Eco-Social Work in Australia

Guest: Dr Meredith Powers(she/her) - Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Work at University of North Carolina, Greensboro, USA Introduction to this episode: The Eco-Social Work in Australia podcast series has been expanded to include guest interviews with social work professionals who either practice outside of Australia or with individuals who work in closely allied fields, such as public health or psychology. This has been a conscious decision made in light of the recognition that social work is a global as well as national profession, and one which benefits from the sharing of interdisciplinary knowledge and expertise, particularly in connection to dealing with the practice implications of increasing physical environmental challenges such as global heating and climate disruption. My guest in this episode is a good representative of this more cosmopolitan direction for the series. Dr. Meredith Powers(she/her) is an American based and internationally focussed practitioner across a range of roles. Dr. Powers is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Work at UNC Greensboro, USA. She teaches and conducts community engaged scholarship on topics of climate justice, climate migration, eco-social worldviews, and eco-therapeutic practices for well-being. She is the Founder and Director of the Climate Justice Program of the International Federation of Social Workers. And she also established and co-administers the global Green/Eco Social Work Collaborative Network. SUMMARY OF MAIN INTERVIEW TALKING POINTS  - and approximate time elapsed in minutes General introduction – 0.50 Guest self-introduction – 3.38 What is the significance of eco-social work practice (ESW) in 2022? – 10.00 How can ESW help tackle key physical environment challenges? - 15.28 The 2022 IFSW People’s Summit – 23.30 The need for mainstream SW involvement with physical environment problems – 27.43 What could/should the short to mid-term future hold for ESW practice? – 33.28 Guest take home message – 46.56 Close of interview and thanks to guest – 49.46 Total run time – 51.03 RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE DISCUSSION A listing of any books, publications or digital media information sources relevant to eco-social work and mentioned during discussion. Dr Meredith C.F. Powers academic profile and publications list Anthropocentric and ecocentric worldviews and an example of their influence. Children’s book that influenced Meredith: The Wump World by Bill Peet Some Indigenous Scholars who informed Meredith’s understanding: Miriama Scott, Dr. Felicia Mitchell, Dr. Shanondora Billiot, Dr. Angela Fernandez, Dr. Karina Walters, Dr. Michael Yellow Bird, Dr. Ramona Beltran, Dr. Michael Spencer.   International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) Climate Justice Program Book on fungi: Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures (M.Sheldrake, 2020). Book: Braiding Sweetgrass- Indigenous wisdom Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants(Robin Wall Kimmerer, 2020) Paper by Kim Zapf (2010) on the SW concept of people as place/learning to live well in place Quote by author B. White on saving and savouring the world. Eco-therapy – the use of Green and Blue Spaces and nature connectedness approaches and research. Paper on radical self-care – see Meredith Powers’ academic profile and publications IPCC (2022) - latest report on climate change explainer (Australian perspective, March 2022) The concept of ecokin and kincentric ecology. Possible inter- generational effects of trauma acting through epigenetic influence. Human induced climate change influence on natural disaster events IFSW linked event discussed: Co-building a New Eco-Social World: Leaving No One Behind’ People’s Summit 29 June- 2 July 2022, Virtual Event Book on leadership Meredith mentioned: Salsa, Soul, and Spirit: Leadership for a Multicultural Age GUEST AND CONTACT DETAILS: Guest: Dr. Meredith Powers  E mcfpowers@uncg.edu   WEBSITE   Householders’ Options to Protect the Environment (HOPE): T 07 4639 2135 E office@hopeaustralia.org.au W http://www.hopeaustralia.org.au/ F https://www.facebook.com/Householders.Options.to.Protect.the.Environment/  Production: Produced for HOPE by Andrew Nicholson. E counsel1983@gmail.com  This episode recorded in Toowoomba, S.E. Queensland, Australia on 29th April 2022  Incidental Music: James Nicholson

Guest: Professor Margaret Alston, AM, OAM, School of Humanities, Creative Industries and Social Science, University of Newcastle, New South Wales and Emerita Professor, Monash University. Introduction to this episode: Professor Margaret Alston has developed a longstanding research and teaching interest around the social work role in relation to natural disasters, and particularly regarding the differential gendered experience of disaster impacts amongst women, men and children. She has taught and conducted research within a number of premier Australian universities over the years on topics such as the links between rural life and gender, and has grounded that work in action research based upon first hand observation of some of the most vulnerable communities in the world. Professor Alston has applied her research insights to the benefit of a wide spectrum of institutions and individuals: from acting as gender expert consultant to international agencies, such as the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation, and the Commission for the Status of Women, to providing doctoral research supervision to a new generation of social workers, helping equip them with the tools to focus on gender inequities within social research. In this episode, we talk about Professor Alston’s abiding interest in the gendered experience of environmental impacts, how such physical environment influences and eco-social work approaches (ESW) are directly relevant to mainstream social work practice, and how her research and social work training insights apply with particular relevance to our own, Asia-Pacific region of the world. General introduction     -  0.50 Guest self-introduction  - 3.35 What is the relevance of an ESW approach in 2022?  - 12.05 How might increased gendered sensitivity within ESW approaches help tackle some key sustainability challenges? -19.46 Why should the social work profession concern itself with differential gendered factors within ESW approaches? - 27.45 What could/should the short to mid-term future hold for greater levels of differential gendered experience sensitivity as a practice frame?  - 31.13 Guest take home message/summary - 37.43 Closing acknowledgement - 41.13 RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE DISCUSSION A listing of any books, publications or digital media information sources relevant to eco-social work and mentioned during discussion. Professor Alston selected research work and profile with some publications from 2015: Alston, Women and Climate Change in Bangladesh (2015) Routledge McKinnon and Alston (eds) (2016) Ecological Social Work, Pan Macmillan Alston, Hazeleger and Hargreaves (2019) Social Work and Disasters, Routledge Alston, et.al. (2021) Australian and NZ social workers adjusting to the COVID-19 pandemic. Eco-anxiety and solastalgia. The Psychology for a Safe Climate group based in Melbourne also have a number of resources relevant to this topic on their portal site. Australia 2019-2020 bushfires and east coast flood events 2022 – some background. Vulnerability registers and mapping. Disaster risk reduction example involving children and youth. IPCC Climate Change Mitigation Report (April 2022) summary of key action points. IFSW online conference: Co-building a New Eco-Social World: Leaving No One Behind - The People's Global Summit (29th June to 2nd July 2022). GUEST AND CONTACT DETAILS: Guest: Professor Margaret Alston: E: margaret.alston@newcastle.edu.au WEB  T: (02) 4921 6702   Householders’ Options to Protect the Environment (HOPE): T 07 4639 2135 E office@hopeaustralia.org.au  W http://www.hopeaustralia.org.au/ & Facebook Production: Produced for HOPE by Andrew Nicholson: T: +61 (0) 413979414 E: anicholsona@gmail.com This episode recorded in Toowoomba, S.E. Queensland, Australia on 6th April 2022. Incidental Music: James Nicholson  

Guest: Dr. Naomi Godden: Vice-Chancellor's Research Fellow and Senior Lecturer in Social Work, School of Arts and Humanities, Edith Cowan University, Western Australia. Introduction to this episode: Dr Godden is a social worker, social justice and environmental activist, and feminist participatory action researcher from the rural community of Margaret River, Western Australia. She has 16 years of community development and social research experience in Australia and internationally in areas such as gender justice, Aboriginal family violence prevention, youth development, education advocacy, poverty alleviation, homelessness and affordable housing, sexual exploitation of women, environmental activism and the gendered impacts of climate change. She has worked in grassroots rural community organisations, local government, international development organisations such as Oxfam Australia and the International Women’s Development Agency, and universities, including Monash and Edith Cowan Universities in Australia. Her countries of work experience include Australia, Peru, United States, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Papua New Guinea, India and Thailand. She is also co-chair of the national Women’s Climate Justice Collective and chair of Just Home Margaret River Inc.  SUMMARY OF MAIN INTERVIEW TALKING POINTS  - with approximate time positions in minutes    General introduction                                                                                                     0.52  Guest self-introduction                                                                                                 3.10 What is the significance of a love ethic within eco-social work (ESW) practice?           9.11 How can a love ethic/ESW practice help tackle sustainability challenges?                   17.40          - using Feminist Participatory Action Research (FPAR)                                         18.25          - climate justice activism and techno-patriarchy concerns                                   24.40 Why should mainstream social work be involved with a love ethic and ESW?              35.17 What could the future hold for mainstream SW practice in terms of these ideas?       