CDVC6 2020

Concurrent Session 1 – Thursday, March 22, 2018

10:00 am - 10:55 am

1.1 Reclaiming our spirits: A health promotion program for Indigenous women who have experienced violence

Colleen Varcoe and Corrina Russ

This presentation will describe a study of the program Reclaiming Our Spirits, which is a program for urban-indigenous women.  (The program was formerly called Intervention for Health Enhancement for Indigenous women after leaving  or iHEAL.)  There are few programs that have been proven to be effective with indigenous women and none that have been developed specifically for them. The women who went through this program had significantly improved quality of life and diminished trauma symptoms, depressive symptoms and pain. The women described developing trust and “opening up” in new ways that allowed them to have more control over their lives.

After the study is described, the presenter will show a documentary that brings together the voices of the women and the Elders and nurses who worked in the program. We will conclude with a discussion of the strengths, challenges and lessons of the program, and the implications for promoting the health of Indigenous women and women who have experienced violence generally.

About the Presenters:

Colleen Varcoe, PhD. is a professor in the School of Nursing at the University of British Columbia. Her research focuses on violence and inequity, with an emphasis on both structural and interpersonal violence. Her completed research includes studies of the risks and health effects of violence, including for rural and Indigenous women. Her current research includes studies to promote equity (including cultural safety, harm reduction, and trauma- and violence-informed care) in primary health care and Emergency, and studies of health interventions for women who have experienced violence, most recently for Indigenous women. 

Corrina Russ is a Haida woman who works as the coordinator of volunteers for the Vancouver Women's Health Collective. She was a participant in Reclaiming Our Spirits, and has subsequently led and participated in numerous initiatives to support the health and wellbeing of Indigenous women. Her work encompasses advocacy, political action, program development and direct support of individual women. 

1.2 Innovative Transitional Housing Options for Women Leaving Domestic Violence

Sherrie Botten and Brigitte Baradoy

This presentation will describe an innovative approach to transitional housing for women in rural communities in southern Alberta who are experiencing domestic violence. The model, called “Community Host Home”, recognizes that providing community based housing for women and children escaping violence is a key component to helping them rebuild their lives. It draws on significant community support which allows women to better protect themselves and their children as they leave the abusive relationship. 

The presentation will describe the model, including elements such as: 
o Client service delivery, programming and staffing model
o Number of families served
o Length of stay
o Level of risk and safety factors inherent in each model
o Involvement of community stakeholders
o Application within diverse communities throughout the region 

Because the model was customized to suit the communities within the region, it is seen as having real potential to reduce domestic violence in each community. It is believed that this innovative approach will create a paradigm shift in how service providers, government bodies, funders and the community at large think about the intersecting social concerns of rural living, homelessness and domestic violence. 

About the Presenters:

Sherrie Botten has been the Executive Director for Rowan House Society in Alberta since 2008. She oversees all aspects of the Society's operations including the domestic violence emergency shelter for women and children, transitional housing program, outreach and community education program. Sherrie led her staff through the infamous 2013 flood disaster while simultaneously growing client services and developing an organizational culture of trauma-informed practice throughout Rowan House Society. Due to her leadership and dedication, Sherrie was awarded the Government of Alberta Inspiration Award in 2014 for Leadership in Family Violence Prevention. Sherrie has presented internationally on the experience of Rowan House Society's journey to trauma-informed practice.

Brigitte Baradoy, BSW, MA is a professional leader in the social-profit sector with 30 years of experience. Her background includes a broad spectrum of experiences while serving vulnerable populations, with a particular emphasis on domestic violence and homelessness. This includes working on the front line in community development, managing women’s shelters, working in educational institutions, the provincial government and several First Nations social service departments. Brigitte is currently the principal consultant of Onward, a niche consulting company in Alberta that helps those invested in the social profit sector achieve the collective goal of making our society a better place for everyone. 

1.3 A Unique Program for Youth to Break the Abuse Cycle

Joanne Young Evans

This presentation will focus on a program for youth between ages 12 and 17 who have been abused or have witnessed abuse.  The award-winning program was developed by Family Counselling and Support Services for Guelph-Wellington.  The program is entitled Breaking Free = Better Choices + Better Relationships and is a low cost program for male and female youth.  The eight week program teaches healthy, appropriate strategies for managing stress and resolving conflict.  The program helps youth move away from acting out with aggression, bullying and violence, both in the home and at school.  They learn alternative methods to bullying and violence – and they have the opportunity demonstrate these new behaviours on a daily basis. 

About the Presenter:

Joanne Young Evans has worked for government, not-for-profit and social agencies. She is currently the Executive Director of Family Counselling and Support Services for Guelph-Wellington. As a volunteer, Joanne has led 10 trade missions in Namibia for the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM). She is a board member for both Ontario 221 and her local Chamber of Commerce; and, the recipient of FCM’s Outstanding Volunteer Contribution, the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal and the Women of Distinction Award. Her areas of expertise include organization and staff development, change management, communications, stakeholder and government relations, capacity building and negotiations. 

1.4 Domestic and Honour-Related Violence in Canadian Muslim Communities: Exploring Approaches and Clinical Interventions

Henna Khawja

This interactive presentation will explore the complex and nuanced realities of Domestic Violence (DV) and Honour-Related Violence (HRV) in Canadian Muslim Communities. While providing case studies from her work in both Toronto and Edmonton, Henna will be providing statistical and psycho-education  on the following issues and how they relate to DV for Muslims: systemic barriers to accessing services, stigma and taboos, gender barriers, lack of sexual health education, intergenerational trauma, mental health as well as spiritual abuse. Henna will be discussing DV in numerous communities across the nation, and how it pertains to refugees, newcomers, immigrants as well as established Muslim communities. This presentation will offer recommendations for government policy change, best practices for frontline staff, as well as resources and recommended readings. There will be time for discussion, Q&A as well as small group activity. 

About the Presenter:

Henna Khawja, MSW (pronouns: she/her) is currently the Clinical Director at the Islamic Family and Social Services Association (IFSSA), a faith-based settlement organization that provides services to the Edmonton community. Henna is a registered Social Worker specializing in trauma counselling, expressive arts therapy, and an advocate for womens’ rights - specifically in the realms of sexual health education, domestic violence and honor-related violence. Henna has focused her counselling practice in Toronto and Edmonton, but has also worked in Islamabad, Zanzibar, Chicago and Dallas. She has also been involved with HEART Women and Girls for the past four years. HEART is an organization that promotes sexual health and sexual violence awareness in Muslim communities. Henna is also on the Board of Directors for Momentum Walk-In Counselling in Edmonton. 

1.5 A Grass-roots, Community-based approach to preventing domestic violence 

Jodi Heidinger and Heather Boonstra

In this interactive session, Jodi and Heather will share their experiences in developing and fostering the community relationships that have helped them to advance the work they do in Domestic Violence Prevention.  They will illustrate how they have developed a coordinated community response to this issue, while at the same time staying grounded in their agency vision and the values they hold dear. They will share their stories of growth and change, challenges and celebrations, and offer practical ideas for applying their approach in other communities. 

About the Presenters:

Jodi Heidinger is the Coordinator of the Family Violence Prevention Program with the Fort Saskatchewan Families First Society. In her role, Jodi provides individual and group support to assist families with removing the barriers preventing them from transitioning into a life free from abuse. This support includes Threat Assessment and Management, Court Support, Education, Outreach, Advocacy and Referrals. As a former police officer and Domestic Violence Coordinator within RCMP K Division, Jodi has spent the past 15 years working collaboratively with community partners to address the complex issue of Family Violence. Fort Saskatchewan Families First Society was recognized for their work in Family Violence and received an Inspiration Award from the Government of Alberta in 2014 and Jodi was personally recognized with an International Women's Day Ruby Award in 2015 for her contribution to Women's Health and Wellbeing. 

Heather Boonstra is the Executive Director for the Fort Saskatchewan Families First Society. Her extensive work within the fields of early intervention and community development has fuelled her passion for supporting healthy connections in families and communities. Heather was awarded the Humanitarian Award at the Fort Saskatchewan International Women's Day Gala in May 2017 in recognition of her innovative approaches to addressing challenges and inspiring meaningful change in the world. 

1.6 COURRAGE: An approach to creating partnerships among women who have experienced violence and trauma   

Ncazelo Mlilo 

This presentation will focus on a narrative approach to developing partnerships among women who have experience abuse and trauma.  The approach is named COURRAGE and is a collective narrative approach that was developed in partnership with women who have experienced abuse and trauma. COURRAGE privileges the alternative stories of women who have faced significant hardships. It seeks to honour the strengths, skills and courage women show and use in the face of sorrow, abuse and grief. This methodology seeks to support women who have been abused to tell their stories in ways that make them stronger. The transformative therapeutic intervention helps women to re-claim their lives from the effects of abuse, and rise up to become agents of social change in their communities. 

