Social Work Beginnings
Social Work Beginnings
Ep. 4 - Social Work and Private Practice Part 1 with Karen Wasylenka MSW, RSW and Jenna Hesse MSW, RSW
Social Work and Private Practice looks different across different provinces in Canada. Today we sit down to chat with the Saskatchewan Association of Social Work's Executive Director Karen Wasylenka and Member Support, Co-ordinator, and Advocacy, Jenna Hesse.
For the show notes and links to all the resources, please go to: https://www.swss.ca/2023/03/25/social-work-beginnings-podcast-episode-4/
Hello and welcome to the Social Work Beginnings podcast. Social Work Beginnings is a student hosted podcast engaging with instructors, agencies and members of the Social Work community in Canada. As we strive to learn to become effective social workers at the beginning of our careers, we seek to amplify the ongoing work to advance social justice in Canada within social work. This podcast was born out of a desire to equitably increase the accessibility of opportunity to learn outside the classroom about our diverse field. Next on the Social Work Beginnings podcast as we focus on Social Work Week, we have a special two part episode on Social Work and Private Practice in Saskatchewan. In part one, our guests are Karen Wasylenka and Jenna Hesse. Karen is a registered Social Worker with a Master's degree in Social Work from the University of Regina. Karen worked for 30 years in the Ministry of Social Services, primarily in Child and Family Services in a variety of roles across the southern part of the province. Karen has been the executive director of SASW since 2016, and has been a sessional lecturer with the University of Regina, Faculty of Social Work since 2006. Jenna is a registered Social Worker with a Master's degree in social work, also from the University of Regina. Jenna has worked at the Ministry of Social Services in the area of child protection, as a clinical caseworker at Ranch Ehrlo Society, and is currently a contract counselor at Ehrlo counseling services. Jenna has over 10 years of experience providing counseling services to children, youth, adults, families and group settings. In June 2022, Jenna started with SASW in the role of member support, coordinator, and advocacy. This has allowed Jenna to connect and support social workers who are engaged in various areas of practice, and assist those who volunteer with SASW. Thank you for both of you being here today. Karen, it was awesome to chat with you on the phone a little bit beforehand. And I got pretty excited about you being here.
Karen Wasylenka:Well, thank you so much for the invitation to participate in this.
Brad Fraser:Yeah, you're very welcome. And Jenna, I'm excited to get to know a little bit about your perspective as well.
Jenna Hesse:I'm excited to be here. I'm a huge fan of podcasts. So I think this is a great medium to share with students. So awesome.
Brad Fraser:Yeah, thank you. So when students get together to
kind of brainstorm:"hey, what can we do on the podcast?" where there's some things that we'd want to know about, private practice is one of those things that keeps coming up. I'm not sure if it was maybe the pandemic, or maybe it's just this ongoing thread of being interested in how we can help deliver mental health services in whatever way, private practice keeps coming up. So initially, Karen, could you maybe talk about, a bit about maybe, what does it take to deliver therapy in Saskatchewan as a Registered Social Worker.
Karen Wasylenka:So as a Registered Social Worker, many Social Workers are working for an agency, and maybe doing in depth counseling or clinical work, which would come under the umbrella of therapy. You know, the word therapy is a pretty broad word, what does it, what does it mean? What is clinical social work and so on, in those circumstances, when working in an agency or with, you know, the Health Authority or another agency, the training and the requirements for doing that work are set by the employer. So it is the role of the employer to determine, you know, what is it that I need in terms of training to take on this particular role? SASW as the licensing body for social workers doesn't set standards around, you know, what is the requirement in terms of specific education to do that type of work?
Brad Fraser:Okay, yeah. And I think that's one of the interesting things that comes out of, you know, for students is we're sitting in the classroom and we're thinking of, okay, what's that next step is we complicate and then look to register it? What does that look like? Are we because we're, if we're going to end up in different places, from an employment standpoint, it sounds like you're saying, Karen, that actually the requirements may be different for training based off that employer.
