient of the 2015-2016 Teaching Award at FIFSW. 

Professor Micheal L. Shier 

Micheal Shier is the Director of FIFSW’s Master of Social Work program and the Field of Study Coordinator for the program’s the Human Services Management and Leadership field of study. He is also the coordinator for the Certificate program in Human Services Management and Leadership with the University of Toronto’s School of Continuing Studies. He has been the recipient of several research awards, including the Government of Ontario’s Ministry of Research and Innovation Early Researcher Award (2017-2022). Professor Shier is also the Canada Research Chair in Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship in the Human Services. 

Professor Shier’s program of research aims to optimize social service delivery and improve social outcomes for vulnerable groups.  His work enhances the capacity of nonprofit leadership within our community and supports local social welfare and community economic development. His research focuses on: 

• organizational development in human service organizations to support outcomes and strategies that lead to social innovation and social entrepreneurship (including the development of leadership capacity, organizational, culture, positive partnerships dynamics, and for-profit market-based activities) 

• equity and inclusion 

• workplace health and safety, and  

• trauma informed organizational environments.  

Professor Shier’s current funded research seeks to develop socially innovative organizational strategies within the nonprofit and voluntary sector to promote equitable and inclusive human service organizational environments. Its objective is also to understand the mechanisms that promote social-purpose driven for-profit activities within and among non-profit and for-profit organizations across Canada. Professor Shier works extensively with nonprofit human service organizations to develop and implement models of evaluation that support the identification and implementation of social innovation efforts. 

2024 Orientation: Welcoming new students to FIFSW

Back-to-school at FIFSW

FIFSW was thrilled to welcome new students to our Master of Social Work and PhD programs on September 4th and 5th. The back-to-school events included orientation sessions, the Introduction to Social Work Conference for new students in the 2-year MSW program, and an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion workshop for all MSW students.

FIFSW ambassadors and representatives from the Graduate Student Association (GSA) (pictured above) were on hand to help welcome new students to the orientation events, which took place this year at Tartu College, just down the street from FIFSW’s building.

The events gave new students the opportunity to not only learn important details about their program and resources at FIFSW, but also meet their classmates and begin the process of building relationships with those who will support them on their social work journey.

Introduction to Social Work Conference

The focus of the Introduction to Social Work Conference was “Leading Social Change and Transforming Systems.” Featured speakers included Vern Ross, Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux, Steve Koptie, Uppala Chandrasekhar (pictured above), Susan Blacker, Shawnette Thomson, Lin Fang, and Clara Ho. (Read more about each of the featured speakers below.)

The conference included a resource fair for students to learn about organizations at U of T that can support their success, such as Accessibility Services and the Centre for International Experience. The GSA’s table included representatives from its student groups, including the Tamil Social Work Student Association, the Black Social Work Student Association, FIFSW Art Action and the Muslim Social Work Student Association.

Welcoming new PhD students

New PhD students met at FIFSW’s building at 246 Bloor Street West and posed for a picture in front of the buildings before enjoying a group walk after lunch on what turned out to be a beautiful sunny day.

Congratulations to all our new students. We look forward to getting to know you all better in the year ahead!

Special thanks to Jim Moore for taking photos!

Introduction to Social Work Conference 2024 Speaker Biographies

Dean and Professor Charmaine C. Williams is Dean of the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work. Her research bridges practice and access and equity issues that affect various populations including racial minority women, LGBTQ individuals in a local and international context, and individuals and families affected by serious and persistent mental illnesses. The majority of her practice experience has been as a clinician in the mental health care system.

She has also been involved in organizational change initiatives in the health care sector and has extensive experience developing and delivering professional education in the areas of anti-racism, cultural competence, mental health and addictions. Recent activities include serving on the expert panel for the Mental Health of Black Canadians Initiative at the Public Health Agency of Canada and serving on the Anti-Racism Advisory Panel that developed the Toronto Police Service’s race-based data collection policy.

Dr. Verne Ross is Assistant Professor at the Centre for Indigenous Studies at the University of Toronto. He is from Cote First Nation, which is a Sealteaux Nation belonging to Treaty 4 out in Saskatchewan. Verne started his career back in the mid 1980’s working in hospitals in Regina, Saskatchewan advocating for all Indigenous families. Verne is the founder of an Indigenous Health Program situated in the Pasqua Hospital. He has always worked with traditional healers and language interpreters and continues to do this important work within communities. Verne is not an Elder, but he does work with the guidance of the Elders. Verne is known as one of the Traditional Knowledge keepers. Verne graduated here at the U of T, completing his undergrad in Indigenous Studies in 2008, also successfully completing the Master of Social Work in 2012. He recently completed the PHD Program in Language, Literacies and Education from OISE within CTL Department. His research and thesis is in the area of Two-spirited people. Verne has taught an undergrad class called INS201Y1 – Introduction to Indigenous Studies offered through the Centre for Indigenous Studies Department (U of T). He has also taught INS200H1 – Introduction to Indigenous Truth and Resilience, and INS205H1 – Indigenous Worldviews, Spiritual & Healing Traditions. Verne continues to be not only be a social worker and a teacher, but he mentors all students from all walks of life here at the U of T.