Ncazelo has established a community based organisation called PHOLA, which aims to use the COURRAGE approach to restore the lives of at least 10,000 women and girls who have experienced violence and abuse by 2020. PHOLA has created mobile therapeutic counselling and development services that reach the most disadvantaged and marginalised women and girls. COURRAGE has been linked to income strengthening projects for women who have survived abuse. Women are able to work on these projects with a renewed sense of themselves and hope about their lives and future. Some women who have gone through the COURRAGE intervention are trained to become COURRAGE facilitators in their communities so that they are able to reach other women who are suffering silently from the effects of violence and abuse. 

About the Presenter:

Ncazelo Ncube, PhD is a Psychologist, Narrative Therapist and Psychosocial Specialist with over 15 years’ experience working in the area of mental health and psychosocial well being. Ncazelo Mlilo graduated as a Master of Narrative Therapy and Community work at the University of Melbourne in Australia in 2015. She specializes in designing programs and interventions for various vulnerable groups and communities. Her work has largely focused on supporting children affected by HIV and AIDS, poverty and conflict in East and Southern Africa. 

Ncazelo has developed tools and methodologies that are used internationally to respond to trauma, including the Tree of Life which has become a popular methodology/tool used to respond to trauma in different contexts. She has also combined the Suitcase project (Glynis Clacherty, 2004) with narrative practice and journey metaphors (see: www.dulwichcentre.com.au/suitcase). More recently, working in partnership with six women living in informal settlements in northern Johannesburg, Ncazelo has developed the COURRAGE methodology. 

1.7 Young Men’s Work: A group program for male victims of childhood maltreatment

Shireen V. Singer and Thomas E. Pottie

This presentation will focus on a 15-week group program to help young men address the impact of trauma on their lives and move toward living the lives they want.  Young Men’s Work is a group discovery process where male youth, 9-13 years, develop an understanding of gender violence and the cultural costs of male training. In the context of a small group, an adult male survivor inspires them to break the cycle of violence in their generation.

Over the course of 15 weeks, youth engage in a process of self-discovery, learning, and empowerment, voicing their thoughts, feelings, core beliefs and ideas in the safety of the group. They explore and celebrate their individual traits and strengths through creative activities and role play. They learn strategies for self-care, emotional self-regulation, healthy relationships, effective interpersonal communication, skill acquisition and increased self-efficacy. They develop an awareness and understanding of gender violence, power, private and public danger, high risk behaviors, and the cultural costs of male training.

Weekly sessions provide youth with new methods to strengthen their capacity to resist violence by expressing, processing and validating their grief as a prerequisite to a cathartic release of rage, pain and injustice. Confrontation in this sense shapes and creates rather than attacks and destroys. Youth will also understand how connecting with their community is a catalyst for resilience. Youth will learn that survivors of violence have a distinct shared experience on which to build a network of pro-social support. This network constitutes a community of youth that will stand on behalf of their generation to break the cycle of violence. 

About the Presenters:

Shireen Singer, MSW has been practicing clinical social work in the area of trauma for over 35 years. In her role with the IWK Health Centre, Shireen offers trauma-focused therapy using a strength based approach in combination with the arts (music, drawing/painting, movement) to assist children/youth and their families in successfully navigating and overcoming the impact of negative life events and domestic violence. Children/youth and caregivers have opportunities to participate in groups developing the essential knowledge and skills to successfully integrate the traumatic events, enhancing post traumatic growth and healing. In addition, Shireen partners with schools, physicians, government agencies and other community organizations to develop a circle of care for children, youth and caregivers. Shireen has presented at local and international conferences.

Tom Pottie is a survivor of childhood maltreatment who generously shares his story of trauma and survival in order to inspire others toward healing and recovery. Tom serves as a First Voice Presenter responding to numerous invitations to share his strength, hope and courage with professionals working in the field of criminal justice, mental health and addictions. Tom has received numerous awards for his personal achievements including the “Inspiring Lives Award” in celebration of his achievements in raising awareness and reducing the stigma of mental illness in our community, presented by Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia.Tom is actively involved as a Member and Chair of Alcoholics Anonymous. Tom serves as a Volunteer with the Suspected Trauma and Abuse Response Team, IWK Health Centre, Halifax, NS and is the Peer Co-Facilitator of Young Men’s Work: Breaking The Cycle Of Violence group for male victims of childhood maltreatment.

1.8 Exploring the lived experience of survivors: The link between intimate partner violence (IPV) and traumatic brain injury (TBI)

Chantele Joordens

This presentation will focus on a project that applies a phenomenological approach to investigate women’s experiences with IPV and TBI. This research is designed to better inform frontline workers about the day-to-day challenges faced by abused women.  The findings from this project will be discussed in terms of the main themes garnered from the qualitative interviews.
Past research has established that a large percentage of women in violent relationships experience traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), with one article estimating approximately 23 million women in the US living with a TBI from IPV (St. Ivany & Schminkey, 2016). While it is important to quantitatively establish the severity of the link between IPV and TBI, there is a general consensus among researchers in the field that much more qualitative work still needs to be done. 

About the Presenter:

Chantele Joordens is a SSHRC-funded PhD student from the University of Victoria enrolled in the Social Dimensions of Health Program. She is currently working on a MITACS partnership project with The Cridge Centre for the Family, which investigates women's lived experience with intimate partner violence and traumatic brain injury. 

1.9 Left Behind - One family's struggle with domestic homicide

Dolly Mosher

In this presentation, Dolly will explore how domestic violence is concealed or ignored, the effects of domestic homicide on a family, as well as the effects of the criminal justice process.  Dolly will use a case example that involves the horrific death of Denenia’s mother.  Denenia’s father killed her mother, leaving Denenia to raise her four brothers. The presentation will describe the life of her parents before the murder and how the signs of domestic violence were hidden, ignored as well as the impact of their mother’s death on Denenia and her four brothers. Participants will also hear about the impact on the family when their father was released from prison back to the very same community he lived in with his family, and the trauma they still continue to struggle with today.

About the Presenters:

Dolly Mosher is the chair and co-founder of Silent Witness Nova Scotia (SWNS) and has been working closely with the Baillie family of Halifax to learn how the horrific domestic homicide of their mother has impacted the lives of Denenia and her four brothers. Mosher has worked as a domestic violence case coordinator with HRP and the RCMP and now runs the Victim Service Unit of the Halifax Regional Police. 

1.10 Peel Institute on Violence Prevention: A study of data collection practises in community agencies

Monica Riutort and Sandra Rupnarain

This presentation will focus on a study of the data collection processes of agencies working with women who have experienced intimate partner violence.  Service delivery can be enhanced by the inclusion of socio-demographic data and determinants of health and wellbeing in the planning of services.  Services would also benefit from a referral system among social service agencies and a standard data collection practice to plan and improve services to clients.  Currently, the data collection practices among service providers are quite disparate, demonstrating the gaps in the collection of key socio-demographic information from clients. 
In 2013, with a grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, the Peel Institute on Violence prevention (PIVP) embarked on this pilot survey to study the state of current data collection practices of agencies in Peel serving Female Survivors of Interpersonal Violence (SOIV) and to discover the perceived deficiencies, barriers and required improvements in the current data collection practices.  This study employed a mixed methods approach using the following tools: Literature review, Regional Scan, facilitated questionnaires and key informant interviews

About the Presenters: 

Monica Riutort, M.A. is Manager of the Peel Institute on Violence Prevention. Previously, she was the coordinator of  Peel Committee on Sexual Assault. She has over 40 years’ experience working on violence against women at locally and internationally. She managed the International Programs at the Department of Family and Community Medicine of the University of Toronto and lecturer at Faculty of Medicine. She was also the Executive Director of the International Society for Equity in Health, Director of International Programs at the Centre for Research in Women Health and the WHO Collaborative Centre on Women’s Health

Sandra Rupnarain, MDiv, AAMF, RFMT is the Director of Clinical Services at Family Services of Peel and Administrative Director, Peel Institute on Violence Prevention. Clinical Practitioner with expertise in Narrative, Solution Focused and Behavioral Therapy. Skilled in engaging stake-holders to develop partnerships between community, service providers and strategic community coalitions. Successful in community mobilization and advocacy on social issues that impact health and well-being of families, men women and children using equity, anti-racism, anti-oppression lens. Over 15 years of experience writing grant proposals, operationalizing programs, developing research initiatives collecting and analyzing data to inform continuous program improvement. 

Concurrent Session 2 – Thursday, March 22, 2018

11:05am – 12:00pm

2.1 A South Asian group approach to working with men who have abused 

Baldev Mutta and Amandeep Kaur

This presentation will focus on how to develop culturally appropriate services in the South Asian community.  It will explore the facilitation of men’s groups incorporating extended family; addressing mother-in-law violence against daughter in law; dismantling patriarchal values; integrating spirituality into the group process; and addressing substance abuse.  The men’s group exists within an Integrated Holistic Service Delivery Model, which applies a family- an inclusive model for every aspect of clinical work.  Such an approach emphasizes the importance of working with wives of men in the group and assisting the men’s children.  