Karen Wasylenka:Well, our our social work program at the University of Regina prepares us for generalist practice. And a generalist practice is a great thing because it means that we can go into a wide range of areas to work in, but in most of the jobs that one goes into, there's always additional training and very specific learnings that are required for that particular role. As an example, I spent many years in the child protection system and coming out of you know, the BSW program I certainly didn't know, all that was required of doing child protection work. I learned that on the job.The employer provided that training for me. And so you know, that's that's what happens in, you know, in the world of social work.
Brad Fraser:Right, yeah, absolutely. Now, Jenna, you were telling me before we hit record that you are doing some, was it contract work specifically?
Jenna Hesse:Yes. So after I received my Master's in Social Work degree, from the U of R, I was a clinical caseworker at Ranch Ehrlo Society for about 10 years. After that, I decided to work part-time and move into a contract role at Ehrlo Counseling. So that way I provide individual family and group counseling in that private kind of setting to members of the community.
Brad Fraser:Okay, yeah. So it sounds like there's a bit of a journey along the way, no different than care and have, you're just stacking additional opportunities to build that education, build that capacity, and kind of grow along to the point where you started to do that contract work?
Jenna Hesse:Yeah, absolutely. Part of my role at Ranch Ehrlo, previously, as a clinical caseworker was that clinical piece where I was providing counseling, but then moving into Ehrlo counseling, that's strictly my role is just a counseling position now.
Brad Fraser:Okay, for sure. And when we were talking a little bit as students, when I was asking a few of them, hey, like, what do you think about private practice? What do you know about it? Honestly, that there was like, a lot of blank expressions. And it was me too, before I started to do the research. And so do you either, if you have some thoughts, and they'll start with you, Karen on like, if you go into private practice, where it's really you, just you it's you're not working for someone else, like Jen is, is a contractor, you're opening your own private practice, what might change?
Karen Wasylenka:Well, I think there's a, there's a lot of a lot of changes. And I want to begin by saying that we certainly have seen a rise in the number of social workers who are going into private practice. And some of that comes as a result of the pandemic. Because we worked from home, we learned to deliver services in a new way using technology. And it opened the door or opened our eyes a little bit, maybe, to what some possibilities are. And it can be attractive, we can set our own hours, we can work out of our home, or we can have our office, we don't have to report into, you know, a boss or go through government bureaucracy in terms of, you know, all the things that we might have to do, working in a large agency. And that, you know, that does appeared and is certainly a benefit for someone who's contemplating private practice, getting to choose who we work with, when you're in private practice, you, you know, offer your services, and you can choose your who uses your services, you can choose what services you do provide and what areas you work within. But there's another side to private practice that sometimes we don't think about at the very beginning. Because when you're in private practice, you are self employed, you're in a business, you're also running a business. And when you run a business, there are many things that you need to think about. What you know, there's the whole idea, not the idea, but the fact that you need to establish fees. That's where your income comes from. It's not an employer paycheck, you charge your service users a fee. And what is that? How do you establish the feet? And so then you have to worry about all of the things like income tax and benefits. And what about pension? Do you work out of your own home? What about office space? How do you keep your records? How are your records kept, so that they're confidential, what happens to your records, if you leave private practice? There are many, many, you know, of those business aspects that become really complicated. And as social workers, you know, we haven't been trained to think that way. We've been trained on how to work with people, but often not how to think about the business aspect, needing to have liability insurance and have all of the insurance, things covered. It. It's pretty extensive in terms of that whole business side. And it is really, really important. Another consideration is that when we're working in an agency, we have colleagues around us. And we have supervisors. And we have managers. And so when we come up against a problem, or, or maybe a situation that we're not sure what we should do, you know, you go to your coworker, you talk to your supervisor, you get some advice, you look at your agency policy, what do I need to or what should I do, and you have that support around you, when you're in private practice, it's not there automatically, you have to set that up on on your own. And under the SASW, standards of practice, social workers need to have supervision, we have to have supervision, which keeps us on track to make sure that we are acting ethically, and not engaged in relationships that we shouldn't be, or that we're doing something that might be considered misconduct. So in private practice, one needs to find a supervisor. And sometimes that means paying for that supervision, having a network around so that you can, you know, bounce ideas off in a confidential way, of course. And so some of those things, you know, are not what we encounter in working in a other agency, other community agency, or private or public agency, rather or public, private agency, I suppose. But when you're alone in private practice, you have to set all of those things. So was there anything you would add to that?