Dr. Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux was appointed as the 1^st Indigenous Chair for Truth and Reconciliation for Lakehead University in 2016.

Cynthia was inducted as a “Honourary Witness” by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada in 2014 and is Chair of the Governing Circle for the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation at the University of Manitoba. She is a member and resident of the Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation and has dedicated her life to building bridges of understanding. She sees endless merit in bringing people from diverse cultures, ages, and backgrounds together to engage in practical dialogue and applied research initiatives.

Steve Koptie has a MSW from Wilfred Laurier and a MEd in Adult Education and Counselling Psychology and almost 40 years of experience in hospital, clinical, and justice settings. He continues to work in remote and regional Indigenous communities, supporting individuals and families in their wellness and healing.

Uppala Chandrasekera, MSW, RSW (she/her) is a Social Worker with over 20 years of work experience in the health sector, ranging from frontline work assisting individuals and families with mental health and addictions issues, to supporting mental health and addictions programming province-wide, and implementing the national strategy to address mental health across Canada.

Presently, Uppala is the Director of Public Health, responsible for public health strategy and clinical services at Toronto Public Health. From 2013-2022, Uppala was the Director of Public Policy at the Canadian Mental Health Association Ontario.

Uppala currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Daymark Foundation, a national foundation committed to supporting the mental health of Canadians. From 2017-2020, she served on the Toronto Police Services Board, the first mental health professional to be appointed to this role. From 2012-2018, she served on the Board of Directors of the Mental Health Commission of Canada, the national organization mandated to improve the mental health system through sound public policy. From 2008-2014, she also served on the Board of Directors of Parkdale Community Health Centre, a primary care health centre focused on engaging with traditionally underserved communities in Toronto.

Uppala is an Assistant Professor (Status Only) at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto. Through her research, published writings and work in the community, Uppala examines the impact of the lived experience of discrimination and racism on the health, mental health, and wellbeing of marginalized populations.

Susan Blacker, MSW, RSW is the Senior Director, Community Partnership and Cancer & Palliative Program Performance.  She brings to this role more than 25 years of experience as a social worker, educator and program leader in the field of cancer and palliative care.  Susan is also a Provincial Clinical Co-Lead for the Ontario Palliative Care Network.

Susan holds an academic appointment at the University of Toronto:
Adjunct Professor in the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work.  She teaches a course on social work practice in palliative care each fall.
She is also appointed as a Lecturer (status only) is a Quality Co-Lead for the Division of Palliative Care, Department of Family and Community Medicine in the Faculty of Medicine.

Shawnette Thompson is the Supervisor of Clinical Affairs at FIFSW’s Talk it Out Counselling Clinic. She has many years of clinical practice experience. She is a dedicated Individual and Family Therapist, utilizing a harm reduction based approach, that is trauma and attachment informed and approaches therapy from an integrative clinical model of practice.

Associate Professor Lin Fang is currently an Associate Professor and the Factor-Inwentash Chair in Children’s Mental Health. She is also the Founding Director of FIFSW’s Talk It Out Online Counseling Clinic. With over 10 years of postgraduate clinical experience, Lin’s program of research has focused on advancing the theoretical and empirical knowledge of positive child and youth development through etiology and intervention research as well as community-based research and services. Versed with a range of research methodologies and advanced statistics, Lin has published and presented widely in the areas of adolescent substance use, information and communication technologies (ICTs), and mental health and cross-cultural experiences among immigrant communities.

Coming from a community organizing background, Lin takes pride in advancing social work while doing social work in the community. During the pandemic, Lin conceived and launched the Talk It Out Online Counseling Clinic, where supervised MSW students at FIFSW provide free short-term counseling services and wellbeing workshops to lower-income and Black communities in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). In its first year, the Clinic provided services to over 150 residents living in the GTA.

Clara Ho (she/her) is a social worker and health care leader with hospital-based experience in patient and family engagement, co-design, and partnerships, inclusive program design, family-centred service delivery, and health care education. She is passionate about advancing health equity through partnering with service users at all levels of decision-making within a health care organization.

Currently, Clara is the Manager of Client and Family-Centred Care and Partnerships at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, leading their award-winning Family Leadership Program and corporate family engagement initiatives. Previously, Clara advanced the Patient and Family-Centred Care strategy and education program at North York General Hospital. Clara is a registered Social Worker and a Lecturer at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto, teaching in the Human Services Leadership and Management stream. She is committed to creating an inclusive and generative learning environment where critical thinking and appreciative inquiry can flourish among students.

While completing her Master of Social Work at the University of Toronto, Clara was a recipient of the Gordon Cressy Leadership Award for her contributions to improving the social work student experience at the University of Toronto as co-president of her Graduate Students’ Association, and was also the recipient of the Hilary M. Weston Medal for academic excellence at the Faculty of Social Work.

Clara lives in Toronto with her family and Ripley, her English Springer Spaniel puppy. She is an avid vegetable gardener and dedicated reader of cookbooks.