History:

Our history begins in spring 2022 when a small group of dedicated and passionate self employed private support workers began talking about the isolation many were experiencing and the need for support and networking. Although the group represented working in developmental services and supporting children youth and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), as developmental services professionals (DSP) and developmental services workers (DSW), we also recognized that there is a similar need for others with related credentials (CYC, EA, ECE etc) or personal support workers (PSW) working in the areas of older adults or health services and did not want to exclude them from our work. We created the title “Independent Support Worker” as an inclusive term for these workers to represent that we are independent from formal agency employee work and acting as a self employed practitioner or small business owner in some cases. We also realize that in many cases people are working for an agency as an employee and supplementing their wages through some part time or casual self employment as an Independent Support Worker while others are working full time as an ISW. Regardless of how often a person works as an ISW, they are welcome in this space if they want to learn, connect and collaborate as often as they want or are able to.

Thorough our discussions we highlighted the challenges of the various elements of being an ISW including finding work, marketing yourself, understanding the difference between paid companionship and person directed intentional support for community inclusion and skill building, and understanding tax implications and liability insurance. We also highlighted that many ISW’s may not know the differences of being a “contract worker” vs an “employee” in our work (ie: not getting a record of employment or vacation/statutory holiday pay etc.). For more information on this visit our resources page.

In summer of 2022, we held a strategic planning meeting where we created mission, vision and values and created the “Independent Support Worker Network of Ontario”. The main goals were to provide a monthly community of practice meeting, occasional webinars, training and an annual one day professional development and networking conference that would help connect people working privately, support each other where we had questions and build a repository of resources and best practices that could guide out work. We further hope to connect families and self advocates to potential ISWs once a year at an annual family-ISW networking event. We continue to build our website, adding more content and resources and we also created a facebook group called “The Independent Support Worker Network” for more opportunities to connect https://www.facebook.com/groups/895784158233032.

We worked on developing our goals and launch event through the fall and held our official launch on February 16, 2023. You can find the recording and power point slides on our Events/past events page. We were delighted to have James Janeiro, Director of Policy and Government Relations from the Canadian Centre for Caregiving Excellence (https://canadiancaregiving.org/ ) and Tanya Yakley, Respite Now Coordinator (https://www.respite-now.com/) as our guests. We have been holding monthly meetings every third Thursday of each month since then from 6:30-8 pm. To register email iswn.ontario@gmail.com. Each meeting we aim to highlight an ISW and their work, or a resource that will be helpful to ISW’s in their work.

We look forward to helping build capacity among ISW’s in Ontario and in our communities through our work and increasing the quality of supports and services for people with disabilities and their families and caregivers.

Who we are: Your Leadership Team

Fenna Green, Developmental Services Worker (DSW) and B.A Psychology. Owner of Daily Development and grant recipient of the Starter Plus program 2021: https://investptbo.ca/winter-2021-starter-company-winners/ . Specializing in individualized support services for people with developmental disabilities and their families. Email: fennarenee@gmail.com

Ann Hines, Social Worker M.S.W., B.S.W., S.S.W., R.S.W., B.A Psychology/Sociology, P.S.W.). Owner of Ann Hines Training and Consulting. Specializing in person directed planning and independent facilitation, as well as research and evaluation. www.linkedin.com/in/ann-hines-RSW. Email: ahinesconsulting@gmail.com

See more under the profiles page!

Are you interested in joining our leadership team? Email us to inquire about available opportunities.