About the Presenters:

Baldev Mutta is the Founder and CEO of PCHS - Punjabi Community Health Services in the Peel region of Ontario. For the last 43 years, Baldev has been working in the field of social work. He has developed an Integrated Holistic Service Delivery Model to serve the South Asian community in linguistically and culturally appropriate manner. He developed a men's program to address violence and addictions in the South Asian community. This sixteen week program also looks at those values with are laden with patriarchy and misogyny. 

Amandeep Kaur is a co-facilitator with Baldev Mutta in the Sahara Men's group and also leads the Sahara Women's group program. She has been facilitating the groups since January 2000. She will share her experience of working with women and men from the South Asian community. 

2.2 Technology and Gender Based Violence: Training to Enhance Women’s Safety 

Rhiannon Wong

This presentation will introduce participants to ideas for incorporating technology into safety planning for women.  In recent years there has been increased awareness about how technology use and violence against women overlap. Positively, women and children can use technology to stay connected to family and friends when fleeing violence, find addresses and phone numbers for local women’s shelters, and use apps to help maintain their confidentiality and privacy. However, technology can be misused by abusers to perpetrate crimes of domestic violence, sexual violence, impersonation, harassment, stalking and trafficking. 
The presentation will focus primarily on how abusers stalk, impersonate and spy on women in relationships and what women can do about it. The technology safety training will demonstrate how to support women and young people experiencing technology facilitated violence.

About the Presenter:

Rhiannon Wong is a part-time Children and Youth Services Coordinator at the British Columbia Society of Transition Houses in Vancouver. Through her role, she supports 86 Children Who Witness Abuse (CWWA) Programs across British Columbia. The programs provide prevention presentations, one-on-one support and group interventions to children and youth exposed to violence in the home. 

Since 2007, Rhiannon has integrated technology safety and data privacy issues into BCSTH’s work of ending violence against women. She has incorporated technology safety into BCSTH’s Transition Housing and CWWA trainings, and presents “Enhancing the Safety of Women and Children Fleeing Violence through Technology” for Canadian frontline anti-violence workers. 

2.3 Women in IPV Treatment for Abusers and Women in IPV Survivor Groups: Different or Two Sides of the Same Coin? 

Leslie Tutty and Rochelle (Robbie) Babins-Wagner 

The Calgary Counselling Centre offers therapy groups for both women whose partners abuse them—“ You’re Not Alone” (YNA)---and women who abuse partners--“ Responsible Choices for Women” (RCW). This presentation describes the two treatment groups and presents research examining 262 group members (157 RCW & 105 YNA), comparing their demographics and scores on measures of physical and non-physical partner abuse, and mental health symptoms. At pre-test, women in YNA reported significantly more problematic depression, anxiety, general distress and trauma symptoms than women in the RCW program. Nevertheless, the factorial repeated measures analysis of variance on pre-test/post-test data from 177 women found statistically significant improvements on all four outcomes measures for women in both groups, although women in the YNA survivor groups made the most improvements on depression, stress and general distress. Clinical implications are described. 

About the Presenters:

Leslie Tutty, PhD is a professor emerita with the Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary where she taught courses in both clinical social work methods and research. Over the past 28 years, her research has focused on prevention programs and services for intimate partner violence, including a number of evaluations of shelter and post-shelter programs for abused women, support groups for abused women, treatment for adult and child victims of sexual abuse and groups for abusive men. From 1999 to 2011, Leslie served as the Academic Research Co-ordinator of RESOLVE Alberta, a tri-provincial research institute on family violence.

Rochelle (Robbie) Babins-Wagner, PhD is the Chief Executive Officer of the Calgary Counselling Centre, and an Adjunct Professor with the Faculty of Social Work (University of Calgary). Robbie has over 35 years' experience in counselling, family violence, mental health, health care and child welfare. Robbie is an Approved Social Work Supervisor (Alberta) and a Clinical Fellow and Approved Supervisor with the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy. Robbie's clinical practice and research interests are focused on family violence, counselling, child welfare depression and outcomes. She has presented papers and workshops at conferences across Canada and internationally. 

2.4 Caught in a Trap: Working with Women with Multiple Traumas

Heather Gaskill  

This presentation will use case examples to demonstrate strategies for working with women with multiple traumas who are either in actively abusive relationships, or struggling with the aftermath.  Many of the women seeking services at Addictions and Mental Health have experienced repeated sexual and relational traumas over the course of their lives, often beginning with childhood sexual abuse and followed by a series of sexual assaults and violence in intimate partner relationships. Individual therapy with women who are in actively abusive relationships, or who identify feeling that they 'attract' violence and manipulation can be incredibly challenging.  This presentation will explore how can we help clients build insight into how early childhood trauma can create vulnerability, while also empowering women and inoculating shame rather than reinforcing it. 

About the Presenter:

Heather Gaskill, MSW first became involved in rape crisis work as a volunteer in 1998. She has worked at several Canadian sexual assault centers, including Avalon Center in Halifax, first as an educator and crisis intervener and then as a therapist with women survivors of sexual violence. She was the Atlantic Regional Representative for the Canadian Association of Sexual Assault Centers in 2001-2002. Since then, Heather has worked as a therapist and program creator for the Women's Program at Addictions Services in Halifax, and has spent the past four years at Community Mental Health, where she carries a caseload with a focus on trauma. 

2.5 Intimate Partner Violence: A Scoping Review of Online Interventions

Ebony Rempel

This presentation will highlight information gaps in how women access health information in the context of an abusive intimate relationship. Given the ubiquity of online access to information, the purpose of this scoping review was to provide an overview of online interventions available to women within the context of intimate partner violence (IPV).

Violence against women (VAW) contributes to inequities with respect to the social determinants of health that many women face today. The onus on self-care in the face of violence remains almost singularly with the victims. Findings suggest that online interventions focus on the act of leaving with less emphasis on the experiences that occur after a woman has left the relationship. In addition, the online interventions concentrated on the individual capacity of the survivor to leave an abusive relationship and demonstrated limited understanding of IPV in relation to the broader social-contextual factors. The findings from this research highlight information gaps for women who require significant support after leaving an abusive relationship.  This research was also conducted by Lorie Donelle, Jodi Hall and Susan Rodger. 

About the Presenter:

Ebony Rempel has been the Executive Director of Odyssey House in Grande Prairie, Alberta since the summer of 2016. She has been working in the field of Health Promotion for the last 10 years, and is currently a PhD candidate at Western University, focusing on Intimate Partner Violence and access to services, support and information. Ebony continues to work with the team at Odyssey House towards creating a safe, trauma-informed, women-centered, and culturally inclusive space. 

2.6 An Innovative Partnership in Addressing Domestic Violence: Edmonton Police Service and the City of Edmonton

Sarah Ramsey, Alexandra Simpson, and Jenny Kuefler

This presentation will showcase the partnership between the Edmonton Police Service and the City of Edmonton.  This partnership has led to the development of the Domestic Abuse High Risk Team (DAHRT). DAHRT provides victims of domestic violence support through system navigation, ongoing risk assessment, referrals and safety planning, aiding the victims to end the cycle of violence and ensure the physical and emotional safety of family members.

The team includes seven registered social workers working within various police divisions and docket court, while partnering with the Domestic Offender Crime Section Detectives, DAHRT Constables and divisional constables who are Domestic Violence Coordinators. This presentation will explore the various roles within the DAHRT team and underscore the importance of a coordinated community response. The presenters will share what they have learned about developing such partnerships and provide statistics on the practical social return on such an investment. Informing this model of practice is the experience of individuals who have survived instances of domestic violence. This peer knowledge helps to shape DAHRT’s modality of intervention/support. 

About the Presenters: 

Alexa Simpson is a fourteen year member of the Edmonton Police Service (EPS). She has worked in several areas of the EPS, including, Patrol Services, the School Resource Officer Unit and the Investigation Management Approval Centre. Alexa is a facilitator of the Applied Suicide Intervention Skills program and a member of the Critical Incident Stress Management Team. She is presently a member of the Domestic Abuse High Risk Team (DAHRT).

Sarah Ramsey is a social worker for the City of Edmonton with the Domestic Abuse High Risk Team (DAHRT).  Sarah worked in the non-profit world for several years advocating on behalf of marginalized populations and has held roles in several committees/ boards that work to make Edmonton a safer and more just place.

Jenny Kuefler is a social worker with 6 years’ experience working with the City of Edmonton Domestic Abuse High Risk Team (DAHRT). Prior to DAHRT, Jenny worked with the Department of Child & Family Services and the Military Family Resource Centre. Jenny works with survivors within a feminist and strength-based framework. 