Jenna Hesse:No, I think you answered that beautifully. I think the main point, too, that you ended on was that consult, I think that when you are in a counseling setting, and in private practice, you never know where that conversation is going to steer, you might bet and do the intake process, thinking you know what you're walking into, but you never really do. So if you in those situations, you need that consult, you need to be able to kind of bounce those ideas off experts and people with different backgrounds and areas of expertise. So I think that's really important to say that you you need to have that consult piece is very important for for the best interest of your client, I think there's that safety piece to that you need to think of, you know, like, we're dealing with delicate situations with clients that are maybe in really difficult places in their life. And so really monitoring your safety and how you're going to set up your private practice would be would be important to notice, well.
Brad Fraser:It's interesting, as you both talk about these lists of things, because a lot of these, I guess, resources and steps, for example, supervision, these different policies, a lot of these are kind of automatically in place as students are going into, for example, practicum placements, you're learning about a policy are automatically given supervision, these are all things that not that we take it for granted the students, but I think that structure is already there. And so walking into that structure, sets us up for success and sets the people that we're going to be working with that for that same success. And so what I hear both of you talking about is that private practice is this amazing opportunity to focus on particular service users and working in a very specific way. But it involves a lot of creation of structure that's well beyond just the working with the actual individual. If you had, for example, done this, perhaps in a previous role.
Karen Wasylenka:I think too, it, it requires having considerable experience and skill in a particular area. You know, private practitioners usually have a specific area that they that they work within and specific services that they that they deliver. And as as Jenna talked about, you know, kind of being alone and not having that support network around you. It requires having experience and confidence that you can do, handle I guess, what comes your way. Absolutely. You may need to console consult with someone or may need to, you know, get some supervision and advice, but you have that, that confidence that you've got lots of experience behind you. And that will help you in your work. Doing private practice.
Brad Fraser:Yeah, absolutely. And that specialization, you know, when I think about what you said earlier, Karen about that generalized social work degree that the University of Regina provides, are there specific things that whether it is the SASW or both of you, as registered social workers, think about in terms of what can you do after your Bachelor of Social Work to kind of move beyond that, to build up those experiences.
Karen Wasylenka:First of all, if you're a registered social worker in Saskatchewan, in order to renew your license every year, you need to have 40 hours of continuing professional development. So we need to do 40 hours of education every year, in order to keep up our skills and keep current with new information and new techniques and so on. Those who are in private practice usually have some additional courses or certifications, additional very specialized training that they've gained through a particular institution or particular deliverer of that, that type of training. And, you know, have that certification that they are competent and skilled in providing that service and and using that treatment modality.
Jenna Hesse:I think when you enter into private practice or the counseling field, you really want to ask yourself, like, Where does your expertise lie? And what services are you qualified to be providing to your clients. And when you're looking for continuing education opportunities, you really want to ask yourself, Do I want to specialize in a specific area or a specific clientele. That way, you can really guide your path that way. So if that's looking into additional trainings, such as CBT, cognitive behavioral therapy, or motivational interviewing, or even are in play therapy, expertise, certificates, things like that, I know that that SASW provides a lot of opportunity for continuing education. On our website, there's different links that can connect you to things in the community for specialized training, if that's something you're interested in, or such as trauma or depression, anxiety, things like that, or what's new for SASW is we've started something called the speaker series. So approximately each month, we're trying to do it monthly, we have various speakers that come on and share different information. And it's a free opportunity for registered social workers to attend. Usually, it's been over a lunch and learn but things that I'm planning in the future might be in the evening, things like that. But it's to provide the opportunity to gather more information and really grow and learn and build our practice in an extensive way.
