AN EXPLORATION OF SOCIAL SUPPORT CONSIDERATIONS FOR SUBSTANCE USE AFFECTED ONTARIO WORKS RECIPIENTS: STARTING TO DEFINE THE BACKDROP AN EXPLORATION OF SOCIAL SUPPORT CONSIDERATIONS FOR SUBSTANCE USE AFFECTED ONTARIO WORKS RECIPIENTS : STARTING TO DEFINE

iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My sincere thanks to my thesis advisor Ann for her patience, encouragement and her thoughtful approach to supporting greater voice for populations not often heard from. Also, special thanks to the six participants involved in this study who provided honest reflections on social support considerations and uniformly shared their experiences with a view to advance understanding of this topic, hopefully for the benefit of others. Thank you also to the management of Ontario Works, Hamilton Ontario who assisted in facilitating the study and were consistently supportive of research that may assist service delivery to the population they serve. Finally, and with the understanding that I may never be able to fully recognize her support, my wife Jill, who has consistently demonstrated enormous patience and encouragement through my academic process, particularly as it relates to the time involved in this research