Have you heard? ACSW is changing!
- ACSW functions as a regulatory college as well as a professional association. This is in the process of changing.
- Recently, the Government of Alberta passed a bill that requires all regulatory colleges including ACSW to no longer provide association functions and activities.
How will this affect you?
- The separation of regulatory college and professional association functions will have no direct impact on your social work registration or practice. Social workers will continue to maintain their registration with the ACSW.
- ACSW will continue its legislative mandate to protect the public by regulating the social work profession. ACSW will stop delivering activities that focus on advancing the profession. See when this will happen and what will change here.
Will there be a professional social work association in Alberta? YES!
- ACSW is committed to supporting the creation of a new social work association. We are doing that through active member engagement, resources and funding
For more information click on each menu item below
Hello Alberta Social Workers,
My name is Keith Goertzen and I am very excited to bring you an update on behalf of the Interim Board for Alberta's future Social Work Association.
With the support of ACSW, the Interim Board is working hard to establish a new social work association. This is in response to the Government of Alberta's decision to require regulatory colleges to no longer provide association functions and activities.
We have chosen a name. The Social Workers Association of Alberta will be the association's legal name once it is incorporated. This name reflects our desire for future members to feel a sense of ownership for the association.
We have chosen a President. I am honored to have been elected by the Interim Board members as the President of the Interim Board.
We have established working groups. The Interim Board has a lot of work to do. The working groups will help us organize our work so we can meet our goal of being operational by the end of 2022.
We are committed to communicating with you. Stay tuned for monthly updates from the Interim Board. As our Communication and Engagement Working Group develops a communication and engagement strategy, there will be opportunities for you and other social workers to be a part of this process.
Association Interim Board
Alberta's new professional social work association is in the process of being formed!
An Interim Board of Directors has now been selected. These board members from across the province are diverse and passionate social work leaders with a broad array of interests and experience. They were selected by an ACSW steering committee as part of ACSW's efforts to support the establishment of a new and independent social work association. ACSW sincerely thanks everyone who expressed an interest in joining the interim board.
The interim board will work to establish the foundations of the new association, and has a minimum term of two years.
Meet the Interim Board:
 |
I am Darlene Marchuk, MSW, RSW, and I reside in Edmonton. I work at Poundmaker's Lodge Treatment Centres in the capacity of Clinical Director. I specialize in addictions and mental health where best and wise practices are incorporated into the healing journey. My passion continues to be Indigenous ways of knowing and being. I will contribute a wholistic, balanced Indigenous perspective to this professional association in its formation. I look forward to this opportunity to contribute to the new professional association for social workers. |
 |
I am Darnel T. Forro, MSW, RSW, BA, and I am passionate about helping strengthen the fabric that connects and unites social workers across our province. I strongly believe in the inclusion of diverse and marginalized social work voices and the creation of safe, equitable and critically reflexive spaces within our emerging association. I am a social work educator at Red Deer Polytechnic, former medical social worker with the Winnipeg Health Authority, and a beginning PhD student at Memorial University's School of Social Work with a research focus on sexual experiences of migrant and racialized queer men in rural Alberta contexts. |
 |
Jane Slessor, MSW, RSW (she/her/hers) is a white settler occupier who lives in Amiskwaciwâskahikan, Treaty 6 territory, Métis Region 4. A social worker since 2005, Jane has spent most of her career working alongside people experiencing houselessness, including supporting survivors of Indian Residential Schools. She consults and teaches social work for the University of Calgary and MacEwan University, and is an anti-oppressive social worker focused on social work practice in Indigenous sovereignty. Jane looks forward to working to ensure our new association commits to promoting the diversity of the social work profession and works to support decolonizing and reconciliatory efforts with Indigenous Peoples. |
 |
