The Social Aspects of Rapid Economic Growth will be the subject of a presentation to be given at city hall this Thursday by Dr. Glen Schmidt, an associate professor at the University of Northern British Columbia.
Everyone is invited to the free event by the city’s Social Planning Council and the city from 6 to 8 p.m. March 15.
Schmidt’s main research focus is in the area that might be described as northern and remote social work practice.
He has examined issues related to recruitment and retention of social workers, social work supervision, and service delivery structures in remote locations, and personal suitability for northern practice.
He is also interested in educational outcomes in remote practice locations as well as delivery of mental health and child welfare services. Recently he has been examining agency and organization capacity building in northern B.C. and drug use among northern youth. While serving in several roles at UNBC Schmidt continues to be involved in direct social work practice on a part-time basis working primarily in the areas of mental health and employee assistance.
Born and raised in Winnipeg he received a bachelor of arts and bachelor of social work at the University of Manitoba. Among his other credentials he worked 12 years for the Manitoba government based in the mining community of Thompson, where he practiced social work in Thompson and many remote and isolated communities in the north.
He later taught for the University of Manitoba Social Work Access Program in Thompson and In 1994 joined the UNBC staff as an associate professor serving in various roles.
He continues to be involved in direct practice on a part-time basis.
In 2003 he received a PhD in Social Work from Memorial University.
For information contact Anne Burrill at aburrill@williamslake.ca or call 250-392-8480, or Jessica Knodel at spc-coordinator@xplornet.com.
