OASW Shares its 2024 Budget Priorities with the Ontario Government

January 31, 2024

OASW has shared its priorities for the provincial government’s 2024 budget, with a focus on improving access to mental health and addictions care across the province. Our 2024 budget submission, Opening Doors to Mental Health, proposed four key recommendations, emphasizing the importance of investing in mental health solutions across settings to reduce system pressures and ensure Ontarians have access to high-quality mental health support:

  1. Enable Ontarians to access mental health care in their communities by ensuring every primary care provider has access to an RSW.
  2. Expand access to psychosocial supports to long-term care residents by mandating the provision of social work services in all homes.
  3. Support student health and wellbeing and achieve the targets of Ontario’s Learning Recovery Action Plan by providing dedicated funding for school boards to hire RSWs.
  4. Reduce red tape and improve care for victims of motor vehicle accidents by enabling RSWs to certify their own treatment and assessment plans.

These recommendations were submitted to the Minister of Finance and to the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs.

We hope to see these recommendations reflected in the 2024 Ontario Budget, and we look forward to continued engagement with government to advance these recommendations.

Read the Full Submission
(Adobe PDF File)
About OASW
OASW is the voice of the social work profession in Ontario. It is a voluntary, bilingual, non-profit association representing approximately 9,000 social workers. All members have a university degree in social work at the bachelor, master or doctoral level. OASW works to actively speak on behalf of social workers on issues of interest to the profession and advocates for the improvement of social policies and programs directly affecting social work practice and client groups served.