griffin teaches full-time in the Social Service Worker program at George Brown College (GBC), and works part-time in GBC's Teaching and Learning Exchange, supporting other educators in community-oriented pedagogical practice with an emphasis on online teaching. They have a background in radical mental health and harm reduction grounded in their own living experience of Madness and in solidarity with people organizing against criminalization and for liberatory harm reduction. They work as best they can for disability justice and a free Palestine. They are especially interested in interdependence and collective care, and aspire to teach from an anti-capitalist, anti-colonial, anti-racist, abolitionist lens, to the degree this is possible within (and outside) institutions. griffin holds an MA and PhD from the OISE/ University of Toronto. They are always happy to support other exploring similar issues - get in touch at griffin.epstein@gmail.com
SPW was a community-driven research and advocacy project supporting the disruptive and transformative practices of people doing care work within their own communities undertaken in partnership with Working for Change and the Toronto Drop-In Network, and guided by a brilliant committee of community experts, including Michael Nurse, Maria Scotton, Suwaida Farah, Andre Hermanstyne, Lindsay Jennings and Madelyn Gold with support from Dawnmarie Harriott and Julia Walter. Project website.
EPSW was a community-engaged research project steered 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, against oppressive social work structures. 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.
For more information, or access to paywalled publications, get in touch.