The Concept of Community Support Work
What Is Community Support Work?
Community support workers are educated to support people who need help. This may involve seeking support through community organizations. CSWs help clients to apply their full potential to enhance their lives through independence, community access, and inclusion. They also help the families of their clients. CSWs support their clients according to their needs, abilities, and interests while operating from a person-centred plan.
Who Do Community Support Workers Help?
Community support workers are engaged with many different types and communities of people. CSWs can help anyone who needs assistance with meeting their needs and managing their daily life and well-being. CSWs often work with the following groups:
• People living with a disability, whether that is mental, emotional, or physical
• Older adults
• Newcomers, immigrants, and refugees
• First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people
• Marginalized members of the community who experience systemic barriers
• People living in poverty, the unhoused population, people living with an addiction, and people who struggle with mental health
• All ages and genders
Where Do Community Support Workers Work?
Community support workers work in places such as nonprofit organizations, group homes, assisted-living homes, individual homes, and private organizations. According to Merriam-Webster (n.d.), a group home is “a residence for persons (as developmentally disabled individuals or foster children) requiring care, assistance, or supervision” (definition 1). Group homes can themselves be privately owned or government owned, and some may be run by a nonprofit organization.
CSWs often work for nonprofit agencies which have a specific funding and regulatory structure, as per government regulations. Nonprofit organizations, according to Canada Revenue Agency (2016), are “associations, clubs, or societies that are not charities and are organized and operated exclusively for social welfare, civic improvement, pleasure, recreation, or any other purpose except profit” (para. 2). At these organization, the CSW might work as a residential worker, support worker, intake worker, project creator, assist with funding and grant applications, lead programs, conduct research, lead outings, coach and mentor clients, and more.
Community support workers often work within nonprofit organizations to aid people who are unhoused. As Canadian Observatory on Homelessness (2021) explained
Addressing the many and varied needs of anyone who is at risk of or experiencing housing instability or homelessness requires delivering a continuum of supports and services in the community. A complete continuum of supports would include
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- Needs identification and connection, such as outreach and community planning
- Supportive and preventative services, such as rent banks, food banks, and counselling
- Emergency housing, such as shelters and hostels
- Transitional housing, such as halfway homes for ex-offenders
- Long-term supportive housing, such as residences for those with mental health issues
- Community awareness through research dissemination and presentations
- Affordable housing, such as rent-geared-to-income housing (para. 3)
The expansion of mental health programs and training has led to an increase in human-services professionals who offer crucial support. These resources are vital not just for clients, but also for community support workers who will benefit from more agencies and resources to best assist the clients they serve.
A Brief History of Community Support Work
Community support work has evolved over the years, with an increased emphasis on diversity and inclusion. The nonprofit helping industry emerged from ideas of the welfare state influenced by British socialism on Canadian law and government from 1900 to 1930 (Stenberg College, 2015). During this period, religious organizations supported marginalized people in Canada. However, people with disabilities received insufficient care when they were sent to asylums. This became even more challenging after World War I, as the Canadian government struggled to handle the influx of soldiers returning with post-traumatic stress and physical disabilities. In 1925, the Royal Canadian Legion and the Canadian Association of Social Workers were formed to meet the social challenges and address economic needs.
Stenberg College (2015) reported that Leonard Marsh, a social scientist, wrote a report on Canada’s social security in 1943. He showed that Canada’s social welfare programs were inferior to those of other countries. As a result, he recommended the implementation of new supportive measures, such as changing the way that Canada handled extreme poverty. This initiative led to the establishment of a mental-health strategy that enabled patients to move from hospitals to community-based services in the 1960s.
Social workers began to play an ever more important role. The number of beds in Canadian psychiatric hospitals dropped between 1960 and 1975 from 50,000 to 15,000 because the focus was to integrate people with mental disabilities into the community. The use of prescribed medications benefited many people who were coping with mental health issues in their daily lives. Over time, community development and poverty reduction shifted from being managed by volunteers and churches to being managed by nonprofit agencies funded by the government. These expanded services and created a more structured delivery of aid.
The concept of the welfare state is Eurocentric, and has been challenged to include the views and needs of an increasingly diverse population as well as Indigenous people. Current community development and community support worker practices are shifting to incorporate decolonization and Indigenization methodologies and pedagogies. Bassidj and Hasan (2022) stated, “if we want to challenge social injustice and contribute to systemic change, we need to understand and integrate concepts of decolonization and Indigenization in community practice in an intentional and ongoing way.” These two approaches to community support work will be more developed and reflected upon throughout the book, and are important to keep in mind when thinking of the role of a CSW.
CSWs will work with very diverse populations and be confronted with many social issues, systemic barriers, and policies and procedures that are rooted in colonial processes. Working with vulnerable populations, issues of poverty, lack of access to resources, discrimination, and experiences of exclusion requires an understanding of the history of these systems, the policies that guide them, and the role a CSW can hold as an advocate for clients. This necessitates the development of a unique skill set to work in an empowering way in the field.
References
Bassidj, S., & Hasan, M. (2022). Decolonizing community development practice. In M. Hasan (Ed.), Community development practice: From Canadian and global perspectives. Centennial College. https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/communitydevelopmentpractice
Canada Revenue Agency. (2016, June 3). What is the difference between a registered charity and a non-profit organization? Government of Canada. https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/charities-giving/about-registered-charities/what-difference-between-a-registered-charity-a-non-profit-organization.html
Canadian Observatory on Homelessness. (2021). Access to supports & services. The Homeless Hub. https://www.homelesshub.ca/about-homelessness/service-provision/access-supports-services#
Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Group home. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/group%20home
Stenberg College. (2015). A history of community support work in Canada. Stenberg College. https://stenbergcollege.com/blog/history-of- community-support-work-in-Canada/
Image Credit
Figure 3: Lynn Lush, Indigenous Knowledge Keeper at NorQuest College by Lynn Lush. Used with permission.
