Eden Schwartz (HBSW’22) Stands Up for the Vulnerable

“The social safety net isn’t giving people the support they need,” Eden Schwartz says, “and with the housing crisis and inflation, things are becoming even worse.” 

Eden, who grew up in Toronto, is currently a community outreach worker at the Orillia Public Library.

“The position appealed to me because it was brand new and I could shape it according to the community’s needs,” she says. “I also wanted to get out of Toronto because I love hiking and biking and being out in nature.”

Social workers have become more common in libraries as people increasingly turn to them for information about housing, food insecurity, and substance use. People are also relying on libraries in greater numbers for shelter and washroom facilities.

Eden’s path to social work may seem a bit unorthodox. Before going to Lakehead, she earned a BA in Environment and Development from McGill University.

“Climate change is one of the biggest problems of my generation, which is why I chose McGill’s program. It was while there that I learned about eco-psychology, which looks at the intersection of mental health and the environment.”

Eco-psychologists support individuals who’ve been devastated by catastrophic events—like losing homes to earthquakes—as well as people suffering from chronic climate change anxiety and sadness about the disappearance of parts of our natural world.

While at McGill, Eden also volunteered with their student nightline.

“It played a part in my decision to study social work,” Eden says, “but I’d always been curious about it—not just one-on-one therapy, but also macro-social work aimed at helping communities. This encompasses activities such as taking part in environmental protests or women’s marches. It’s about ‘social’ work.”

After completing her social work courses at Lakehead, Eden did a placement with the Salvation Army in Toronto as part of her degree requirements. She joined the charity’s emergency disaster services department where she researched ways to provide better psychological first aid to people in the aftermath of disasters. 

“Debriefing someone after a trauma is complex. If it’s not done well, it can cause more harm than good,” Eden says.

She spent the last part of her placement at a Salvation Army women’s shelter. Then, after graduation, she became a community services crisis worker at Toronto’s WoodGreen Community Services before joining the Orillia Public Library in October 2022.

“I do a mix of programming and one-on-one direct services to help individuals access community services, such as mental health and housing services. I also train staff to respond to issues that come up when people visit the library.” 

Eden is especially proud of a recent $20,000 grant she and a co-worker secured from the Shoppers Foundation for Women’s Health to combat period poverty. The funding is allowing the library to stock their bathrooms with pads and tampons provided free of charge and to assemble kits containing pads, tampons, and health information that are available at the library and other Orillia locations.

Although Eden is a skilled social worker, she thinks it’s a mistake to look solely to her fellow professionals and government agencies to solve societal challenges.

“It’s even more important to seek out the opinions of people who’ve had lived experiences with things like opioid use and housing insecurity, but often they’re ignored instead of listened to,” Eden says.

“I’d like to see that change.”