CALL FOR PAPERS

"The Transforming Power of Spirituality:
Breaking Barriers and Creating Common Ground"
The First North American Conference on Spirituality and Social Work

A joint conference of the

Canadian Society for Spirituality and Social Work

and the

Society for Spirituality and Social Work (USA)

May 25-27, 2006

Renison College

University of Waterloo

Waterloo, Ontario

This conference will bring together academics, practitioners, and educators to discuss the important role spirituality plays in social work practice and education. This joint conference provides an exciting opportunity for an exchange of scholarship and knowledge between American and Canadian scholars, practitioners and students (from various disciplines) to stimulate dialogue on research, professional education and social work practice.  Just as the conference theme reflects an effort to remove barriers and create common ground for the international exchange across borders, proposals for papers and experiential workshops are invited that demonstrate the essential role that spirituality can play in transforming practice and educational processes.

Abstract submissions (200 words) for either an experiential workshop or an academic paper, are invited by December 22, 2005.  The abstract page should include only the title of the presentation, type (paper or workshop), and the 200 word abstract.  On a separate cover sheet, provide name(s) of presenter(s), contact information, and a 50-word biography for each presenter. Please submit proposals for either a workshop or academic paper to jcoates@stu.ca or Ann.Nichols@asu.edu.  All submissions will be subjected to a double-blind peer review and notifications will be sent out as soon as possible and no later than March 1, 2006.  Selected academic papers from the conference will be forwarded, with author’s agreement, for double-blind peer review consideration for inclusion in a special issue of Spirituality and Social Work Forum, and/or for inclusion in conference proceedings.

Experiential workshops and papers can be on diverse topics related to the conference theme.  Workshops are expected to engage participants in an activity and will demonstrate how spirituality is addressed in social work research, practice or education, and in efforts to promote personal and social transformation.  The presentations should discuss research and practice issues concerning spirituality and its relationship to inclusion and transformation.

The conference registration form and additional information is available on the website -http://people.stu.ca/~jcoates/cnssw/  or by contacting John Coates (jcoates@stu.ca)

or Ann Nichols (ann.nichols@asu.edu)

Note:    Workshops and presentations may be in either English or French.