On Trampled Ground: Unsettling Critical Social Work in Un/Sanctioned Safe Consumption Sites

Authors

  • Amanda Warner York University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.48336/IJDAFC5705

Keywords:

critical social work, harm reduction, safe consumption site, grassroots, professionalization

Abstract

In her work, Rossiter (2011) considered the violence inherent in representation and called for a critical social work that is committed to an unsettled practice. In following Rossiter’s call to action , this article works to unsettle the trampled ground on which I walk to draw out the unsettled nature that is critical social work within the slippery and often unknowable parameters of grassroots and professional social work spaces. In utilizing my own experience in the unsanctioned Moss Park Overdose Prevention Site and the sanctioned Toronto Safe Consumption Site, I ask, What is critical social work? How is it tied to resistance and subversion? What happens when radical roots are co-opted by the state? In three sections, Grassroots, Professional, and Positionality, I assert that social work must always be unsettled in order to resist oppressive practices within. Using harm reduction and safe consumption services to discuss an unsettled practice, I conclude that social work must always be unsettled and continuously work to decentre itself

Author Biography

Amanda Warner, York University

Amanda, a harm-reduction and shelter worker, is a York University Master of Social Work student who previously completed a Master of Arts in Women and Gender Studies at the University of Toronto. At both institutions, Amanda has had opportunity to add to harm-reduction and community-work scholarship and discussions. Her academic and community work is informed by her passion for knowledge sharing and for radical care. Amanda owes her knowledge and skills to the many fearless community members and workers who have taught her and who fight tirelessly every single day to keep each other safe.

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Published

2021-03-24

Issue

Section

Voices from the Trenches