On March 1, 2019, the College launched its first-ever public awareness campaign, “What’s in a name?” The campaign promotes awareness of the College and the Online Register of social workers and social service workers in Ontario. It also reinforces the College’s ongoing mandate to protect the public interest through the campaign’s full tagline, “What’s in a name? Protection for you.”
Since the launch, web traffic to the Online Register has continued to climb, surpassing record heights on a monthly basis. In September 2019, the Online Register recorded more than 10,000 unique pageviews, doubling the traffic of September 2018. Furthermore, six out of 10 visitors to the Online Register landing page took the time to enter the information necessary to use the submission form.
Many members of the public did not know that the titles “social worker,” “registered social worker,” “social service worker,” or “registered social service worker” are protected titles in Ontario — until now. The campaign is motivating the public to check the Register to confirm that the practitioner that they are dealing with — someone that they understand to be a social worker or social service worker — is in fact a registered member of the College.
What does this mean to you?
Increased traffic means increased knowledge and awareness. You may notice that more members of the public are asking about the credentials of your employees. You may notice that the public is expressing more interest in working only with registered members of the College. You may also notice that, because the Online Register includes discipline decisions, the public expresses more interest in the professional history of employees.
The public awareness campaign is one of the ways that the College continues to fulfill its public protection and public interest mandate, by providing transparency to the public on an ongoing basis. We welcome your questions, comments and feedback on the public awareness campaign via email through communications@ocswssw.org, as we continue to strive for open and ongoing dialogue with employer stakeholders across the province.