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Casey Ready

Degrees: 
BSW, MSW, PhD
Biography: 

Casey Ready

Casey Ready (she/her) brings a unique approach to FIFSW teaching through the combination of her academic work and her experience in social work practice.

Dr. Ready is a graduate of the University of Toronto’s MSW program and has been involved with the FIFSW since the completion of her doctoral studies in 2012. She gained her PhD in Canadian Studies from Trent University, with a focus on Gender and Women’s Studies and Social Policy. Her FIFSW teaching assignments have included Social Policy in the Canadian Context, Social Work Practice in Organizations and Communities, Social Work Practice with Groups, Research for Social Justice, the Context of Mental Health and Health Practice and Foundations of Social Work: Knowledge, Theory and Values that Inform Practice.

Dr. Ready’s practice roles focus on community change, advocacy, research, leadership, management, social policy and program planning, implementation and evaluation. She has been the Executive Director of three non-profit organizations (NGOs) and has worked extensively as a consultant with a broad range of community organizations. Her community work experience includes roles with the United Way, Social Planning Councils and municipal and provincial governments in Toronto and other Ontario communities. For almost 20 years, Dr. Ready led an NGO offering social work counselling services, housing help, credit counselling and a community service order program.

Dr. Ready’s research interests include gender issues in the social welfare state, violence against women, women and poverty, anti-oppressive practice, the relationship of the non-profit sector to the social welfare state, community engagement and social justice.  She returned to academia in the 2000s to study the impact of neoliberalism on women, people living in poverty, marginalized populations and the non-profit sector.  Her publications include Shelter in a Storm: Revitalizing Feminism in Neoliberal Ontario (UBC Press, 2016).

Mindfulness and the benefits it can offer people, including to social workers who experience stress in a neoliberal society, are among Dr. Ready’s passions. She is trained in Integrative Yoga Therapy and pursues this interest actively by practicing and teaching yoga.