AASW Webinar Recording | Social Workers for Climate Action: Making it real

Member price: $60.00 including GST (member price will display once logged in)

Non-member price: $120.00 including GST

The Social Workers for Climate Action webinar series looks at green or eco-social work practice as it relates to the present and future serious risks posed by uncontrolled climate change.

The series aims to give learners a broad understanding of the science underpinning the risk assessment of climate change impacts; and some of the possible implications of that risk assessment process for future social work service delivery.

This series will present of some of the knowledge, skills and values required by still emerging green social work practice response to climate change impacts in Australia. There will be facilitated discussion of climate change practice principles and challenges between participants; and an exploration of case study examples of the nascent Australian and international social work response to climate change in the field.

This webinar is a part of a series designed to support Social Workers to make a difference to climate change within their practice.

• Part 1: ‘Setting the Scene’ presents a global and local overview of climate change from the perspective of social work practice.
• Part 2: ‘Talking it Through’ gave participants the opportunity to ask questions to a panel of experts.
• Part 3: ‘Making it Real’ showcases real-life case studies where social workers are making a difference and the lessons learned.

Learning Outcomes

• To raise awareness of climate change amongst social workers
• To provide a forum for social workers to discuss climate change and practice
• To present case studies of social workers making a difference for role modelling and lessons learned
• Support social workers to take action on climate change with their practice.

Presenter details

Dr Heather Boetto is a senior lecturer in Social Work at Charles Sturt University. Heather’s relationship with the natural environment emerged in her childhood as a young farm girl growing up in regional New South Wales. Later, as a social worker, Heather became aware of the social impacts of climatic events on the lives of people and their communities in rural areas as imperative to practice, and began her studies on this issue when she entered academia in 2008. Heather’s current research focuses on transformative ecosocial change within the profession and disaster resilience in the community services sector.

Jeanette Ninnis is a social work practitioner who has specialised for twenty years in mental health clinical therapy and counselling. As a clinician for people with serious mental illness, Jeanette facilitated programs for young people and families impacted by first episode psychosis, women with life threatening self-harm behaviours, and children of parents with mental illness. As a sexual assault counsellor, Jeanette initiated a focus on outreach engagement to encourage women from refugee background to seek sexual assault counselling. For the last eight years, Jeanette has provided torture and trauma counselling at Service for Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors (NSW STARTTS). Jeanette also teaches social work at Charles Sturt University, Australia.

Tim Walsh is currently employed as Tutor and External Field Supervisor with the University of SA, following a wide practice history in areas of homelessness, community aged care and disability, hospital based social work, and correctional services. Tim has been Convenor of the AASW SA Green Social Work Practice Group since it was formed in Nov 2018. The Practice group offers support, collaboration and advocacy for practitioners, educators, students and community partners. As a [mostly voluntary] community worker, Tim has helped in the development of local School and Community Gardens, to help bridge the daily gap between people and nature, and which he reported on at the National SW Conference in Adelaide in 2019.

Dr Ros Darracott is a member of the Toowoomba Green Social Work Group and has been working with colleagues and students to develop climate-aware social work practice in the Darling Downs region of Qld. Ros is currently employed as the Assistant Director of Social Work at Darling Downs Hospital and Health Service and was previously a Lecturer in social work and human services at QUT. She has a long practice and research interest in rural and regional social work and is especially interested in the influence of place on direct social work practice.