2.7 Emergency Evacuation Protocols for Women Fleeing Abuse

Gaye Warthe  

This presentation will focus on the need to develop protocols and training for shelter staff and evacuation centres to address safety for women who have left abusive relationships. During a natural disaster, such as the Fort McMurray fires or the High River floods in Alberta, residents may be asked to follow emergency evacuation procedures, including a move to an evacuation centre. Existing research suggests that community emergency evacuation centres are ill prepared to respond to the safety needs of women attempting to flee a violent relationship. In collaboration with the Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters, staff from women’s domestic violence shelters, emergency management personnel, and the Emergency Social Services Network in Alberta participated in a combination of interviews and focus groups to understand the impact of protocols and practices in emergency evacuations for such women. Researchers looked at the potential barriers that impede a women’s ability to maintain her safety. This presentation will discuss the themes and the recommendations that emerged from the study. 

About the Presenter:

Gaye Warthe, PhD is currently Associate Dean in the Faculty of Health, Community and Education at Mount Royal University in Calgary. She is the primary investigator for a dating violence incidence/prevalence study and for Stepping Up, a peer facilitated relationship violence prevention project. She is also the co-investigator on a study on emergency evacuation protocols for women fleeing abuse. Gaye is a member of the steering committee for RESOLVE Alberta and a Director on the Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters.

2.8 Health Care Workers: Addressing violence against women patients and co-workers 

Rita Chin & Christine Bradshaw

This presentation will focus on helping health care workers respond to women patients and to co-workers who are abused.  This presentation centers on one downtown Toronto hospital's journey towards providing support for employees, physicians, trainees, volunteers and patients experiencing domestic violence.  In partnership with the Human Rights & Health Equity Office, Sinai Health System has created an innovative support program for staff and patients experiencing domestic violence. The program aims to ensure safety through guidance, safety planning, and links to internal and external community-based supports and resources. Since 2010, we have trained over 1000 staff who have supported over 50 employees, physicians and volunteers. The benefits of our program include reducing isolation, stigma and vulnerability, and connecting staff and patients to resources and safety strategies. 

About the Presenters:

Rita Chin, RN, MN, PNC (C) is a Clinical Coordinator for the High Risk Antenatal/Postpartum and Mother Baby Unit at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. Rita is a member of the Violence against Women Awareness Committee and led the implementation of universal screening for woman abuse on the High Risk Antenatal/Postpartum unit. She has collaborated with the hospital’s Human Rights and Health Equity department to provide education to hospital staff on screening for domestic violence. 

Christine Bradshaw, MSW, RSW is a Social Worker at Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, providing comprehensive assessments to the patients in the emergency department, as well as education and support to staff, patients and families. As chair of the hospital’s Violence Against Women Awareness Committee, she has been involved in the creation and dissemination of several hospital wide policies supporting patients facing violence. Christine is an ongoing advocate for those facing violence and provides hospital wide training to staff increasing comfort levels, raising awareness and challenging negative social discourses to ensure all people, particularly vulnerable populations live free from violence. She encourages capacity building for all disciplines in the area of responding to abuse.

2.9 Rowan House Emergency Shelter: Journey to Trauma-informed Service Delivery

Sherrie Botten

This presentation will explore Rowan House’s journey including capacity building within a trauma-informed practice approach at the organizational and direct service levels, self-care strategies for shelter workers, and successes and challenges along the way.  Rowan House Emergency Shelter in High River uses a trauma-informed service delivery model to address the multiple and complex traumatic events that many children and women have experienced.   This approach recognizes the pervasiveness of trauma and its impacts on a survivor’s ability to cope, to access services, and to feel safe in a new environment.

About the Presenter:  

Sherrie Botten has been the Executive Director for Rowan House Society in Alberta since 2008. She oversees all aspects of the Society's operations including the domestic violence emergency shelter for women and children, transitional housing program, outreach and community education program. Sherrie led her staff through the infamous 2013 flood disaster while simultaneously growing client services and developing an organizational culture of trauma-informed practice throughout Rowan House Society. Due to her leadership and dedication, Sherrie was awarded the Government of Alberta Inspiration Award in 2014 for Leadership in Family Violence Prevention. Sherrie has presented internationally on the experience of Rowan House Society's journey to trauma-informed practice.

2.10 Deconstructing stories of victimization: Addressing the effects of trauma to move people toward taking responsibility

Leland Maerz

This presentation will focus on working with men who both been victimized by violence and who have perpetrated it themselves. Sometimes these people are thought of as either victims or perpetrators.  As a result, therapeutic conversations with men who are victims are often see different than conversations with men who have perpetrated abuse.  There is a risk of people using stories of victimization to excuse men from taking responsibility for choosing violence and establishing safer behavior. At the same time, to stop the violence, many men need to simultaneously attending to their experiences of both being victimized and perpetrating violence.  This presentation will describe a trauma informed, narrative therapy approach that illuminates the relationship between experiences of victimization and perpetration.  A common effect of traumatic experience is for people to develop a need to position themselves as only victims.  This posture, however, creates further harms to themselves and others by men abdicating responsibility for their choices. When men are effectively invited to evaluate their ideas about gender whilst also studying the effects of trauma, the path to taking responsibility for and repairing the harms of violence can become less challenging to navigate.

About the Presenter:

Leland Maerz, MA has worked internationally as a teacher and counsellor with youth and families since 1995.  He is currently employed by the Bridges Institute, The Nova Scotia Health Authority and Dalhousie University.  He specializes in engaging therapeutically with people who have perpetrated abuse and been victimized themselves.  Leland work draws on narrative therapy, trauma work, restorative justice practices and post-structuralism.

Concurrent Session 3 – Thursday, March 22, 2018

1:00 pm – 1:55 pm

3.1 Culturally Integrative Family Safety Response: Working with immigrant & refugee populations impacted by domestic violence

Mohammed Baobaid & Abir Al Jamal

The early work by the SSHRC Grant on Preventing Domestic Homicides in Vulnerable Populations has highlighted unique risk factors facing immigrant and refugee families at-risk of and/or experiencing violence; barriers to seeking help; and the cultural variances in understanding and responding to domestic violence. In order to understand and respond to domestic violence and to prevent domestic homicide among immigrant and refugees, research studies have emphasized the importance of culturally informed domestic violence responses including risk assessment, risk management, and safety planning. Recommendations for collaborative and coordinated responses to address domestic violence among immigrant and refugee communities were made.

The Muslim Resource Centre for Social Support and Integration, has developed and implemented a Culturally Integrative Family Safety Response (CIFSR), a strengths-based approach to responding to family violence within collectivist immigrant families, in a culturally meaningful manner. This model presents a promising practice that addresses the complexities associated with domestic violence within collectivist immigrant families including challenges related to risk assessment, risk management and safety planning. CIFSR establishes and promotes dialogue between cultural communities and mainstream anti-violence agencies. The process of engagement facilitates an environment of mutual understanding and trust, which supports the collaborative development of prevention and intervention plans that meet the unique needs of families at-risk of or experiencing domestic violence.

About the Presenters:

Mohammed Baobaid, PhD is the founder and the executive Director of the Muslim Resource Centre for Social Support and Integration in Canada. He is also a research associate at the Centre for Research and Education on Violence against Women and Children at Western University. His research areas include cross-cultural perspectives on preventing domestic violence in Immigrant Communities. Prior to coming to Canada, Dr. Baobaid was the head of the department of psychology at the University of Sana’a, Yemen and was well known in his research on domestic violence and children and women in conflict with the law. 

Abir Al Jamal works at MRCSSI as a social worker and researcher directly in the fields’ domestic violence, homicide and social issues that affect newcomers’ communities. She spent twenty years in Lebanon as a social worker with national and international social services working with refugees, internally displaced, and vulnerable populations. 

3.2 The Stepping Up project: A university approach to IPV policy and prevention

Gaye Warthe and Carrie McManus

In this presentation, Gaye will present Mount Royal University’s Stepping Up program.  The program is a peer facilitated project that focuses on relationship violence prevention and supports the development of a multiple initiatives related to violence prevention and the promotion of healthy relationships. This presentation will share the impact of the Stepping Up project and explore future directions. The primary emphasis on sexual violence policies in Canadian universities has resulted in a gap in programming and policy in the areas of intimate partner violence.  The university students’ age group means they are the most likely to experience IPV. Campus communities require policies that clearly outline a commitment to responding to IPV and sexual violence by offering a range of activities associated with prevention and early intervention to increase awareness about risk, resources, and the campus response. A purposive sample of 48 Canadian universities and colleges suggest that few schools have implemented prevention or intervention initiatives to address forms of intimate partner violence other than sexual assault.  The Stepping Up project is designed to address this gap.  