Karen Wasylenka:I just might add on to that, as well, as a registered social worker in Saskatchewan, we are a member of the Canadian Association of Social Workers, which is the Federation of Associations across Canada, it's a national organization. And the Canadian Association of Social Workers does a large number of webinars. And some of them are very specific to areas of practice. And so there are lots of learning opportunities that are provided through registration with SASW.
Jenna Hesse:Just to add to that, sorry, too Karen, with the CASW I forgot to add to was that they do have that Private Practice Portal on there as well. So if you're interested in private practice, you can go into their portal, and they have a ton of different guides. So even with continuing education, if you were looking at if you want to really define your private practice, they do have a checklist so that you can go off and check your specializations to kind of like really guide you of what you're interested in, or where you can learn and grow. So they have a lot of different tools on there that are useful.
Karen Wasylenka:Yes.
Brad Fraser:No, that's awesome. And we can link to all of those in the podcast notes. So for the listeners wanting to check each of those out, be sure to check the podcast notes in the web page. Now, you've talked about registered social workers having access to that my understanding is students that register as well would also then have access to some of these opportunities, depending on the scope of what's being delivered.
Karen Wasylenka:Yes, certainly, students who are members of SASW absolutely do have access to these resources.
Brad Fraser:Awesome. No, that's great. I know, that's one of the things that as students you're always trying to think about, okay, I'm learning about this in the classroom. I'm learning about this in the field. But now what does it look like to really kind of dive deep on maybe one of these specific things and webinars are such an accessible way for students to try and quickly fit that into whatever is a busy schedules. And so I think that's absolutely amazing. Is there any webinar, I'm going to put you both on the spot, that you've experienced the last couple of years that stands out to you that you get really excited about or maybe one that's upcoming really soon?
Karen Wasylenka:One that really stands out to me. And my apologies, I don't recall the name of it, but it was one on working in indigenous communities. There has been a number of webinars related to reconciliation and so on. And some of them are, well they are all excellent. Absolutely. They're all excellent. But one one really did stand out to me, but sorry, I can't remember the name of it. But there there are lots there.
Jenna Hesse:Yeah, I think things that have stood out to me in the past are things about trauma and about, like I specialized in CBT. So things like that. But in regards to accessibility for students, for webinars, and things like that, with our speaker series, where we're posting them on our website, as well. So we just had somebody come in and discuss into intimate personal violence. Coming up, we do have the Saskatchewan Acquired Brain Injury Association presenting, or we do have, I'm in talks with arranging roundtable discussion to talk about boundaries and ethics in small communities, things that are just different interests and different concerns that you may come across in various areas of social work, because I know that's why I love social work so much is that it's so broad, there's so many different ways in things that you can get into. But yeah, we make sure we cover our bases by doing various topics. So yeah, they should definitely check out the Facebook page, as well as our website that we're posting them on there as well.
Karen Wasylenka:I'd like to to go back to resources through the Canadian Association of Social Workers, for students, because you can set up an account a member account on the CASW website, which gives you access to additional information that isn't on the general website. And there are a couple of things there related to journal articles and research that students of course, when writing papers are always looking for. The other thing that's on the CASW website that's publicly available are their position papers, and discussion papers on various social issues, again, for students who might be writing papers, or for social workers who add students who are engaged in advocacy work. Very, very helpful background information that is available to work to anyone.
Brad Fraser:Oh, absolutely, we'll make sure all of that is available for students to check out. And I want to kind of dive in a little bit more to these professional development opportunities. And what that looks like when you consider an MSW. Now, Jenna, it's my understanding you pursued an MSW at the University of Regina.
