Social Work Week 2021

Join the Trent University Social Work Program for a series of virtual events during the month of March around the theme of Disability Awareness in Social Work in celebration of Social Work Week 2021! All events are open to everyone including students, faculty, staff, community agencies, and those external to Trent. To register for a specific event, please follow the registration links listed below each event description. If you have any questions about Social Work Week 2021, please email socialwork@trentu.ca.        

Event Details & Description 

Panel Event: Navigating Transitions

Thursday March 11, 6:00 -7:30 pm  EST

Join us for a panel discussion on Navigating Transitions, featuring panelists from Alternatives Community Program Services, Five Counties Children's Centre, Respite Now and Developmental Services Ontario (DSO). Panelists will include:

• Debra Toth, Building Bridges Coordinator at Alternatives Community Program Services
• Alisha Dreyer, MSW at Five Counties Children's Centre
• Tanya Yakeley, Respite Now Coordinator at Respite Now
• Toni Hill, HKPR DSO Assessor at Developmental Services Ontario 

Keynote Event: Syrus Marcus Ware 

Thursday March 18, 6:00-7:30 pm EST 

Syrus is a Vanier Scholar, visual artist, activist, curator and educator. Syrus is an Assistant Professor at the School of the Arts, McMaster University.  Syrus uses drawing, installation and performance to explore social justice frameworks and black activist culture. His work has been shown widely, including in a solo show at Grunt Gallery, Vancouver (2068:Touch Change) and new work commissioned for the 2019 Toronto Biennial of Art and the Ryerson Image Centre (Antarctica and Ancestors, Do You Read Us? (Dispatches from the Future)) and in group shows at the Art Gallery of Ontario, the University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, Art Gallery of York University, the Art Gallery of Windsor and as part of the curated content at Nuit Blanche 2017 (The Stolen People; Wont Back Down).  His performance works have been part of festivals across Canada, including at Cripping The Stage (Harbourfront Centre, 2016, 2019), Complex Social Change (University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, 2015) and Decolonizing and Decriminalizing Trans Genres (University of Winnipeg, 2015). 

He is part of the PDA (Performance Disability Art) Collective and co-programmed Crip Your World: An Intergalactic Queer/POC Sick and Disabled Extravaganza as part of Mayworks 2014. Syrus' recent curatorial projects include That’s So Gay (Gladstone Hotel, 2016-2019), Re:Purpose (Robert McLaughlin Gallery, 2014) and The Church Street Mural Project (Church-Wellesley Village, 2013). Syrus is also co-curator of The Cycle, a two-year disability arts performance initiative of the National Arts Centre.

Syrus is a core-team member of Black Lives Matter- Toronto. Syrus is a co-curator of Blackness Yes!/Blockorama. Syrus has won several awards, including the TD Diversity Award in 2017. Syrus was voted “Best Queer Activist” by NOW Magazine (2005) and was awarded the Steinert and Ferreiro Award (2012). Syrus is an ABD PhD candidate at York University in the Faculty of Environmental Studies. He is the co-editor or the best-selling Until We Are Free: Reflections on Black Lives Matter in Canada (URP, 2020)

Visit Syrus Marcus Ware's website

Syrus Marcus Ware Keynote Event Recording

Syrus Marcus Ware Keynote Transcript  (Word document) 

Panel Event: Alternative Therapies

Thursday March 25, 6:30-8:00 pm EST

Join us for a panel discussion on Alternative Therapies, with a focus on music therapy, art and play therapy, and animal-assisted therapy. Panelists will include: 

• Toni Mongillo Desideri (MMT, MTA), Director of Creative Minds Music Therapy    
• Myria ReiSolas (MC: AT), Counsellor, Artist and Certified Play Therapist at Art and Soul Therapy 
• Mary Ann Nova, President/Director and founder of Nova's Ark  

Alternative Therapies Panel Event Recording 

Alternative Therapies Panel Event Transcript (Word document)

Do you want to see more events like this in the future? Email socialwork@trentu.ca to share your event ideas with our team.