43.13 Guest closing summary of her comments                                                                     51.15 Thanks to guest and close of interview                                                                          52.56 END                                                                                                                                54.13  SOME RESOURCES RELEVANT TO THE DISCUSSION Dr Naomi Godden academic profile and research publications (2022) Shire of Augusta Margaret River WA, Community Strategic Plan 2036 Just Home housing justice project Augusta/Margaret River region (2022) Nyoongar people SW WA responses to past severe climate change (2020) Michael Kim Zapf’s SW concept of people as place (2010) Introduction to the work of bell hooks from the Commons Social Change Library (2022) Commentary from bell hooks and Thich Nhat Hanh (2017) Dr Godden’s paper on links between community work, love and Buen Vivir in Peru (2020) Distinctions environmental/ecological (2000) and multispecies (2020) justice perspectives. IFSW: People’s Global Summit theme: Co-building a New Eco-Social World: Leaving No One Behind’ online access 29th June to 2nd July 2022. Feminist Participatory Action Research (FPAR) and climate justice Godden et al (2020) Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (2022) Longer term public health impacts of climate change exacerbated flood and bushfire events Mel Gray/John Coates - social work's responsibility to the non-human world (2012)  GUEST AND CONTACT DETAILS:  Dr Godden - see her research profile  Householders’ Options to Protect the Environment (HOPE): T 07 4639 2135 E office@hopeaustralia.org.au W http://www.hopeaustralia.org.au/ Facebook   Production: Produced for HOPE by Andrew Nicholson. This episode recorded in Toowoomba, S.E. Queensland, Australia on 24th March 2022. Incidental Music: James Nicholson  

Guest: Dr.Sylvia Ramsay, School of Health Sciences and Social Work, Griffith University, Queensland, Australia. INTRODUCTION TO THIS EPISODE The growing academic research base of eco-social work (ESW) practice in Australia has a been an important springboard in helping to diffuse ESW ideas and approaches into the mainstream here. Several guests in this podcast series, including Dr Heather Boetto, Dr. Peter Jones and Dr. Sue Bailey, have already contributed influential published research work linked to eco-social work practice and approaches in this country. My guest on this episode of the series, Dr. Sylvia Ramsay, is also very conversant with the world of applied social work research and has developed particular research interests in how eco-social work frameworks and perspectives can help shape and enhance mainstream social work intervention. In this episode we talk about some of the formative ideas and values that have helped create Sylvia’s perspective on the eco-social work turn in mainstream practice. INTERVIEW TALKING POINTS – with approximate time elapsed location in minutes. General introduction – 0.50 Guest self-introduction – 1.59 What does ESW practice mean in 2021? – 6.07 How can ESW approaches be used in practical terms – 14.24 Why should the SW mainstream be involved with ESW concerns in 2021? – 21.18 What could the future hold for ESW interventions over the next 2- 10 years? – 23.05 Guest’s take home message – 26.00 End of interview and credits – 27.12 REFERENCES AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN OR RELEVANT TO THE DISCUSSION  Work of Sylvia Ramsay on understanding environmental social work (2016) Work of Fred H Besthorn – for example on deep ecological social work Work of Naomi Godden - for example on community work, love and the Indigenous worldview Work of Prof Lena Dominelli Book by Powers and Rinkel (2017) Social Work Promoting Community and Environmental Sustainability accompanied by two other volumes. Val Plumwood philosopher and eco-feminist – example of her work Feminism and the Mastery of Nature (1993) Related concepts of the better valuing of nature through ecokinship and kincentric stewardship Achieving a sense of purpose through caring for nature and opportunities to work with clients in ‘blue’ and ‘green’ spaces. This could involve activities taken from Nature Mindfulness, Forest Bathing, Forest Therapy or Awe Walk All of these initiatives are aligned with a growing body of international psychological research, collectively designated under the umbrella term Nature Connectedness. Such research is pointing increasingly to the benefits of close psychological and emotional engagement with nature, both to enhance human wellbeing, but also to foster greater care for and greater stewardship of the natural world and living things. Related concepts of closer human-nature connection - developing nature connectedness and an ‘ecological self’ through forming an ecological identity as suggested by, for example, Thomashow (1995). Creating eco-friendly workplaces – a couple of examples of ways to help create lower environmental impact at home and in workplace environments.  GUEST AND OTHER CONTACT DETAILS: Guest: Dr. Sylvia Ramsay, Griffith University, Queensland, Australia Householders’ Options to Protect the Environment (HOPE): T 07 4639 2135 E: office@hopeaustralia.org.au W: http://www.hopeaustralia.org.au/ F: https://www.facebook.com/Householders.Options.to.Protect.the.Environment/  Production: Produced for HOPE by Andrew Nicholson E: anicholsona@gmail.com M: 0413 979 414 This episode recorded in Toowoomba, S.E. Queensland, Australia on 25/11/2021 Artwork: Daniela Dal'Castel        Incidental Music: James Nicholson