Jenna Hesse:Yes, I did. I knew that I wanted to continue. I loved going to university. I love learning and growing. And I knew that was definitely a step I wanted to take. So a few years after completing my BSW, I knew I wanted to begin my MSW. When I entered in, I actually started as in the thesis route, thinking that I wanted to do research coming from working at the Ministry of Social Services, the foster care system was something that was greatly on my mind. But getting into working at Ranch Ehrlo in the role of a clinical counselor, I do that counseling, I did that counseling piece. So I really changed my avenue to do a practicum route. And I knew I wanted to focus on clinical counseling in that. So when doing the Masters of Social Work program, there is the standardized classes that you're required to take, if that's retired, or things like that. However, there was the opportunity to take electives. And I made sure to pick mine wisely. I remember taking a very intensive ICBT course with Nuelle (Dr. Novik) that was very intensive and really drew me into specializing in CBT. And knowing that I really want us to do that counseling route. So I know that the the University of Regina has the two, two routes, you can do the practicum or research but I definitely once in there kind of figured it out and really found my identity of who I wanted to be as a social worker.
Brad Fraser:Wow, yeah, and you know, Karen, when we've talked in the past, you've talked about how, when you're just looking at the CASW, they're not actually enforcing the regulations, that is province dependent and so for our students that are looking at, you know, maybe they're not even from Saskatchewan, but they're attending the U of R and then they're gonna go back to another province. Everything we're talking about today is very SASW Saskatchewan specific because in a different province, the requirements might be completely different.
Karen Wasylenka:That's correct. The Canadian Association of Social Workers, as I mentioned, is a national federation of associations of social workers. Each province has legislation that establishes the Social Work body to govern the practice of social work or the title of social work in each province. So every province has somewhat different legislation and policies. So they have different requirements for registration, different requirements for continuing professional education. Most you know, they're somewhat similar, but they are, they are, you know, different. One of the things that we've realized over the last couple of years, again, related to the increased use of technology, private practice, is that social workers, of course, are practicing across jurisdictions. And this has really raised the questions about so if I'm registered social worker in Saskatchewan, can I provide services to someone in Alberta over over zoom. And the answer to that is that you need to go to the Alberta College of Social Workers, and find out what their requirements are because you are providing services to someone who's in Alberta, and so come under their, their jurisdiction. So every province is a little bit different. And each province has their own separate standards of practice. In Saskatchewan, registered social workers follow the code of ethics and the guidelines for ethical practice, that are, have been developed by the Canadian Association of Social Workers. And then we have standards of practice for registered social workers in Saskatchewan. And there are more details. They are specific to Saskatchewan, and correspond to the code of ethics and the guidelines for practice, but they are very specific to our province.
Brad Fraser:And so I know, in some other provinces, a Masters of Social Work is actually kind of the minimum to do private practice. And that's the case in some provinces. But today, I know you've said that's not the case versus Saskatchewan. Do you ever see that changing sometime in the future?
Karen Wasylenka:There certainly has been lots of discussion. And, you know, recently, but but also in the past about what should the requirements so be safe for private practice. And the you know, the Canadian Association of Social Workers may provide information on best practices. But again, the the regulation and standards rests with each provincial jurisdiction. So in Saskatchewan, we don't have any standards that say that you have to have a MSW to do private practice. We do in our standards, though, say that in whatever services you're providing, you need to be skilled and competent, and have this training to to provide that, that service. So you know, that's, that's what our standards say, you know, we have lots of discussions about should there be, you know, should there be more standards or not? And, and I'm sure those discussions will will continue for for some time.
Brad Fraser:Absolutely. And I know, Jenna, you were just telling us about how you chose some opportunities with your electives, specifically in your MSW that perhaps steered you even more towards particular techniques and things you use now?
Jenna Hesse:Absolutely, you can definitely pick your electives to really fit what you would like to do your areas of interest. Another big piece is that practicum piece because to have that level of supervision and guidance in your your, that's very rare to get that when you starting a job, you know, so to start my counseling journey, by having a practitioner sit in with me, or videotape them and monitor them after, and go through them all with me was a huge opportunity. And I cannot imagine practicing without that experience.