About the Presenters:

Gaye Warthe, PhD is currently Associate Dean in the Faculty of Health, Community and Education at Mount Royal University. She is the primary investigator for a dating violence incidence/ prevalence study and for Stepping Up.. She is also the co-investigator on a study on emergency evacuation protocols for women fleeing abuse. Gaye is a member of the steering committee for RESOLVE Alberta and a Director on the Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters.

Carrie McManus is a social worker and the Director of Programs at Sagesse, a Calgary agency that empowers individuals, organizations and communities to break the cycle of domestic violence. Carrie focuses her work on supporting individuals and creating system level change. She has presented at conferences across North America, Australia, and Europe. In her time at Sagesse, Carrie has been instrumental in furthering the mission and vision of disrupting structures of violence across Alberta.

3.3 Engendering justice for intimate partner violence: making social meaning of restorative justice principles

Stephanie Ehret

This presentation will focus on women who experienced intimate partner violence in past relationships and their responses to restorative justice principles.  Through one-on-one interviews, twelve women offered social conceptualizations of justice and of doing justice that reconfigure the principles of restorative justice to prioritize protective solutions. The women located these protective solutions in domains outside of criminal justice.  They identified that community responses were often better able to deal with the complexities and dynamics of intimate partner violence.  Despite frustrations with the criminal justice system for its inability to provide long term protective solutions, the women wanted to retain the current system to provide some women with safety in the short term. 

About the Presenter:

Stephanie Ehret, PhD is an Assistant Professor at Ryerson University in Toronto. Stephanie has worked in the financial industry in Toronto, and she also has diverse experience in justice work including working as a diversion counselor, and as a resource developer and volunteer coordinator at an agency focused on violence against women issues. Her research focuses on justice and she is interested in a range of social and institutional modalities for doing justice, particularly in relation to gendered violence, race and disability. 

3.4 Improving Family Court in cases which include Intimate Partner Violence

Kassinda Tolliver

In this presentation, Kassinda draws on her own experience of Family Court to make recommendations for the court in cases of intimate partner violence.  To work for the best interest of children, Kassinda argues the Family Court and child protection services need to provide robust assessments for those who have been convicted of domestic assault in criminal court.  Among other considerations, these assessments need to focus on parental capacity and drug abuse.   She also argues that those who have been victimized by abuse need immediate access to counselling and legal aid.  Further, she also indicates that children benefit when school’s are made aware of child protection orders.

About the Presenter:

Kassinda Tolliver is a board member of Bryony House Domestic Violence Shelter in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  She coordinates an annual community fundraiser for the shelter.  She has been an educator on the topic of intimate partner violence for a number of years.  She has presented for various community programs including  the Black Cultural Centre’s Women of Distinction event, Women Safe and Sound project, Stop the Violence Day, Be the Peace and the Stop the Violence Spread the Love march.

3.5 Responding to domestic violence in rural, remote, and northern populations

Anna Johnson, Daniel Bader, Nicole Jeffrey, Melissa WuercH and Myrna Dawson

This presentation will focus on the unique challenges that service providers face when supporting victims and perpetrators of domestic violence and homicide in rural, remote and northern communities.  Key findings will be presented from a survey conducted by the Canadian Domestic Homicide Prevention Initiative with Vulnerable Populations (CDHPIVP), which was completed by service providers across Canada. This presentation will look at the use of risk assessment, risk management, and safety planning tools by service providers. The presenters will also address challenges identified by service providers and next steps for addressing these challenges. 

About the Presenters:

Anna Johnson is a PhD student in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Guelph. Anna’s research focuses on sentencing practices and the treatment of Indigenous peoples in the Canadian court system. Anna is currently working as a research assistant for the Canadian Domestic Homicide Prevention Initiative for Vulnerable Populations. She is also a research assistant for the Centre for the Study of Social of Legal Responses 

Danielle Bader is a PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Guelph. Broadly, her interests include violence against women, social and legal responses to gender-based violence, feminism, qualitative and quantitative research methods. Danielle is a Research Assistant for the Canadian Domestic Homicide Prevention Initiative for Vulnerable Populations. 

Nicole Jeffrey is a PhD candidate in Applied Social Psychology at the University of Guelph. Her research has mainly focused on men’s sexual and intimate partner violence against women. Nicole is also currently working as a research assistant at the Canadian Domestic Homicide Prevention Initiative for Vulnerable Populations, where she has focused on rural, remote, and northern populations. 

Melissa Wuerch is a doctoral student in clinical psychology at the University of Regina. Her research interests include intimate partner violence, rural and northern communities, support-seeking behaviours, and community psychology.  Her dissertation research focuses on the challenges to providing support in rural and northern communities in Saskatchewan.

Myrna Dawson, PhD is a Professor and Canada Research Chair in Public Policy in Criminal Justice, and Director of the Centre for the Study of Social and Legal Responses to Violence at the University of Guelph. She is also Co-Director of the Canadian Domestic Homicide Prevention Initiative and project lead on the recently-launched Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability.

3.6 Speaking DJ Program: A domestic violence prevention program for children and youth

Chuck Winters

This presentation will focus on the Speaking DJ program, which is a domestic violence prevention and awareness program geared toward working with children and youth.  By promoting a culture of respect and nonviolence through the use of music, the program aims to prevent future violent behavior.  The motivational and music program offers a teaching tool which combines guest speakers and experienced DJ's in a workshop setting.This program is intended for educational institutions and companies wanting to motivate and educate. 

About the Presenter:

Chuck Winters is a football player with the Detroit Fury of the Arena football league and the developer of the Speaking DJ program.  Growing up in the Herman Garden projects of Detroit, Michigan, Chuck witnessed both his mother being abused and later his younger brother being killed.  As a university athlete, Chuck began to promote anti-violence programs within his community that resulted in the development of the Speaking DJ program.  

3.7 Why They Stay, Why They Stalk

Angela Strand and Jeff Anderson

This presentation will focus on an underutilized section of the Criminal Code that can promp officers to recognize the escalating signs of Criminal Harassment. Angela and Jeff are a married police couple who have seen Domestic Violence from different perspectives. Angela has spent the last 10 years recovering from abuse and will present an understanding of why women stay and how police officers can avoid re-traumatizing victims. Jeff is trained in Criminal Harassment, Stalking, and Domestic Violence Threat Assessment through working as a detective within the Calgary Police Domestic Conflict Unit.  He will speak about why men stalk their partners. 

About the Presenters:

Angela Strand pursued a career as a Police Officer in Calgary while trapped in a violent marriage. She made it through police training and soon realized she was arresting people for the same offences she was subject to in her home. The experience of leaving her partner has increased her empathy for women who want to leave but do not know how. She authored a two-year blogging project about healing after abuse, which she is preparing to publish as a book.   

Jeff Anderson always wanted to be a Police Officer, taking a Criminal Justice Degree from the University of Alberta and working for Corrections Canada before securing employment with Calgary Police Service. He has worked for the Calgary Police Service as a Constable and Detective in the Domestic Conflict Unit, taking a particular interest in stalking and criminal harassment cases. He trained to increase his knowledge in Domestic Violence Threat Assessment and has been a speaker for the Solicitor's General Domestic Violence Conference, the Legal Aid Society, and has lead numerous Provincial and RCMP Criminal Harassment/Stalking training. 

3.8 Promoting Accountability with Men

Dominic Boyd

This presentation will focus on the development of Accountability Statements with men who have perpetrated abuse.  The difficulty of getting some men to accept responsibility for their abusive behaviours is well-known. The issues include toxic shame, denial, minimization, arrogance and entrenched beliefs about gender roles. This workshop is an opportunity to explore ways to address those issues in a manner which leads men to take greater responsibility for their choices. Dominic will share specific strategies that encourage men to accept responsibility for their abuse and commit to changing their attitudes and behaviours. 

About the Presenter:

Dominic Boyd, MSW has facilitated groups with men for many years, including working at Fresh Start in Windsor, Ontario, and with New Directions in Amherst, Nova Scotia. He received training with Dr. Sam Osherson, which focused particularly on men and shame. 

3.9 The Dangers of Speech: A Narrative Lens on Trauma and Violence

Catrina Brown

Feminist narrative practice begins by making space for women’s trauma stories and appreciating the linguistic poverty and social constraints which limit their speech.  Women often find themselves struggling to tell their stories, to find a framework for their stories in the context of master narratives which often prevail.   Talking of violence and trauma is often experienced as dangerous. The dominant discourse of violence against women is injurious not only in terms of its truth claims, but in constraining what can be said by women themselves. This presentation  will explore the  creation of counter-stories  of resistance  and coping with the aftermath of trauma and violence that allow for more ‘experience near accounts.’

