Dr. Elizabeth Patrick
The path from social work to the law and back to social work was a journey that was enriched by working with children and families exposed to the legal system in Ontario. As an advocate for children in court or for adult mental health patients, Elizabeth displayed empathy and utilized her skills as a lawyer, therapist and community advocate when needed. Her therapeutic background includes Cognitive Behaviour therapy, Narrative therapy, and Solution-Focused therapy. Elizabeth uses a Feminist model in her approach to critical thought. Elizabeth’s skills include crisis intervention and conflict resolution, mediation, case management, trauma informed care, program development and management, stakeholder engagement and collaboration, and objective problem solving.
In the field of Child Welfare, Elizabeth worked at four Children’s Aid Societies in roles such as emergency child protection, Family Service worker, Children Services Supervisor and in-house legal counsel.
The experience of working in Child Welfare in the various roles of front line work, in-house legal counsel, and management allowed Elizabeth to facilitate new worker and authorized worker training throughout Ontario. She has also taught crisis intervention, and college and university courses in law, and social work.
Elizabeth’s interest in the life course provided her with the impetus for her doctoral thesis which included three papers regarding women who had retired from teaching or nursing, and the impact of their retirement. In this regard Elizabeth has presented at the Canadian Association on Gerontology [2022] and was chosen to present orally and by poster at the November 2025 conference entitled Radical Relationality and Aging. Elizabeth will be presenting two of her three papers that are being submitted for publication.
As a member of the Canadian Association of Social Workers, Elizabeth brought her expertise to the role of co-chair of the Women’s Caucus. The women’s caucus has been exploring feminism in education.