Guest: Dr. Dorothee Holscher: Lecturer, School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work, The University of Queensland, Queensland, Australia. INTRODUCTION TO THIS EPISODE: For many practitioners, eco-social work approaches are transformative in their intent and objectives around linked physical environment and social justice concerns. Some examples are the recent social work call in Australia for far more ambitious national greenhouse gas reduction efforts, and advocacy around greater social and environmental justice for marginalised communities impacted disproportionately by the effects of global heating and climate change. Such advocacy is predicated, in part, on a critique of neoliberal capitalist economic development models which are accelerating both environmental damage and socio-economic inequality around the world. The transformative turn within social work practice is a central interest of my next guest, Dr Dorothee Holscher, a social work researcher, academic and educator with a research interest in the social work response to the nexus of environmental and other social injustices – most recently as these have affected some Australian indigenous communities, as they responded to challenges posed by coal mining and river health impacts in their country. In today’s interview, we talk about this research and its implications for social work practice, as well as another of Dorothee’s interests concerning the ways in which a more critical focus can be brought into social work training. She cites the work of the influential philosopher, critical theorist and feminist thinker, Nancy Fraser, as an important influence on her own social work training practice. Dorothee does not strictly consider herself to be an eco-social work practitioner, but I have included her in this series because her work, touching as it does upon critical appraisals of the negative and oppressive effects operating across social, environmental and economic interdependencies is, for me, a good example of a holistic worldview in operation. The principle of holism, for example as it relates to the inclusion of physical environmental concerns operating across micro, meso and macro levels of intervention, is a core principle informing eco-social work practice. INTERVIEW TALKING POINTS – with approximate time elapsed location in minutes. General introduction – 0.50 Guest self- introduction – 3.16 Overview of guest’s recent research explorations – 7.06 Some possible social work practice implications – 12.06 Introducing Nancy Fraser’s scholarship – 19.01 Fraser’s definition of social justice – 21.44 Fraser’s past approach to physical environment – 28.15 Her more recent crisis of capitalism perspective – 31.04 Why should the mainstream engage with environmental concerns? – 37.75 What could the short term future hold for such engagement? - 41.24 Guest’s take home message – 49.35 End of interview and credits - 50.50 RESOURCES MENTIONED OR RELEVANT TO THE DISCUSSION:  Dr. Dorothee Holscher some research articles mentioned: Return of the posthuman: Developing Indigenist perspectives for social work at a time of environmental crisis (Holscher & Woods, 2020) The relevance of Nancy Fraser for transformative social work education (Holscher et al., 2018) Paper Decolonization is not a metaphor by Tuck and Yang (2012) Professor Nancy Fraser - list of some of her research output and a recent (2021) video presentation of her ideas on capitalism and physical environmental destruction Professor Rosi Braidotti paper (2013) on posthumanism citing Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man artwork GUEST AND CONTACT DETAILS: Guest: Dr. Dorothee Holscher UQ:  and holscher.dorothee@gmail.com Householders’ Options to Protect the Environment (HOPE) T: 07 4639 2135     E: office@hopeaustralia.org.au  W: http://www.hopeaustralia.org.au/     Facebook  Production: Produced for HOPE by Andrew Nicholson. E: anicholsona@gmail.com  M: 0413 979 414 . This episode recorded in Toowoomba, S.E. Queensland, Australia on 20/11 /2021. Artwork: Daniela Dal'Castel   Incidental Music: James Nicholson  

Guest: Dr. Heather Downey, Senior Lecturer in Social Work and Social Policy and member of the Centre for Freshwater Ecosystems at Latrobe University, Albury Wodonga. INTRODUCTION TO THIS EPISODE The crucial importance of water as a resource to support the economic, social, cultural, recreational, and environmental wellbeing of human society and the natural world cannot be overstated. This is particularly the case in Australia, the driest inhabited continent, whose water security challenges have further intensified in response to global heating and climate disruption trends. As a key, multifaceted resource, water has received far too little attention even though it is directly linked to those trends. Within Australia, the rural agricultural sector has become something of a test bed for growing concerns over water security and fair allocation of this precious resource to a range of users. So, what might be a potential role for eco-social work practice in this contested space of rural water access and the not always successful attempts to balance the  social, economic and environmental justice needs of water users? My guest in this podcast episode, Dr. Heather Downey, is well qualified to offer some answers to this question. Amongst her many roles, Heather is Chief Investigator of research within the Many Meanings of Water for Australian Rural River Communities project and participates in the collaborative, multidisciplinary Murray Darling Water and Environment Research Program. As a regional social work academic, Heather is well positioned to examine relationships between people and the natural environment, and more specifically, in the economic, social, cultural, recreational, and environmental meaning of water for all rural residents. Heather talks with me today about the potential of eco-social work (ESW) approaches to regional community water security, value and meaning.   INTERVIEW TALKING POINTS – with approximate time elapsed location in minutes. General introduction - 0.50 Guest self-introduction - 3.27 What is ESW practice in 2021? - 7.25 What are some ESW approaches linked to water? - 16.48 Why should the SW mainstream be involved with ESW concerns in 2021? - 24.12 What  future for ESW interventions in the regions?  - 29.44 Some immediate steps to progress ESW practice  - 37.48 Guest short take home message on ESW practice - 39.57 End of interview and closing comments - 41.48 RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE DISCUSSION  Heather Downey - profile and research outputs Murray Darling Basin Plan (MDBP) – some background and perspectives ABC TV documentaries on MDBP in 2017 and 2019 and surrounding controversy Paper on discourse analysis of Murray Darling Basin issues (2019) Review of Lena Dominelli’s book Green Social Work (2012) ESW education article by Ellis, L. M., Napan, K., & O’Donoghue, K. ‘Greening social work education in Aotearoa/New Zealand’ in The Routledge Handbook of Green Social Work 535-546 (2018) Paper by Rigney et. al., on ‘Indigenous nation building for environmental futures: Murrundi flows through Ngarrindjeri country.’ The Person in (social) Environment principle within traditional SW as critiqued by Zapf. The Torres Strait Islander climate change environmental law case brought against the Australian Federal Government in 2021 The 26th Asia-Pacific Regional Social Work Conference 2021 program Heather Boetto – listen to her episode and view notes in the ESWA podcast series. Opportunities to work with clients in ‘blue’ and ‘green’ spaces, could involve activities taken from Nature Mindfulness, Forest Bathing, Forest Therapy or Awe Walk . All of these initiatives are aligned with a growing body of international psychological research, collectively designated under the umbrella term Nature Connectedness. Such research is pointing increasingly to the benefits of close psychological and emotional engagement with nature, both to enhance human wellbeing, but also to foster greater care for and greater stewardship of the natural world and living things.   GUEST AND CONTACT DETAILS: Guest: Dr. Dr. Heather Downey E: H.Downey@latrobe.edu.au WEB: https://scholars.latrobe.edu.au/hdowney https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Heather-Downey   Householders’ Options to Protect the Environment (HOPE): T 07 4639 2135 E office@hopeaustralia.org.au W http://www.hopeaustralia.org.au/ F: https://www.facebook.com/Householders.Options.to.Protect.the.Environment/  Production: produced for HOPE by Andrew Nicholson. E: anicholsona@gmail.com This episode recorded in Toowoomba, S.E. Queensland, Australia on 16/11/2021 Artwork: Daniela Dal'Castel       Incidental Music: James Nicholson      

GUEST: Beni McKenzie, social worker in practice in the Gold Coast region of Queensland. Beni is Vice-President of the AASW (South) Qld Branch and a member of the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW) National Advisory Panel for Climate Action. Over a number of  years, Beni has been active in finding ways to embed eco-social work practice principles into his mainstream work and opportunities to spread the word on eco-social approaches to his colleagues and other social workers at local, regional, and national levels.  INTRODUCTION TO THIS EPISODE An upsurge in green or eco-social work theorising can be traced back as far as the mid to late 1990s but its incorporation into mainstream practice in Australia has been a much more recent phenomenon. Academic research and social work training institution interest in eco-social work approaches started to pick up here around the mid-2000s and was given increased impetus by World Social Work Day events in 2017 themed on ‘Promoting Community and Environmental Sustainability’ one of the sustainable development (SD) pillars of the international, Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development initiative, launched in 2012.  Stimulated by the increased interest in eco-social work ideas occurring at that time, a number of branches of the AASW, the peak social work organisation in Australia, started to meet, to share eco-social work ideas and practice and to network this information with colleagues. INTERVIEW TALKING POINTS –approximate time elapsed location in minutes. Guest self-introduction – 2.38 Guest perception of ESW practice in 2021 – 5.05 How can ESW help tackle climate change and other SD challenges? – 7.21 Why should the SW mainstream be involved with physical environmental challenges? – 11.47 Opportunities for ESW practice in the short to medium term future. – 15.20 Meso and macro level ESW advocacy focussed on climate change and public health – 18.56 Guest closing comments - including reflection on the lack of a systems approach to current environmental budgeting in Queensland – 23.25 Close of interview – 30.43 REFERENCES AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE DISCUSSION Associate Professor Jennifer Boddy Griffith University – see various relevant research outputs Beyond Zero Emissions (BZE) “is an internationally recognised think tank that shows through independent research and innovative solutions how Australia can prosper in a zero-emissions economy.” For example, see BZE’s Million Jobs Plan which shows “how in just five years, renewables and low emissions projects can deliver 1.8 million new jobs in the regions and communities where these are needed most.” Professor Lena Dominelli – see various relevant research outputs The Climate and Health Alliance (CAHA) is “a coalition of health care stakeholders who work together to see the threat to human health from climate change and ecological degradation addressed through prompt policy action. The membership of CAHA includes organisations and individuals from across the health sector, with