About the Presenter:

Catrina Brown, PhD is an Associate Professor and Graduate Coordinator at the School of Social Work and is cross-appointed to Gender and Women’ Studies and Nursing  at Dalhousie University. Her research and writing focuses on women’s health and mental health issues, including “eating disorders”, substance use problems, depression, violence, trauma and post-trauma within a feminist postmodern/narrative lens. She is also a private practice psychotherapist who uses a feminist, narrative, discursive and collaborative approach. She is co-editor of Consuming Passions: Feminist Approaches to Weight Preoccupation and Eating Disorders (with Karin Jasper) and Narrative Therapy. Making Meaning, Making Live (with Tod Augusta-Scott).

Concurrent Session 4 – Thursday, March 22, 2018

2:00 pm – 2:55 pm

4.1 Restorative Justice in Remote Communities: Building Resiliency

Stephanie Ashton 

This presentation will share the development of community-based restorative justice practices in the remote First Nations community of Kwadacha, British Columbia. This community has the highest rate of violence in relationships calls to police per capita in Northern British Columbia. The presentation will highlight the process undertaken with the community, police and partner agencies to bring a restorative response to address non-criminal reports of relationship violence to prevent escalation of the violence. Participants will have the opportunity to see the process that was undertaken in this remote community of 450 people. 

About the Presenter:

Stephanie Ashton, PhD has worked as a responder to Domestic Violence since 2006. She completed her Masters Degree in 2011 at the University of the Fraser Valley with a focus on research into Integrated Responses to Violence in Relationships. She currently overseas Domestic Violence response for the RCMP in British Columbia and acts as the Coordinator of response to Third Party Reporting of Sexual Assault for all police agencies in BC. Stephanie is also a member of the faculty at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. 

4.2 A Comparison of Court Mandated to Non-Court Mandated Men in the Responsible Choices for Men IPV Offender Program

Leslie Tutty and Rochelle (Robbie) Babins-Wagner

Batterer intervention programs (BIPs) are widely accepted as an important response to men charged for violence against their partners. However, whether or not to offer treatment conjointly to men who are not court mandated to treatment remains a question. This presentation describes a narrative group work model, “Responsible Choices for Men,” which has been offered at the Calgary Counselling Centre for over 25 years building on work by Australian Alan Jenkins. The presentation describes the Responsible Choices for Men program goals and process. We provide research describing the demographics of the court-mandated compared to the non-court mandated men, and outcomes for both groups after program completion. Data is available for 964 men, 759 referred by Calgary’s specialized domestic violence courts and 205 who self-referred. Treatment outcomes were assessed using the Psychological Assessment Screener (PAS), Outcome Questionnaire (OQ), Index of Clinical Stress (ICS), and the Generalized Contentment Scale (GCS), all adjusted for social desirability. Practice and policy implications will be discussed.

About the Presenters:

Leslie Tutty is a professor emerita with the Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary where she taught courses in both clinical social work methods and research. Over the past twenty-five years, her research has focused on prevention programs and services for intimate partner violence including a number of evaluations of shelter and post-shelter programs for abused women, support groups for abused women, treatment for adult and child victims of sexual abuse and groups for abusive men. From 1999 to 2011, Leslie served as the Academic Research Co-ordinator of RESOLVE Alberta, a tri-provincial research institute on family violence.

Rochelle (Robbie) Babins-Wagner, PhD is the Chief Executive Officer of the Calgary Counselling Centre, and an Adjunct Professor with the Faculty of Social Work (University of Calgary). Robbie has over 35 years' experience in counselling, family violence, mental health, health care and child welfare. Robbie is an Approved Social Work Supervisor (Alberta) and a Clinical Fellow and Approved Supervisor with the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy. Robbie's clinical practice and research interests are focused on family violence, counselling, child welfare depression and outcomes. She has presented papers and workshops at conferences locally, provincially, nationally and internationally.

4.3 Working with Male Victims of Domestic Abuse

Marcus Cheung

This workshop will focus on the similarities and differences of working with male and females who have experienced domestic abuse, as well as looking at how to engage and work with males differently. It will discuss information about the nature and scale of intimate partner violence against men, including knowledge about the prevalence and  types of domestic violence that male victims who attend Calgary Counselling Centre predominately experience. The presentation will also share statistics on men’s victimization, and provide some qualitative evidence of what males are reporting and asking for from treatment. Finally, the presentation will focus on how to effectively assess and engage men who identify as being victims of domestic violence.

About the Presenter:

Marcus Cheung, MSW is the Coordinator of the Male Domestic Abuse Outreach Program at the Calgary Counselling Centre. His clinical practice and interests are focused on men and mental health, domestic violence, trauma, and masculinity. His experience working with the men has allowed him to contribute to many conferences, including the 2016 East Calgary Mini-Conference on Family Violence Prevention, 2017 Diverse Voices Family Violence Conference, and the 2nd Annual Bridging Communities through Strengthened Collaboration Conference in Calgary. 

4.4 Exploring a Feminist Trauma-Informed Model in Response to Sexualized Violence

Dee Dooley and Shabnam Sobhani

This presentation will focus on the feminist, trauma-informed model of practice designed to address violence against women. The Avalon Sexual Assault Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia offers responsive programs and services to survivors of sexualized violence, with an emphasis on trauma specific counselling, community education and professional training, immediate medical care and forensic evaluation, and leadership and advocacy.  The Centre’s approach also works to decrease barriers to service for racialized and marginalized populations, through systems navigation support, counselling, community education, and professional training.  The presenters will illustrate how the model is implemented in both counselling and community settings.  The presenters will also share first voice narratives from individuals and communities served. 

About the Presenters:

Dee Dooley, MA is a feminist socio-legal researcher and community development professional. She is currently working as the Regional Capacity Coordinator at Avalon Sexual Assault Centre, where she coordinates the professional training program. Through this role, she works with organizations, service providers, and governments to develop trauma informed responses and policy to address systemic advocacy issues related to supporting survivors of sexualized violence. Dee has over ten years of experience with crime prevention and leadership development programming for women, youth, and LGBTQ populations who have experienced violence. She holds degrees in sociology, gender studies, and criminology where her research focused on the criminalization of women survivors of intimate partner violence. 

Shabnam Sobhani, MSW works at Avalon Sexual Assault Centre as a Navigator Therapist. She has over three years of experience working with women, children, and families. Shabnam’s role at Avalon is to support marginalized people who face added barriers to accessing the services and resources that they need after experiencing a sexual assault. She works from trauma-informed, anti-oppressive, and feminist perspectives to provide culturally appropriate support services to those who have experienced sexualized violence including, women, trans individuals, and those going through the legal system. 

4.5 Supporting Affluent Survivors

Carrie McManus and Kirstin Blair

This presentation will examine the unique factors impacting women of affluence experiencing domestic violence.. The experiences of affluent survivors are rarely studied or acknowledged in the domestic violence (DV) literature, and service providers often fail to see the vulnerability of this population (Berg, 2014). While upscale violence shares many characteristics with DV among less affluent populations, some barriers, circumstances and cultural influences are unique to affluent women. The presenters will review a research project that examines this issue and discuss implications for programming and engagement of affluent women. As well,  the workshop will invite exploration of strategies for building capacity within the human services sector to recognize and support affluent survivors. 

About the Presenters:

Carrie McManus is a social worker and the Director of Programs at Sagesse, a Calgary agency that empowers individuals, organizations and communities to break the cycle of domestic violence. Carrie focuses her work on supporting individuals and creating system level change. She has presented at conferences across North America, Australia, and Europe. In her time at Sagesse, Carrie has been instrumental in furthering the mission and vision of disrupting structures of violence across Alberta. 

Kirsty Blair is the Stand By Coordinator at Sagesse. Her work is guided by a commitment to uproot the structures that maintain domestic violence by strengthening community capacity to recognize, respond, and refer. Her practice so far tells her that collaboration is much more fruitful than “expertise” and the alchemy of a group of people is always greater than the sum its parts.

4.6 Risk Assessment, Risk Management, and Safety Planning Strategies in Immigrant and Refugee Populations: A Review of the Literature

Randal David, Kate Rossiter and Abir Al Jamal

This workshop provides an overview of the systematic literature review conducted by the Canadian Domestic Homicide Prevention Initiative for Vulnerable Populations (Immigrant and Refugee Research Team) on risk assessment, risk management, and safety planning for immigrant and refugee populations at risk of domestic violence and/or domestic homicide in Canada. Using a variety of theoretical (e.g., intersectional, learning, subcultural, nested ecology) and methodological frameworks, a broad range of academic and grey literature was reviewed to capture the complex experiences and dynamics of domestic violence and homicide within these populations. While few culturally-specific risk assessment, risk management, and safety planning tools were identified in the literature, available tools and critical analysis highlighted the importance of culturally appropriate services and interventions that address the unique risks, barriers, and needs that exist among at-risk immigrant and refugee groups (e.g., language, isolation, legal status). Further, socio-cultural, post-migration, and acculturation-based risk factors and dynamics impact the likelihood that domestic violence and homicide perpetration and victimization will occur within these populations. Subsequently, these unique dynamics denote the broader cultural contexts and understandings necessary to inform intervention and prevention strategies in severe, escalating, and potentially fatal cases of domestic violence within immigrant and refugee populations. In addition to the presenters, the research was also conducted with Sarah Yercich and Jordan Fairbairn. 

