The Unsafe Social Worker

"We hold human lives in our hands."

In this episode of The Unsafe Social Worker, I speak with "Amy," a Nova Scotia registered nurse whose identity is protected because she fears repercussions from her employer.

Drawing on a nursing career that began in 2000, Amy shares her perspective on why experienced nurses leave bedside care, how mentorship is lost, and what happens when colleagues have to beg each other for help. She describes workplace violence, a safety-reporting call returned 48 hours later, and the emotional weight that follows nurses home.

"Instead of being a mom, I was a decompressing nurse."

We discuss the gap between safety policies and meaningful protection—and why supporting nurses means more than handing them a phone number when they're already struggling.

"You do your call, you drop your patient off, you go to the next call."

But what happens to everything you carry between those calls?

In this episode of The Unsafe Social Worker, I sit down with Adam Smith, who spent 17 years as a paramedic, to talk about the work he loved and the toll that helped him recognize it was time to leave.

With humour and honesty, Adam shares calls that stayed with him, the exhaustion that followed him home, and a workplace culture where opening up wasn't always accepted. He also recalls colleagues responding to a friend's suicide, only to be asked: "Hey guys, can you come back to work tomorrow?"

We discuss meaningful support, the limits of resilience, and why caring for patients must include caring for the people who show up to help them.

"By the second year in, I knew that I needed to find an out."

In this episode of The Unsafe Social Worker, I sit down with Bree, a social worker with 18 years of experience who spent five years in child welfare before moving into private practice.

Bree reflects on overwhelming caseloads, barriers to getting families the services they needed, and the pressure to keep working when her own capacity was stretched. She shares how the job followed her home through irritability, disrupted sleep, and an ongoing need to unload.

"You are trained to do assessments, to do risk assessments."

But who assesses the impact on the worker?

We discuss threats during home visits, the normalization of trauma, and what meaningful support could look like—from checking workers' capacity to providing accessible, ongoing therapy.

"I felt very alone."

In this episode of The Unsafe Social Worker, I sit down with Jeff Williams, a former military police officer whose 24-year career included major investigations and service in Afghanistan.

Jeff shares the cumulative toll of investigating disturbing crimes, the pressure to hide his struggles, and the breaking point that led him to seek help. We discuss the impact on his family, his disappointment with justice-system outcomes, and the difference between support being available and feeling safe enough to use it.

"Just knowing that you can look each other in the eye and knowing that they understand means the world."

Now building a new chapter through fitness and gym ownership, Jeff reflects on finding purpose after service—and why regular, genuine check-ins can matter long before someone reaches their limit.

"These are the stories we absolutely need to talk about."

In this opening episode of The Unsafe Social Worker, I share the experiences that brought me to this microphone: nearly two decades in child protection, workplace violence treated as routine, and a mandatory report that left me fearing for my own family.

I recount the events of December 23, 2019, my attempts to get help from police and management, and the confrontation that followed when two of the men appeared in my hometown. Soon, the focus shifted to my behaviour.

"Speaking up sometimes makes things worse, and I now understand that."

This is a difficult story to tell. But it raises a question that reaches beyond social work: what happens to helping professionals when the people responsible for their safety fail to respond?

What happens when the systems meant to keep you safe leave you facing workplace violence alone?

In this episode of The Unsafe Social Worker, I question what protection really looks like when a safety concern takes 14 days to receive a response and an investigation stretches to a year, all while workers and their families bear the cost.

From closed-door conversations between managers and police to reporting procedures changed by email without training, I examine the gaps between promised safety and meaningful action. I also discuss a statement that went undocumented and whether the Labour Board and Complaints Commission offer real accountability.

When the focus shifts from the violence itself to your response to it, who is protecting you?

"Do I need a lawyer?" That was the question he asked while describing what he did to me.

In this episode of The Unsafe Social Worker, I examine what happens when documented concerns involving violence, addictions, and harm to women and children are left out of the conversation and the focus becomes my response.

He acknowledged taking photographs without my consent. "She looked pretty worried." Yet his explanation was: "I've got every right in the world to do what I want."

I question whether police cautions were ever delivered, what was lost when the opening minutes of an audio recording were missing, and why safeguards appeared to apply selectively.

When known risks are excluded and concerning behaviour is minimized, whose version becomes the full story?

"You'll regret it." "You'll be sorry." "You should worry."

On the second day of court, I ask how threats, unwanted photographs, being blocked in a room, and damage to a social worker's car can be minimized while the worker's response takes centre stage.

In this episode of The Unsafe Social Worker, I describe being assessed as a social worker without being permitted to explain the risks from that perspective. I question whose privacy is protected, whose information is exposed, and why safeguards appear to apply to some people but not others.

From difficulties serving a subpoena to the absence of a workplace investigation, I examine what happens when the workplace context is stripped away and a worker is left facing the consequences alone.

Do you hear justice?

"What's supposed to be the threat?"

In this episode of The Unsafe Social Worker, closing submissions and the judge's decision raise difficult questions about how fear, intimidation, and workplace safety are understood in court.

I revisit testimony about unwanted photographs, comments about my sleep, and warnings that I would "pay" alongside repeated calls to police and a lack of employer support. Despite acknowledging my discomfort and fear, the judge concluded: "I find the picture taking not a threat."

I question how conflicting accounts were weighed, what context was missing when I couldn't speak to the client file, and why a meeting described as "normal" looked so different in other testimony.

When your fear is acknowledged but the behaviour behind it is dismissed, where does that leave you and other helping professionals?

"Would you do to him what was done to me?"

In this episode of The Unsafe Social Worker, I reflect on the witness, the double standards I experienced, and being terminated two days before my appeal.

We tell people to speak up, document their concerns, and ask for help. But what happens when their words are recorded inaccurately or not at all? What happens when child welfare reports create danger for the worker, and the systems they were taught to trust become part of that danger?

I question the response of the Nova Scotia College of Social Workers and what it means for helping professionals when reporting fear leads to scrutiny rather than support.

"Do you feel safe reporting?"

That question matters when speaking up means having your credibility and even your sanity called into question.