griffin teaches full-time in the social service worker program at George Brown College, and occasionally develops and delivers workshops on radical mental health, disability justice, and other topics. They have a background in front-line community mental health and harm reduction and radical grassroots organizing. They are especially interested in interdependence and collective care, and aspire to teach from an anti-capitalist, anti-colonial, anti-racist, abolitionist lens. griffin holds an MA and PhD from the OISE/ University of Toronto.
SPW is a community-driven research project that seeks to intervene on the problematic ways that social service agencies exploit lived/living expertise and invest in the transformative strategies emerging from people in so-called "peer worker" positions. It is undertaken in partnership with Working for Change and the Toronto Drop-In Network, and guided by a brilliant committee of community experts. Project website.
EPSW was a community-engaged research project undertaken by Amita Agrawal, Sarah Alvo, Deshawna Dookie, griffin epstein, Kate Klein and Lo Goldsmith designed to support educators in integrating meaningful curriculum on the importance of social service work grounded in and emerging from lived/living experience. The resulting toolkit/online resource is available at https://www.griffinepstein.com/epsw.
Creating Change is a strategic planning document that synthesizes qualitative research undertaken at the Parkdale Activity-Recreation Centre co-written by Tyde Irma Cambridge, Peter G. Martin, Bernice Sampson, John Hovannisyan, Omid Zareian, Bernadette Timson and Hume Cronyn. Guided by a group of community stakeholders, this research investigated the relationship between gentrification, colonial violence, white supremacy and social work.
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