Keith Goertzen, BSW, RSW was born and raised in Edmonton, where he currently resides with his spouse and three children. In addition to his BSW from the University of Calgary, he also has an MBA in Community Economic Development. Currently, Keith is the Director, Provincial Policy Services, at AHS. He has 10 years' experience in Addiction and Mental Health and has had other roles in Children's Services and Community Development. Keith is excited to work with other social workers across the province to help establish Alberta's new social work association. He looks forward to contributing to the association's policies and bylaws. |
 |
My name is Linda McFarlane, MSW, and I live in Canmore. I hold a Bachelor and Master of Social Work from the University of Calgary. My career experience includes co-ordinating volunteers at a crisis centre, promoting the hiring of people with developmental disabilities, and assisting Action to End Poverty with organizing conferences and consultations. After retirement, I helped initiate and co-chair Calgary Social Workers for Social Justice. I am a public member for the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta, a patient/family volunteer with Alberta Health Services Continuing Care Quality Committee, and a board member of the Alberta Association on Gerontology. |
 |
I'm Michael J. Penner, BSW student at MacEwan University in Edmonton. I'm a pastor and have worked with the Northwest Regional FASD Society, Unlimited Potential Community Services, and completed practicums at the McClung Constituency Office and a BAM-Youth Practicum with the Seabird Island Community, BC. I am honoured to bring my own and many other students' perspectives to the new social work association. I have seen the need for and benefit of well-equipped and supported professionals in our communities through multiple experiences. I have high hopes for the future of the association. |
 |
Mickey Ikuta, MSW, RSW, works at the Women's Centre of Calgary as a Program Manager. Her areas of practice and interests include community development, social justice work for women and girls, community-based research, education and mentorship for social work students. Establishing an association impacts all social workers in Alberta and Mickey feels that joining the interim board is a way to participate in this historic event. Mickey brings board, committee and other leadership experiences, a collaborative approach to work, and the perspective of a racialized woman with a range of professional and lived experiences. |
 |
My name is Rasheal Charles, MSW, RSW, located in Edmonton. I hold the Mental Health Therapist and Practice Lead position at the Leduc Beaumont Devon Primary Care Network. Being a part of establishing the new social work association means that there will be tailored opportunities for social workers to receive resources and skills in mental health, which is essential to our practice. While I am passionate about incorporating mindfulness in daily interactions, I trust that my knowledge about women and youth initiatives will highlight my keenness for increased support for social workers serving Indigenous and BIPOC communities. |
Why are the college and association separating?
In December 2020, the Government of Alberta passed Bill 46, the Health Statutes Amendment Act (2020). This bill provides for significant amendments to the Health Professions Act including the mandatory requirement for health professional regulatory colleges to cease and divest of professional association functions and activities.
How will the separation impact social workers?
The separation of regulatory college and professional association functions will have no direct impact on your social work registration or practice.
The ACSW will continue its obligations under the Health Professions Act to fulfill the legislative mandate to regulate and govern the social work profession in the public interest.
ACSW had been a dual-mandated organization, serving both the public interest (as a regulatory college) and the profession’s interest (as a professional association). This is changing. ACSW will soon be solely a regulatory college.
Legislation requires ACSW to cease and divest of professional association functions. This means ACSW may no longer deliver activities that focus on advancing professional interest.
To meet these legislative requirements, the ACSW is taking steps to discontinue professional association activities.
What is the difference between a regulatory college and professional association?
As of December 31, 2021 , the following activities will no longer be offered by ACSW:
- non-regulated association memberships (retired & student memberships)
- the annual ACSW conference
- the Advocate magazine
- member interest groups
- regional area coordinators and events
- annual ACSW events such as Social Work Week celebrations and holiday socials
- ACSW student bursary program
- ACSW Honouring Our Own award program
- ACSW Annual General Meeting
In 2022 , the following association activities will also end:
- ACSW Community Job Board Postings
- ACSW Community Event Calendar Postings
- Canadian Association of Social Workers partnership
- TD Affinity Program Partnership
- ACSW's engagement in advocacy coalitions and social policy partnerships with Parkland Institute, Public Interest Alberta, Friends of Medicare and the Edmonton Social Planning Council