Climate-displacement, indigenous wellbeing, and mental health in the Pacific

Date:

10 June 2026 - 10 June 2026

Time:

10.00am - 11:00am

This webinar explores how climate change is affecting Indigenous Fijians’ ancestral lands and the profound psychological and cultural impacts this creates. It highlights how disruptions to land, sea, and sacred sites generate distress such as eco‑grief, eco‑stress, solastalgia, and what the researchers term pre‑traumatic stress — the anxiety experienced before potential relocation occurs. These impacts undermine identity, belonging, and intergenerational continuity within affected communities. The session also emphasises the critical but currently overlooked role of social workers in Fiji’s climate response, calling for culturally grounded psychosocial support to be integrated into adaptation, recovery, and relocation planning.

Setting up private practice

Date:

11 June 2026 - 11 June 2026

Time:

12.00pm - 1:00pm

Build with purpose. Launch with clarity. Safeguard your wellbeing. Join Kandas Gee as she unlocks the foundations of a thriving private practice in this dynamic webinar.

Living with Huntington’s Disease in New Zealand and social work support

Date:

21 July 2026 - 21 July 2026

Time:

12.00pm - 1:00pm

This webinar offers an accessible overview of Huntington’s Disease, its progression, and how it is situated within Aotearoa’s health system. Participants will learn about key support networks, what effective care looks like across the HD journey, and considerations for residential care.

Social work in 2026: Sustaining ourselves in complex practice

Date:

28 July 2026 - 28 July 2026

Time:

9.00am - 4.00pm

A restorative, practice‑focused day designed for social workers seeking strength and renewed purpose in a challenging climate. Join experienced practitioners for hands‑on tools, reflective activities, and embodied practices that build resilience, hope, and sustainable energy for your ongoing mahi. This is an in-person event and will not be recorded.

Effective transition from school to post-school pathways for young people with intellectual disabilities

Participation Criteria: • Be a social services professional who works with young people with intellectual disabilities in transition from school to post-school pathways. • Have supported the transition process from school to post-school pathways for at least 1 service user.

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) – what works, what doesn’t

Participation Criteria: I will conduct a semi-structured interview. I am seeking participants that are: • A registered social worker • Have experience in working with clients with FASD

Social workers’ perspectives of their organisation’s referral process and how this impacts on whānau Māori engagement.

Participation Criteria: • A qualified and currently practising social worker. • Have experience with organisational referral processes. • Have experience engaging with whānau, including whānau Māori • Be willing to participate in a semi-structured interview (kanohi ki te kanohi or via Zoom). • Social workers from both urban and rural setting may participate.

Budget 2026: Balancing books, burdening families

The Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers (ANZASW) is deeply concerned that Budget 2026 prioritises short‑term fiscal savings over the prevention and wellbeing investments that keep whānau safe and well. At a time when many families are juggling rent, kai and power bills, these choices will be felt most by those already under pressure and by the social workers who stand with them.