Brad Fraser:Absolutely. I know whenever I've talked to people that are currently in the field doing the type of work that you're doing. It's amazing how much we keep coming back to the topics that come up today about ongoing professional development, the certification, they need to have very specialized experience because when people are seeking out someone in private practice, there's this, I would argue, maybe added additional expectation of that specialization that you're going to have that capacity. And so that's whether that's through you individually, or perhaps the person that supervising you, I see it as something that we can ultimately make sure that we're providing for the people seeking the service. And as you've said, Karen, there's always that backstop that as social workers, we're holding that value of competency. How do we make sure that that is happening? First and foremost, no matter where we sit BSW, MSW, Doctorate, it doesn't ultimately matter on that spectrum, we're maintaining that code of ethics, regardless of where we are.
Karen Wasylenka:I think that's important to consider this and think about it from the perspective of those who are accessing services and using services. I think that's really important that we we don't lose sight of that, under the social workers act, SASW has a duty to protect the public interest. And we do that by setting the requirements for registration, the requirements for annual renewals of licenses, our requirements for continuing professional development, and as well having a process to respond to complaints of unethical behavior or misconduct by social workers. So that the public has some recourse if a social worker isn't competent, or has been doing something that is, or may be unethical, that is a duty that SASW has. And so we have to also keep that in our in our minds, there's there's reasons for ensuring that registered social workers have the competencies and skills to do what they are providing.
Brad Fraser:Absolutely, I know, that's the thing that gets me excited about being a BSW student is there's that opportunity to immediately be a part of a profession upon graduating. That's not something you get with every undergrad, you know, a university degree, you can have a lot of interests, and you can do that bachelor degree, but the opportunity to enter into something that gives you such an opportunity for continued learning, but in an immediate standard that the public can trust, and that you can then learn your way, as part of that community of social workers is something that I think is such an exciting opportunity not just for students to join, but ultimately, as you've said, Karen, for the public to be able to trust is there as a whole, not just for that one individual who has that registered social worker accreditation. Is there anything either of you would like to talk about that we haven't talked about so far?
Jenna Hesse:I don't think so. I think that you really covered a lot of areas that that our discussion points when discussing private practice, I think that was an area that is much needed. Our community needs clinicians to help when working through mental health issues or difficult times in our life. But it's something that it should be discussed and have caution with proceeding because it is we're working with people that are vulnerable, and are expecting people to act in a professional way and support them through these difficult times. So I think it's a great discussion to have. And I think that we're so lucky to be a part of the field of social work to help these individuals.
Brad Fraser:Absolutely. And Karen, perhaps I saw light bulb there.
Karen Wasylenka:You did, you did. One of the other benefits of being a licensed social worker or registered social worker in Saskatchewan, when we were talking about private practice, and needing to have supervision and consultation. We have a practice ethics committee that will respond to inquiries or requests for consultation from any registered social worker, whether they are in private practice or not, when they have an ethical dilemma that they you know, are really challenged by in terms of how to resolve and may have, you know, you may have consulted with a supervisor or colleague, but you still have the ethical dilemma and want to maybe get some additional guidance. And our practice Ethics Committee, which is made up of members of SASW with lots of experience will respond to those ethical inquiries or or consults. Sometimes we get inquiries in the office members who call to the office and say, I'm just wondering about this or, you know, what does our staff what do our standards say about this? And so it is a benefit of having some of that support in terms of practice to our members.
Brad Fraser:Absolutely, no, that's I think something is students. You can get so caught up in the next essay to write, in the next critical reflection, continuing to navigate how you're on social location effects, all of these very important things to think about. And it can be easy to, maybe perhaps forget, that there's this whole community of people that have done exactly what you're doing, and have gone through that very, atleast similar, journey. And that you can enter into that knowing that you have people to partner with, and that you're never really alone in that. So I guess I'll just finish there, Jenna, when when you were thinking about getting into social work, and we were thinking about, maybe like, why social work? Is there anything that comes to mind when you're like, Yeah, this is what like, was my why and continues to be your why today.
