Elevating Public Sector Communications with Cision: Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers

About the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers 

The Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers (the College) is a regulatory body responsible for protecting the public interest by setting professional standards and regulating more than 34,000 social workers and social service workers across the province of Ontario in Canada. The College sets entry to practice requirements for social workers and social service workers, overseeing their registration and renewal, sets standards of practice and ethics, and manages complaints and discipline processes to ensure accountability and public trust in the professions.

We spoke with Haley Shanoff, Communications Advisor at the College, about how their communications team uses Cision to support media monitoring, social listening, and the distribution of official notices in a regulatory environment.

Cision Supports Public Sector Media Monitoring and Communications Strategies

For the communications team at the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers, the work is rooted in preparedness. Supporting the  large community of people who seek the services of social workers and social service workers across the province means staying ahead of emerging issues and maintaining confidence in a regulated profession.

Discussions around regulation, professional conduct, ethics, and public trust can surface at any time across both traditional media and online platforms. To keep pace, the team needs clear visibility into how the sector is being discussed and a simple way to share insights internally, without relying on manual, time-consuming monitoring.

Before joining the College, Haley was used to piecing things together from disparate sources. Staying informed meant relying on Google Alerts, manual searches, and whatever surfaced organically online. It was a time-consuming process, and one that made it easy to miss key details and important context.

At the College, the experience is very different. As a long-time Cision client, the organization already trusted Cision to support their PR and communications needs. For Haley, that meant stepping into a role where media monitoring, insight, and reporting were already built into the workflow, making it easier to stay informed, move faster, and focus on the news and mentions that matter most.

“In a previous role, we didn’t have any media monitoring software. It was Google Alerts and random internet searching. That’s not an efficient use of my time,” Shanoff said. 

Finding Cision’s All-in-One PR and Comms Platform

The College chose Cision as an all-in-one PR and communications provider, bringing together media monitoring, social listening, AI-powered insights, and press release distribution through a single, long-term partnership.

Using Cision enables the communications team to work from a centralized view of the media landscape, rather than relying on disconnected tools or manual checks. “It’s reassuring to know that I am not missing something, because Cision pulls everything,” Shanoff said.

Today, the College uses Cision to:

• Monitor media coverage and online discussions in real time.
• Track specific themes such as regulation, professional conduct, social work, healthcare, and public trust
• Quickly summarize broad streams of content with AI Summaries and turn those insights into concise, shareable internal content
• Distribute official announcements through the PR Newswire Amplify™ platform and extend their reach with SocialBoost, which enables easy social sharing of press release content across social channels
• Share daily internal summaries that keep leadership and staff aligned and informed

A Connected Approach to PR and Communications

For the communications team at the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers, staying informed starts with visibility across both media and social channels, from news coverage to platforms like Reddit and Facebook.

Each morning begins with a review of key monitoring streams to see what has surfaced and where attention may be needed. When something stands out, the communications team can flag it and share it with leadership directly from the Cision platform through email or a customized digest. This consistent view across millions of media sources helps the team stay prepared, spot emerging issues early, and keep internal teams informed in support of strategy and operations.

Behind the scenes, the Cision team plays an active role in making this work seamless. Haley works closely with her dedicated Customer Success Manager to help build dashboards, refine complex Boolean searches, and structure monitoring streams when topics become too technical or nuanced for a lean communications team to manage alone. That hands-on support ensures the College has the right view of the landscape without needing to become technical experts themselves.

“What sets Cision apart from other providers are their people. We really feel like we're their only clients. They truly go above and beyond in terms of customer service and suggesting things to make my workflow easier that I never would have thought of," Shanoff said. 

Extending the Reach of Official Communications

When it comes time to sharing official notices and regulatory updates, the College relies on PR Newswire as a trusted distribution channel. Using the PR Newswire Amplify platform, their press releases are distributed to trusted and established media networks, ensuring key announcements reach the right audiences.

SocialBoost extends that reach even further by embedding ready-made social posts directly within the release. With guidance from the Cision team, the College adopted Social Boost quickly, making it easy for staff and board members to amplify announcements across digital channels. 

“Our Account Manager showed us that Social Boost was included and how easy it was to use," Shanoff said. 

Powered by AI: Turning Volume Into Clarity

Cision’s AI Assistant helps the College cut through the volume of mentions to focus on the signals that matter most. 

Instead of spending time sorting through long lists of articles, AI Assistant quickly identifies key themes, providing critical context, and enabling Haley to identify what requires attention. With this workflow shift, the team can move from awareness to understanding quickly, without sacrificing accuracy.

Cision’s AI tools also support content creation beyond monitoring. When the College distributes a press release, for instance, Haley uses PR Newswire’s AI features to quickly turn that announcement into an article, helping extend the life of the message and maintain consistency across channels without additional manual effort.

Impact on PR Goals and Workflows

With Cision supporting both the technology and the process, the College’s communications team has seen a meaningful shift in how work gets done.

Tasks that once required hours of manual searching and compiling can now be completed in minutes. The team moves faster, stays better informed, and has greater confidence in the information being shared internally.

Internal alignment has improved as well. Regular summaries ensure leadership and key stakeholders have timely context, reducing last-minute scrambling and helping teams feel more prepared when questions arise.

Distribution has become more efficient and collaborative. With PR Newswire and Social Boost supported by ongoing guidance from the Cision team, official communications reach the right audiences while remaining easy for internal stakeholders to amplify. “A task that could take hours now takes 20 to 30 minutes. That’s a huge difference," Shanoff said.

Together, Cision’s connected solutions and hands-on support help the College move from reactive monitoring to informed readiness, giving the communications team the clarity and confidence needed to maintain credibility in a regulated environment, where trust matters more than anything.

Ready to Bring It All Together?

The College’s experience shows how an all-in-one PR and communications approach, backed by expert support, helps teams stay prepared, aligned, and confident.

Talk to one of our experts to see how Cision can support your communications workflow.