In this episode of our special series celebrating 100 years of the Canadian Association of Social Workers, host Gemima Cadet sits down with Simone Donaldson, MSW, RSW. Simone is a Toronto-based social worker and the owner and principal consultant at Agape Lens Consulting and Therapy.

For more than 15 years, Simone has supported the mental health of racialized communities, with a focus on Black individuals, couples, and families. She also provides clinical supervision to new and seasoned clinicians and is a contributing author to Africentric Social Work.

Simone shares how a high school career test and a visit to a community health centre set her on her path, and how a course with Dr. Wanda Bernard at Dalhousie changed her whole approach. She explains what Afrocentric practice looks like in the therapy room and why she puts love at the centre of clinical work. She also talks about why community is healing, and how the youngest person in a family can sometimes be the one who breaks the cycle of intergenerational trauma.

She closes with a reminder for every practitioner: your wellness matters, and nobody needs saving.