dr. susan scott
phd (sociology), york university, 1989
msw (policy and research), mcgill university, 1982
i am one of two founding faculty members of the lakehead orillia social work program. during my early career, i worked in direct practice and then moved to macro practice. i have worked for community-based agencies as well as government in social work-related areas (e.g., ministry of community and social services, justice-based ministries) as well as other areas, doing policy and program analysis, and research and evaluation. in addition, i owned and operated a consulting house which provided policy, program, research, evaluation, training, and organizational development/design services to community-based agencies, private corporations which provided human services, and governments and arms-length government organizations at the federal, provincial, and municipal levels.
i have completed substantial work in many social work-and social work-related sectors including but not limited to: social welfare, children’s services, education, mental health (adults and children), criminal justice, youth justice, civil justice, legal aid, public safety and anti-terrorism, policing, domestic violence, women’s issues, substitute decisions/power of attorney/capacity assessment, physical health care, health promotion and prevention, and privacy and access.
throughout my academic career, i have taught sociology (deviance, criminology), social policy, macro social work theory, direct practice theory, and child welfare. i also established the original field program in the school of social work in orillia and provided field coordination, supervisor training, and student seminar services for the first few years the school operated in orillia.
- domestic violence
- policing
- community work
- harm reduction
- policy and program analysis and development
- youth justice
- children's services
- service delivery systems
selected current research:
i am currently engaged in two main projects, both of which are funded through grant funding (i.e., sshrc and assistance to small universities sshrc). the first project involves an examination of how domestic violence calls are responded to by police. i am one of a team of several people, including dr. hovey. using the results of an examination of domestic violence data, we will soon be moving to working with community agencies and police to identify and implement approaches to addressing domestic violence cases which are consistent with the resources and expertise of the agencies and police, thereby enhancing the response to domestic violence. the project is based in participatory action research and involves both quantitative and qualitative data collection and/or analysis. many areas of macro practice are incorporated within the project (e.g., community organization, organizational development, policy, program development). the second project involves examining the use of harm reduction approaches in women’s shelters throughout ontario. we have developed a baseline of harm reduction practices in ontario’s women’s shelters and will soon be undertaking case studies of several shelter that are using harm reduction approaches at differing levels. the project will result in the development of a policy document, which addresses and provides guidance to shelter staff regarding implementation of the ontario government’s recently developed standard of practice addressing the need to provide shelter services to all women, including those who use substances.