organisations representing health care professionals from medicine, nursing, public health, social work and psychology, as well as health care service providers, research and academic institutions, and health consumers.” A good example of CAHA’s diverse campaigns and projects is its advocacy with the federal government to develop a National Strategy on Climate, Health and Well-being for Australia. Micro, meso and macro practice opportunities within eco-social work. For some suggestions see: Boetto (2017)  AASW CPD training (2020) and Nicholson/CAHA (2020) Author Bruce Pascoe’s book Dark Emu (2014) which ‘puts forward an argument for a reconsideration of the hunter-gatherer tag for pre-colonial Aboriginal Australians. The evidence insists that Aboriginal people right across the continent were using domesticated plants, sowing, harvesting, irrigating, and storing — behaviours inconsistent with the hunter-gatherer tag.’ The book has generated much public debate and some useful critique since its publication. Project Drawdown: ‘The World’s Leading Resource for Climate Solutions’ with a ‘mission to help the world reach “Drawdown”— the point in the future when levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stop climbing and start to steadily decline, thereby stopping catastrophic climate change — as quickly, safely, and equitably as possible.’ The educational resources on the website are well presented, engaging and solution focussed. For example, see the Climate Solutions 101 video series. Queensland state budgetary support announcements for renewable energy and low carbon technologies in 2021. Quiet time spent in nature – there is a growing understanding in Australia and internationally of the health and wellbeing benefits of spending time in the natural world or green spaces. Self-care – especially maintaining adult mental wellbeing in the face of climate and eco-anxiety and eco-grief. The NFP Psychology for a Safe Climate group based in Melbourne have a wealth of relevant resources on their portal site. A growing number of groups and organisations are also exploring the best way to support the health and wellbeing of children in the face of similar stressors – including the Australian Psychological Society and the Emerging Minds group. Systems mapping. Discussion about future social work assessment approaches which incorporate physical environmental factors is also occurring about health sector and hospital based social work roles. For example, it has been suggested that existing patient/client protocols for psychosocial assessment, intervention, education, and discharge planning for vulnerable groups could be modified to include immediate physical environmental threats such as heat waves or mental health vulnerabilities associated with longer term physical environmental impacts. Such impacts are already  occurring in the aftermath of natural disaster events intensified by global heating. Social work skills could also contribute to community climate change adaptation planning strategies to better protect future human health and wellbeing as global heating impacts increase. Transformative opportunities within eco-social work approaches – for some recent discussions in the Australian context see Boetto (2018) and Bell (2019) GUEST AND CONTACT DETAILS: Guest: Beni McKenzie – E: AASW Queensland Branch aaswqld@aasw.asn.au  Householders’ Options to Protect the Environment (HOPE): T 07 4639 2135 E office@hopeaustralia.org.au W http://www.hopeaustralia.org.au/ F https://www.facebook.com/Householders.Options.to.Protect.the.Environment/  PRODUCTION: Produced for HOPE by Andrew Nicholson. E: anicholsona@gmail.com. This episode recorded in Toowoomba, S.E. Queensland, Australia on 27th/July/2021                                    Artwork: Daniela Dal'Castel          Incidental Music: James Nicholson  

Welcome to a new podcast series on eco-social work practice: ‘Eco-Social Work in Australia.’ PURPOSE: A key objective of this podcast project is to help grow a conversation and interest about eco-social work amongst listeners. The researcher and producer of the series, Andrew Nicholson, is a retired social worker and environmental educator. He and his guests want the series to expand over time to provide an audio record of evolutionary trends in eco-social work practice (ESW) adoption in Australia and elsewhere. They hope that this process will add to the knowledge base of ESW and make a contribution to increasing the speed of uptake of such practice amongst mainstream social work colleagues, in their workplaces, in professional groups, and in networking with other allied professionals. Andrew invites feedback from interested listeners. BACKGROUND: Recent climate disruption and pandemic disease impacts on public health and wellbeing in Australia and internationally have provided a stark illustration of the serious and often disproportionate vulnerabilities experienced by communities, including social work clients, produced through physical environmental impacts. On current greenhouse gas emission trends, we know that climate disruption impacts, for instance in the form of intensified weather events, are set to get worse; and that the COVID-19 pandemic is caused by just one of many other novel viruses which could pose considerable risks to human health in the future. Both the growing climate emergency and increased vulnerability to pandemic disease are the results of human caused physical environmental damage and disturbance. In the light of such threats, A recurrent theme in this series is the need for a greatly increased social