About the Presenters:

Randal David, PhD candidate at Western University. He has been supervised by Dr. Katreena Scott. He iss developing an original coding scheme to analyze father’s descriptions of their children to better understand how fathers who have been abusive in their families perceive their children. In clinical practice, Randal has worked with perpetrators and child victims of domestic violence. For his dissertation, he is interested in looking at domestic homicide prevention among immigrant families. 

Kate Rossiter, PhD is Research & Projects Manager at the Ending Violence Association of BC (EVA BC) and Adjunct Professor in the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. She was Associate Director of the FREDA Centre for Research on Violence Against Women and Children at SFU, before undertaking a Postdoctoral Fellowship with the Canadian Observatory on the Justice System’s Response to Intimate Partner Violence . Kate is Co-Lead of the Immigrant and Refugee Populations Research Team for the Canadian Domestic Homicide Prevention Initiative for Vulnerable Populations.

Abir Al Jamal, MSW, is a social worker at the Muslim Resource Centre for Social Support and Integration in London, ON. Sheand conducts research in the fields of domestic violence, domestic homicide, and social issues that affect newcomers’ communities.  She spent twenty years in Lebanon as a social worker with national and international social services working with refugees, internally displaced, and vulnerable populations.

4.7 Restorative Justice and Domestic Violence: A Mi’kmaw approach

BeV Walker and Paula Marshall

In this presentation, members of the Mi’kmaw Family Healing Program and Mi’kmaw Legal Support Network (MLSN) in Nova Scotia will share their restorative approach to bringing people and resources together to repair the harms created by domestic violence. This protocol is both victim and culturally sensitive.   The approach strives to engage victims in a holistic manner by using Indigenous ways of knowing. Every case is considered on an individual basis. The presenters will also illustrate how flexibility is important in fostering safety.   

About the Presenters:

Bev Walker is the Program Supervisor of the Mi’kmaw Family Healing Centre, a transition house for First Nations women and their children in Milbrook, Nova Scotia. She has been with the Centre for close to 20 years.  Bev is a Mi’kmaq woman from Sipekne’katik and loves to work with and for First Nations communities in an effort to increase healing. 

Paula Marshall is the Executive Director of the Mi’kmaw Legal Support Network Project. She is a Mi’kmaq woman from Potlotek and a strong and committed advocate for access to justice for First Nations.  MLSN acts as an overarching umbrella organization that provides a culturally sensitive approach to justice support programs for Indigenous people in Nova Scotia.

4.8 Grassroots community peacebuilding: A rural community defines the causes of IPV and the means of preventing it

Nancy Ross

This presentation will feature doctoral research that focused on identifying local perceptions of the causes of IPV and the means of preventing it within a grassroots community peacebuilding framework. This research linked peace studies with the IPV  and addictions fields. Survivors and professionals from a variety of community settings were amongst the participants.  Situating IPV within a peacebuilding framework provides a critical lens that moves away from a narrow focus on individual responsibility and toward including community responsibility to challenge the social determinants of violence.  Those interviewed describe how cultural and structural violence is experienced.  They also articulated a deeper desire to foster alternative peaceful practices. Recommendations included a focus on social responsibility and community values, the culture of alcohol, decolonization, peace education, engagement of boys and men, porn and rape culture and increased availability of restorative approaches. 

About the Presenter:

Nancy Ross, PhD teaches at the School of Social Work, Dalhousie University. She recently completed her PhD in Peace Studies and International Development at Bradford University, UK. Her research focused on applying a peacebuilding framework to interpersonal violence. Prior to entering academia she worked in a variety of addiction and mental health settings. 

4.9 Progress and challenges in researching domestic homicide: A focus on the Canadian Domestic Homicide Prevention Initiative with Vulnerable Populations

Myrna Dawson, Anna-Lee Straatman and Marcie Campbell

The Canadian Domestic Homicide Prevention Initiative is a five-year project that focuses on four populations who experience increased vulnerability to domestic violence and homicide – Indigenous populations, immigrant and refugee populations, children exposed to domestic violence as well as rural, remote and northern populations. The primary emphasis is on identifying more nuanced strategies to reduce risk and increase safety for these populations. In this presentation, we provide an overview of this project and its research to date, including preliminary findings from a large-scale literature review as well as results from a stakeholder survey . We also provide an overview of interviews conducted to date with stakeholders and progress on the development of the national database of domestic homicides. 

About the Presenters:

Myrna Dawson, PhD is a Professor and Canada Research Chair in Public Policy in Criminal Justice, Director of the Centre for the Study of Social and Legal Responses to Violence , University of Guelph in Ontario. She is also Co-Director of the Canadian Domestic Homicide Prevention Initiative and Project Lead on the recently-launched Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability. She has spent the past 20 years researching social and legal responses to violence with particular emphasis on violence against women and femicide.

Anna-Lee Straatman, PhD is Project Manager for the Canadian Domestic Homicide Prevention Initiative with Vulnerable Populations. She has several years of project management experience related to the impact of intimate partner violence, prevention, and program evaluation. Anna-Lee has conducted interviews with more than two hundred adult survivors of child sexual abuse, including historical abuse in institutions. Anna-Lee has worked with various victim service agencies developing educational and training materials regarding trauma, domestic violence and other crimes against persons. 

Marcie Campbell, PhD is currently the national research coordinator for the Canadian Domestic Homicide Prevention Initiative with Vulnerable Populations (CDHPIVP). Marcie conducts research on issues related to children exposed to domestic violence and domestic homicide prevention. Since 2006, Marcie has been a member of the Ontario Domestic Violence Death Review Committee (DVDRC). She also served as a research consultant for the evaluation of the Defending Childhood initiative in the U.S. Marcie co-authored the book, “Growing Up with Domestic Violence,” (Hogrefe Publishing, date?), dealing with children exposed to domestic violence. 

Concurrent Session 5 – Thursday, March 22, 2018

3:30 pm – 4:30 pm

5.1 Providing Shelter and Services in Rural Communities

Marina Martens, Lisa Newell-Bain, Helen Morrison and Jennifer Gagnon

In this presentation, three executive directors of rural women’s shelters will share the innovative ways in which they have met the unique challenges facing rural women who have been abused.  Women and their families experiencing domestic violence in rural communities too often find there are few services provided locally, almost no safe, affordable housing, few job opportunities, limited public transportation and often geographic isolation.  The presenters will share how their organizations have found ways of overcoming these challenges by collaborating with other community agencies which can offer safe, holistic and trauma informed services to women and their families.

About the Presenters:

Marina Martens has been the Executive Director of Leeside Society in Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia since 1998. The Society provides services to women and their children experiencing violence. It includes the Leeside Transition House, a 9-bed shelter, a 24-hour crisis line, and Outreach Services in Richmond and Inverness Counties and the Town of Port Hawkesbury. The Society also operates Strait Area Women's Place, a women's centre.

Lisa Newell-Bain has been the Executive Director of the South West Nova Transition House Association, Juniper House, since 2009. Juniper House provides a 15-bed shelter, 24-hour crisis line and outreach services to women and their children experiencing violence or abuse in Yarmouth, Shelburne and Digby Counties. Prior to her work with this organization, Lisa has worked with a variety of grass roots, community-based organizations locally and abroad.

Helen Morrison has been the Executive Director  at Cape Breton Transition House, Willow House, in Sydney, Nova Scotia for 7 years. She has worked with women and children who are being abused and/or experiencing homelessness for over 25 years. Willow House shelter can house up to 20 women and children and also offers Outreach, Child and Youth, Second Stage, and Sexual Assault programs, as well as, a clinical therapist on staff and a 24/7 crisis line.

Jennifer Gagnon is a recent addition to the Transition House Association of Nova Scotia, as the Executive Director of Harbour House in Bridgewater. Jennifer brings a Master in Social Work, Leadership in Human Services perspective to the work, alongside a broad spectrum of experience working within governments, health systems and non-profit communities.

All four executive directors work at shelters that are part of the Transition House Association of Nova Scotia (THANS), which has 11 member organizations across the province.

5.2 Safe & Understood: Developing  Collaboration between children’s mental health and child protection services

Angelique Jenney, Katreena Scott, Lisa Tomlinson, and Lisa Sura-Liddell

This workshop focuses on the development of collaborative practice at the intersection of child mental health and child protection services to meet the needs of young children exposed to domestic violence (DV).Given the developmental and neurocognitive vulnerability of very young children, it is essential that services work together to reduce the impact of abuse  Safe & Understood is a multi-site research project designed to consider various approaches to intervention for this vulnerable population. This presentation will focus on the Ontario based component which engages child protection and child mental health service partners in implementing a model with two clinical parenting interventions – Mothers in Mind, for mother-child dyads focused on preventing impairment, and Caring Dads, which engages fathers to prevent recurrence. 

