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Building Emergency Response Capacity: Multi-Career-Stage Social Workers’ Engagement with Homeless Sector during the First Two Waves of COVID-19 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Author

Listed:
  • Haorui Wu

    (School of Social Work, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada)

  • Jeff Karabanow

    (School of Social Work, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada)

  • Tonya Hoddinott

    (School of Social Work, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada)

Abstract

The dramatic increase of global extreme events (e.g., natural, technological, and willful hazards) propels social workers to be equipped with emergency response capacity, supporting affected individuals, families, and communities to prepare, respond, and recover from disasters. Although social workers have historically been engaged in emergency response, social work curriculum and professional training remain slow to adapt, jeopardizing their capacity to support the vulnerable and marginalized populations, who have always been disproportionately affected by extreme events. In response to this deficit, this article utilizes a critical reflection approach to examine three social workers’ (a senior faculty, a junior faculty, and a social work student) interventions and challenges in their emergency response to persons experiencing homelessness (PEHs) during the first two waves of COVID-19 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada (March 2020 to March 2021). The cross-career-stage reflections and analyses exhibit these three social workers’ COVID-19-specific emergency response efforts: a top-down advocacy effort for social development and policy, a bottom-up cognitive effort to comprehend the community’s dynamics, and a disaster-driven self-care effort. These three types of effort demonstrate a greater need for social work education and professional training, to develop more disaster-specific components to contribute to building the emergency response capacity of the next generation of social workers through in-classroom pedagogical enhancement and on-site field education training, better supporting PEHs and other vulnerable and marginalized groups living in the diverse context of extreme events in Canada and internationally.

Suggested Citation

  • Haorui Wu & Jeff Karabanow & Tonya Hoddinott, 2022. "Building Emergency Response Capacity: Multi-Career-Stage Social Workers’ Engagement with Homeless Sector during the First Two Waves of COVID-19 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-15, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:19:p:12713-:d:933634
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tanja Wirth & Janika Mette & Albert Nienhaus & Zita Schillmöller & Volker Harth & Stefanie Mache, 2019. "“This Isn’t Just about Things, It’s about People and Their Future”: A Qualitative Analysis of the Working Conditions and Strains of Social Workers in Refugee and Homeless Aid," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-20, October.
    2. Lena Dominelli, 2021. "A green social work perspective on social work during the time of COVID‐19," International Journal of Social Welfare, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(1), pages 7-16, January.
    3. Haorui Wu & Meredith Greig & Catherine Bryan, 2022. "Promoting Environmental Justice and Sustainability in Social Work Practice in Rural Community: A Systematic Review," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-22, July.
    4. Janika Mette & Swantje Robelski & Tanja Wirth & Albert Nienhaus & Volker Harth & Stefanie Mache, 2020. "“Engaged, Burned Out, or Both?” A Structural Equation Model Testing Risk and Protective Factors for Social Workers in Refugee and Homeless Aid," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-14, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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