Jenna Hesse:I think at the end of the day, I entered into social work to help people and knew that I had an interest of connecting with various people in different communities, different backgrounds. And I think at the end of the day, I just wanted to help and serve and do better, you know, and so I think that yeah, absolutely. I just wanted to help people.
Brad Fraser:And I want to pull a little bit more on that, though, because I think when you say help people, it's really cool to see if how, like, as we've talked to you today, there's all these different ways that you were helping people, right, like it was never one static thing. And I think that's something that if you could maybe just quickly expand on about how that help has looked different throughout your career so far. And then now working with SASW, to actually help fellow members?
Jenna Hesse:Absolutely. I think I entered into social work, like right out of high school, knowing that I just wanted to help people. That's my area of interest, for sure. But as I developed and learned more, I decided that an area of interest was really like adolescents and youth working at the Ministry of Social Services, like I said, seeing the foster care system. And then entering into my work at Ranch Ehrlo definitely working with, with adolescents and youth who have challenging backgrounds, and trauma, really helping them and guiding them having that stable person in their life being able to help them throughout these difficult times. And then, as I continued throughout my career, it was that underlying that I wanted to help people. And that's why when I saw that, a position SASW came up, I thought that was a completely different area. And that way I could pivot my career. I feel like in this role, I continue to help other social workers in the profession, I'm able to share my knowledge or provide support as we continue this really important work. And I think that SASW has a such an important role in giving a voice to social justice issues, to providing areas of the community that are in need. And so I'm able to continue that role just in pivoting and doing it in completely different way. And as I continue to practice, like clinical counseling at Ehrlo, I think that I just continue to learn and grow. I think that's really important in social work. Like I said, that's why I love Social Work at the end of the day is that there's so many different areas you can go into. So I just can feel like I continue to gather information and underlying no just help people it might be just in different various roles in different ways.
Brad Fraser:Oh, absolutely. And Karen, I see a smile this throughout that entire time there.
Karen Wasylenka:Well, I wanted to to add that. When I was as soon as I was eligible to become a SASW member, I became an SASW member. It was important to me to be part of a profession. And it was it was really important to me. And being involved in SASW. And I've been I've you know, been a member for many, many years, opened many doors of opportunities for me that I might not have had. I was eager to join committees, and I worked on a number of committees that again, provided it you know, it opens new doors and new learning and meeting new people and working with others and helping to kind of understand, you know, the, the whole area of social work and social work organizations. And I so I participated as much as I could, and was a great benefit to me never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would be the Executive Director of SASW. That certainly wasn't in my plan. But my involvement certainly throughout the years, I guess maybe led me to this to this path. And it is very stern have mentioned it's a different aspect of social work, but a very important aspect of social work. But that's why I encourage everyone who's a member to get involved in the association. Students and registered social workers because it It does open doors. It's that networking. It's that support is those learning opportunities that are so helpful to us.
Brad Fraser:Well, I want to thank both of you for joining us today and for just giving of your time and a little bit more about how students can learn about this important area of social work.
Karen Wasylenka:Well, thank you so much for inviting us and anyone who would like information on SASW please don't hesitate to contact us.
Jenna Hesse:Thank you for your time. This has been wonderful to chat with everybody.
Brad Fraser:Thank you again to our guests from The Saskatchewan Association of Social Work. Karen Wasylenka and Jenna Hesse. Please subscribe to the podcast, if you haven't already, to be automatically notified when the second part of our episode on Social work and Private Practice is published. This podcast is brought to you by the University of Regina Faculty of Social Work, go to www.uregina.ca/socialwork to find out more about the program. The views Information and opinions expressed in this podcast do not necessarily represent the views of our sponsors.
