Western Branch

Western Branch includes London, Sarnia and the surrounding area.

Board of Directors

Mitch Lesperance, President
Patrick Fleming, Past President
Helen Jevnikar, Secretary
Chantel Cassidy, Treasurer
Sally Cozens
Paula DeVeto
John Lederman
Laura Lewis, Faculty Representative
Theressa Miles, 4th year Student Representative
Amanda Taylor, 3rd year Student Representative
Karen Pierre
Anne Toth, Sarnia Chapter Representative

Recent Branch Initiatives

The Western Branch of OASW met on September 16th at King's University College. Several items were discussed on the agenda including:

• OASW's organizational review survey
• OASW's welcoming message to social work students
• Finding a new representative to sit on school council at King's (Mr. Corey Janke)
• Accepting new members into our Branch (always a welcoming event)
• Planning for future professional development topics (e.g., EAP framework; Family Resiliency workshop)

We're looking forward to how we can advance the causes and the efforts of this great profession in our local community and provincially.

Western Branch Annual General Meeting

The Branch's AGM was held Thursday June 19, 2008 at King's University College, Student Lounge. Guest speaker, Joan MacKenzie Davies, Executive Director, Ontario Association of Social Workers addressed present and future directions of the association. This was a great opportunity to meet one of the staff team members from the Toronto office and have questions answered.

The board meetings took place on February 19, March 18, and April 15. Requested financial reports were sent to the Provincial office and suggestions concerning a format for future reports. The Western Branch continues to work with a surplus.

The spring newsletter went out in early June. The board did not receive negative feed back on the electronic format so the spring edition will get sent to the members electronically.

Board members took part in the accreditation process with the School of Social Work, King's University College concerning the BSW program. The meetings occurred on March 19 and 20.

The Professional Development Committee helped organize the professional development day at King's University College and the board financially co-sponsored the event during Social Work Week. The event took place on March 7. The board co-sponsored a social work education event on May 28 with the Social Work in Health Education Committee. The topic was on Addictions and Best Practices.

During Social Work Week, the Board had its poster display on the profession of Social Work and information on OASW at the Central Library in downtown London throughout social work week. It was also present during the professional development day at King's. A draw for a full-time and a student membership occurred during the PD day at King's. The board also met with third and fourth year social work students during social work week to talk about the association. The Board and the School of Social Work, Kings' University College, fully sponsored the attendance of two students at the National Conference in Toronto, May 22 to 25.

Newsletter

Please click [newsletter] for the current issue.

Click [Article] to see a sample article from the Western Branch newsletter.

Contact Information

Branch President and Provincial Board Representative: Mitch Lesperance, London.