Advocacy can often be intimidating and overwhelming (especially when first starting out!), but luckily it’s a skill that can be learned, practiced, and improved like any other. In today’s blog, I share with you some important skills that can help you become a stronger, more effective advocate.

The end of the year can be a great time to reflect and take stock. What went well for you this year, and what helped make that happen? What worked? What didn’t? What was hard for you this year? Why did that happen, how did it happen, and what did you learn from it? These are all important and natural questions to be considering, and the next step that many take is also logical: setting goals for this New Year in order to improve and grow.

Holidays can be particularly difficult if you are disabled or living with a chronic illness. For many, it is a time of grief, anxiety, or the longing to be more involved than you know you can be. Today’s blog is all about some strategies and ideas to help you navigate the holiday season in a way that supports your physical and mental health.

While there are many things I enjoy about the summer months, I am not afraid to admit that fall is my favourite season. There’s something about the cooler weather and the beautiful colours of the changing leaves that makes me feel comfortable and content. With the changes in temperature and sunlight, it’s also a time where we naturally start to spend more time indoors. Fall seemed like a natural time to really regroup and explore what rejuvenates me and how to obtain contentment after so much chaos. Much to my surprise, I found that living a cozy lifestyle actually made me feel less burnt out, more satisfied with my life, and supported other healthy habits I was struggling to implement.

Simply Social Work has had a lot of changes over the past year, and so today’s blog is going to give a quick overview of what we’ve been working on, introduce you to a new face you may have noticed, and share what the future holds for us!

When I say the word grief, many of you will think of death. Of someone you know or care about dying or that has died. Grief is absolutely connected to death and dying, but it is not only connection to the death of a person. Grief is the embodied reaction of loss. There are many different ways someone can experience loss, such as loss of income, home, job, pet, relationship, community, safety or security, identity, purpose. Grief can be about you or about someone or something else, or a mix of both.

Reflections about living with a chronic illness on a higher symptom day.

If you’ve been following along on my social media, you’ll know that my life has seen some pretty major changes recently. As of August 15, 2022, I officially started my graduate school career with the University of Waterloo to obtain my Master’s of Social Work (MSW)!!! It’s an exciting new chapter of my professional journey, but one that means a big shift in my life over the next year.

Summer is the season where we are often bombarded with messages about what your days “should'' look like. Women on beaches in tiny bikinis or enjoying a mimosa on the back of a boat (which 9 times out of ten is not even theirs). Outdoor concerts, markets, festivals, events. And don’t even get me started on all the vacation posts! Summer is probably one of the worst times of the year for FOMO, which can have a negative impact on your confidence and self-esteem.

Social work is probably one of the most misunderstood professions. Social workers are constantly faced with barriers that make it difficult to fulfil our mandates, from unrealistic systematic expectations to societal stigmas about what it is we actually do. But honestly? I love being a social worker everyday. Today I want to share with you some of the reasons why I love being a social worker, specifically working as a psychotherapist in private practice.