work focus on the inextricable link between helping achieve client wellbeing and social justice outcomes, and the associated need to protect the wellbeing of the natural world, and to achieve environmental and ecological justice outcomes in that process. Professional association advocacy for a safer climate, and factoring climate disruption impacts into hospital-based, client health assessments, are just two examples of the physical environmental focus within an eco-social work approach. Another is working to help human communities develop more mutually supportive relationships with the other than human communities of the natural world, which underpin and are so crucial to human and other species wellbeing  Over the last fifteen to twenty years, starting from a low base, there is now an accelerating interest in eco-social work ideas and practice in Australia. Notwithstanding this progress, in 2021, eco-social work remains a marginal concern within mainstream professional practice in this country. At a time when all sectors of society need to make a full, fair and proportionate contribution to tackling interconnected physical environment, ecological and social justice challenges, it is important that we find ways to boost, rapidly, the level of mainstream social work adoption of eco-social work practice in this country and elsewhere, to ensure our profession makes that contribution - and this podcast series is one small attempt to help that process. FORMAT: Each podcast interview is loosely structured around four key questions put to guests: For you, what does eco-social work practice mean? How can eco-social work help tackle climate disruption and other ecological sustainability concerns in practical terms? Why should the social work mainstream here be involved with such concerns? What could or should the short to mid-term future (2-10 years) hold for eco-social work interventions as a body of practice within the Australian social work mainstream? DISTRIBUTION: The producer hopes that the series will be promoted across relevant networks as widely as possible. He aims for a minimum of twenty individual episodes and 1000 downloads achieved by mid-2022. The first twelve episodes of Eco-social work in Australia are available now on: PODBEAN  SPOTIFY  GOOGLE   STITCHER   PLAYERFM and APPLE PODCASTS For inquiries or feedback about the series, please contact the producer, Andrew Nicholson, at E: anicholsona@gmail.com or on M: 0413979414 . These details are repeated in the podcast episode text notes. Some individual guest speakers also supply contact details.

GUEST: Dr Susan Bailey - senior lecturer in Social Work at Edith Cowan University, Western Australia.  Sue has lived all her life on Whadjuk Noongar Country. Her curiosity, dangerous as a toddler but transformative as an adult, led her to a PhD in social work that consolidated her belief in the importance of social and ecological justice. For over 25 years Sue has worked in academia, government, non-government, and community sectors where she has developed her skills in working alongside people using participatory approaches.  She has a reputation as a practitioner, educator and researcher who is deeply engaged, inclusive and authentic – she lives the values she espouses. Sue is a collaborative leader in bringing eco-social work to the mainstream of social work understanding in Australia. Her eco-social work practice focuses on addressing the wicked problems of ecosystem degradation, climate change and mass extinctions using a loss and grief framework. Her practice (community work, education, and research) supports individuals, families, organisations, and communities across the world to engage a change process to both mitigate and adapt to a climate changed world. At the heart of this work is a commitment to supporting humans to reconnect with their eco-systems that they rely upon to live.  INTRODUCTION TO THIS EPISODE: My guest on this episode of the series, Dr Susan Bailey, undertook her original PhD research on social work responses to terrorism and the context of violence perpetrated on ‘the other’ and it was through that work that she first came to realise the importance of an ecological perspective in helping to understand global problems and associated social work approaches. Most recently Susan has extended such interest into teaching and researching on eco-social work approaches (ESW) using a grief and loss framing as a core part of her work. Sue believes that we live on an Earth that is changing in ways that will make it challenging for some if not all humans to live well into the future. The recent fires, floods, COVID-19 pandemic, and the changing climate, are all consequences of a Western philosophical positioning that situates humans outside of their eco-systems. A particular recent research interest of Dr Bailey has focussed on the way in which urgently needed, high level responses to global heating and climate change impacts are still too often being denied and resisted. Even as the climate emergency continues to unfold, there remains in some quarters what is known as a socially constructed silence on the subject. Susan and her colleagues believe that climate change denial and resistance can be theorised, in part, as a form of grief response to the damage and loss caused to the natural world by human impacts. In this episode she talks with me about how her work might be applied within future eco-social theorising and practice. INTERVIEW TALKING POINTS – with approximate time elapsed locations. Guest self-introduction – 2.32 Guest’s development of interest in eco-social work – 5.50 For you, what is eco-social work in 2021? -  9.47 Grief and loss framings – some models – 16.01 Applications to social work climate change responses – 20.10 Strategies for social workers to use traditional skill sets – 32.40 Why should mainstream social work be involved with ecological issues? – 35.30 Guest preferred future for ESW practice – 45.15  Constraints acting to slow ESW adoption – 55.45 Guest’s take home message/closing remarks – 59.00 RESOURCES AND REFERENCES MENTIONED IN THE DISCUSSION May be separate or incorporated into talking points listing depending on extent of detail. Dr.Nicholas Gerrish, Grief Therapy and Support Bronfenbrenner’s ecological and bioecological theories Biosphere thickness Gribbin, J., & Gribbin, M. (2008). From Here to Infinity. Crawley: University of Western Australia Press. Climate change and ecological grief – dual process approach Stroebe, M., & Schut, H. (1999). The dual process model of coping with bereavement. Rationale and description. Death Studies, 23(3), 197-224. Prefigurative politics and activism Transition Towns movement – Transition Network The Mushroom at the End 0f the World – book review The Buy Nothing initiative Interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches – e.g., the Environmental Humanities Deep ecology, bioethics and the intrinsic right of nature to exist The Good Grief Network Naomi Godden – role of love in social work practice Godden, N. J. (2017). The Love Ethic: A Radical Theory for Social Work Practice. Australian Social Work, 70(4), 405-416. doi:10.1080/0312407X.2017.1301506 Louise Morely – social work and love of humanity Morley, L., & Ife, J. (2002). Social work and a love of humanity. Australian Social Work, 55(1), 69-77. doi:https://doi.org/10.1046/j.0312-407X.2002.00008.x Ellen Walker – soil microbes – ‘the world beneath our feet’ TEDx talk GUEST AND CONTACT DETAILS: Guest: Dr. Susan Bailey, Senior Lecturer, Social Work Program, School of Arts and Humanities,Edith Cowan University – South West Campus  E: s.bailey@ecu.edu.au  Householders’ Options to Protect the Environment (HOPE): T: 07 4639 2135 E: office@hopeaustralia.org.au W: http://www.hopeaustralia.org.au/ F: https://www.facebook.com/Householders.Options.to.Protect.the.Environment/ Production: Produced for HOPE by Andrew Nicholson. E: anicholsona@gmail.com T: 0413 979 414. This episode recorded in Toowoomba, S.E. Queensland, Australia in April 2021 Artwork: Daniela Dal'Castel    Incidental Music: James Nicholson    

GUEST: Dr Peter Jones - Senior Lecturer in Social Work and Human Services at James Cook University in Townsville. INTRODUCTION TO THIS EPISODE:  Green, environmental, or eco-social work (ESW) – is an exciting, still-evolving body of ideas and practice emerging within the social work mainstream, internationally. Within Australia, over the last ten years or so, a lot of the development of eco-social work theory, and examples of practice has emerged from within the social work training institutions in Australia. For instance, social work training courses at Charles Sturt, James Cook and Edith Cowan, and some other training institutions, have incorporated eco-social work ideas, skills and methods into the education offered to their students. A number of the guests on this podcast series are academics, researchers and social work trainers who work in those institutions. This episode of the eco-social work series focusses on the work and ideas of one of the pioneers of eco-social work theory development and application to student social work training in Australia, Dr. Peter Jones is a senior lecturer in social work and human services at James Cook University, based in Townsville, Queensland. Peter has over 25 years’ experience in the fields of social work education, where he maintains a particular focus on the application of transformative learning theory. His interests also include eco-social work practice, sustainable community development, international social work, and international student exchange. He has published scholarly work in all of those areas. INTERVIEW TALKING POINTS - approximate location in minutes elapsed. Guest self-introduction - 2.25 What is ESW practice all about in 2021? -7.40 SW student perceptions of the human-nature relationship and examples of student involvement with ESW in training - 12.44 Guest experience as a social work advocate on National climate change and health policy - 19.35 Why should mainstream social be concerned with environmental issues? - 25.41 Looking to the future of ESW – mid-term over next `10 years  - 34.70 Over the shorter-term - the next 2-3 years - 40.52 Guest summing up and take-home messages - 51.16. Closing comments - 53.18  RESOURCES OR REFERENCES MENTIONED IN THE DISCUSSION Social Workers for Climate Action , James Cook University Ecological footprint calculator School Strike 4 Climate initiative Dr Heather Boetto paper - A Transformative Eco-Social Model: Challenging Modernist Assumptions in Social Work (2017) GUEST AND CONTACT DETAILS: Guest: Dr Peter Jones E: peter.jones1@jcu.edu.au  W: https://research.jcu.edu.au/portfolio/peter.jones1/ Householders’ Options to Protect the Environment (HOPE): T 07 4639 2135 E office@hopeaustralia.org.au W http://www.hopeaustralia.org.au/ F https://www.facebook.com/Householders.Options.to.Protect.the.Environment/ Production: Produced for HOPE by Andrew Nicholson. E: anicholsona@gmail.com      T: 0413979414. This episode recorded in Toowoomba, S.E. Queensland, Australia in April 2021. Artwork: Daniela Dal'Castel    Incidental Music: James Nicholson