About the Presenters:

Angelique Jenney, PhD is the Wood’s Homes Research Chair in Children’s Mental Health at the University of Calgary and Associate Director of the Safe & Understood Project. She has over 20 years of experience working in the children’s mental health and violence against women sectors. Angelique’s research and program development has been devoted to understanding and responding to the impact of relational violence on children and families. 

Katreena Scott, PhD holds the Canada Research Chair in Family Violence Prevention and Intervention at the University of Toronto. She is internationally known for her research on empirically and ethically sound policies and practices for intervening with men who have used violence against their partners and/or children. She is responsible for developing The Caring Dads program (www.caringdads.org) which is currently running in many sites across Canada, the US, UK, Ireland, Wales, Germany, Australia and Sweden.

Lisa Tomlinson, PhD is the Director of Intake at the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto She has been working with children and their families for almost 25 years, with 17 years in the area of child welfare with a particular focus on woman abuse. Lisa is currently a sessional trainer at the Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies and is an Anti- Oppression Trainer for the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto.

Lisa Sura-Liddell is the Manager of Program Development and Implementation, Family Violence Services for Child Development Institute, a multi-service child and family agency in Toronto. Lisa has 17 years experience in the violence against women and children's mental health sectors. Currently Ms. Sura-Liddell is the lead on the expansion of the program across Ontario. 

5.3 More than Intimate Partner Violence - Indigenous, Racialized, Migrant Women and Women with Disabilities Unite to Address Structural Violence 

Doris Rajan and Patty Musgrave

This presentation will focus on efforts to address ongoing violence experienced by Indigenous, refugee women and women with disabilities. While mainstream women's groups increasingly recognize that practices/policies have failed to support marginalized women, the foundation of the VAW sector is still firmly planted in a mainstream, individualized, intimate partner model. Since 2015 refugee, Indigenous, refugee and disability workers/activists in Moncton, Saint John, Toronto, Regina and Vancouver have been involved in a national project aimed at addressing the high rates of violence disproportionately experienced by these groups of women. This presentation will examine what the presenters have learned about creating solidarity, and share research on a critical pedagogy of solidarity aimed at uniting these groups of women to challenge structural violence. 

About the Presenters:

Doris Rajan is Director of Social Development, Institute for Research and Development on Inclusion and Society and is also a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto. The focus of her work is on violence against women, access to justice, migrant, Indigenous issues and disability rights. Her work involves designing community-based social development/ applied research projects with international and national organizations. Doris has taught community development courses at a variety of post-secondary institutions. She has written training resources and advised national and international NGO’s on how to conduct effective community-based research and development strategies.. 

Patty Musgrave is an Indigenous Student Advisor at New Brunswick Community College as well as a member of the Sex Workers Action Group in Moncton and the Westmoreland Albert Violence Prevention Network. She is a grateful recovering woman who acknowledges her ancestry from both Irish and Mi'kmaq grandmothers and comes from Unamaki in Mi'maq territory, Cape Breton Island Nova Scotia. 

5.4 Risk assessment, management and safety planning: Strategies for children 

Marcie Campbell, Laura Olszowy, and Mike Saxton

This workshop provides an overview of a systematic literature review, conducted by the Canadian Domestic Homicide Prevention Initiative with Vulnerable Populations (CDHPIVP) examining the lethal risk posed to children living with domestic violence (DV). Additionally, responses from professionals captured in an online national survey regarding the prevalence and nature of risk assessment, risk management and safety planning that includes children is highlighted. While child homicides in the context of DV are rare events, intervening and preventing these tragedies requires specific knowledge of risk assessment, safety planning and risk management strategies. The workshop will highlight romising practices to assess risk for children and enhance partnerships with community agencies,with a special focus on barriers to services and strategies currently being used across the country. 

About the Presenters:

Marcie Campbell conducts research on issues related to woman abuse and children exposed to domestic violence, with specific attention to the role of perpetrators and domestic homicide prevention. Marcie was the research assistant for the Domestic Violence Death Review Committee (DVDRC) of Ontario until 2013 when she was appointed committee member. She also served as a research consultant to the evaluation of the Defending Childhood initiative in the U.S. Marcie co-authored with Peter G. Jaffe and David A. Wolfe, the book, Growing up with domestic violence (Hogrefe Publishing, 2012) dealing with children exposed to domestic violence.

Laura Olszowy is a doctoral student in School and Applied Child Psychology at Western University under the supervision of Dr. Peter Jaffe. Her doctoral research focuses on the challenges that child protection workers face in assessing and managing risk, and planning for safety in the lives of children and families impacted by domestic violence.  Her clinical experiences in the social service and education sectors have illuminated the key role that community collaborations have in providing support to those impacted by domestic violence. 

Michael Saxton is a PhD student at Western University and a Graduate Research Assistant at the Centre for Research & Education on Violence Against Women and Children. Working under the supervision of Dr. Peter Jaffe, his previous research focus has been on domestic violence (DV) and its impact on the workplace, as well as victims’ experiences with the legal response to DV. Currently his research is focused on understanding the barriers police officers’ face in assessing and managing risk in high-risk DV cases in Ontario, with a particular interest on police response to DV calls when children are present. 

5.5 Many roads to ending domestic violence: Creative Counselling practices with women and men

Jane Donovan, Eric Ross, Stephanie Wells and Denise Landry

 This presentation will focus on creative ways of engaging men, women and families to help them move away from the effects of abuse and toward creating alternatives.  This presentation outlines processes for helping men take responsibility for stopping abuse and for building respectful and safe relationships. This work draws on music therapy, art therapy, yoga, body work and outdoor adventure therapy.  Counselling strategies with men are aimed at increasing safety for women and children through the use of individual, group and conjoint conversations.  Among other themes,  group work focuses on inviting parents to study the effects of their violence on children as well as reflecting on the relationship between their own childhood experiences and how they choose to parent.

About the Presenters:

Jane Donovan, M.Ed has worked as a therapist in the field of domestic violence since 2006, at Bridges Institute in Truro, Nova Scotia and now as Clinical Supervisor at New Start Counselling in Halifax. Her therapeutic approach includes Narrative Therapy, Solution-Focused Therapy, Feminist Theory and Art Therapy. Jane has attended and presented at numerous national and international conferences and workshops on Domestic Violence and Narrative Therapy. Her creative approach has included facilitating group therapy for men who have perpetrated violence, and art therapy, outdoor adventure therapy groups for women addressing the effects of domestic abuse and/or violence. 

Eric Ross, M.Ed uses a therapeutic approach rooted in Narrative Therapy and Music Therapy. His clinical focus is working with men who have used abuse and/or violence in their intimate partner relationships. Eric is pursuing advanced training in music psychotherapy at the Therapeutic Arts Institute (Indianapolis, IN). He has presented at provincial and national conferences, spoken with community groups, and shared his work at professional development events to promote understanding of the importance of working with men who have used abusive behaviours.

Stephanie Wells, M.Ed is a therapist at New Start Counselling in Halifax counselling men who use violence and abuse in their relationships. has a graduate diploma in Art Therapy from the Vancouver Art Therapy Institute and completed her M.Ed. in Counselling at Acadia University. In addition, she has obtained clinical certifications and professional development specific to trauma, attachment, family systems and intimate partner relationships and she was recently invited to speak on a panel about the impact of family violence on children. The majority of Stephanie’s experience over the past 15 years has focused on supporting families, children and individuals impacted by violence and abuse. 

Denise Landry, M.Ed works at Avalon Sexual Assault Centre in Halifax as the Initial Response Trauma Therapist. She is a Professional Level Kripalu Yoga teacher, and a graduate of Level II training in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, and has been working with New Start clients and staff to develop a mindfulness-based, neurobiological informed yoga programme. 

5.6 Men’s Responsibility: Growing Words into Concepts

Stephen Gaddis and Benoit Molinie

Two men share reflections on their multi-year effort to help end one of the men's abusive ways of being. This presentation will offer insider knowledges about Benoit's journey to become someone who cares about "taking responsibility" for his actions in relationships with other people. Each man will share the challenges he faced while attempting to navigate this rite of passage journey. 

About the Presenter:

Stephen Gaddis, PhD is a narrative therapist in Salem, MA. Steve is the director of the Narrative Therapy Initiative, a postgraduate training program for people interested in offering help from a narrative worldview perspective. He grew up in a home where IPV was prevalent and unnamed. Steve has a Ph.D. in family therapy and an international postgraduate diploma from the Dulwich Centre in Adelaide, Australia. 

5.7 Interagency Case Assessment Teams: Improving Risk Management and Safety Planning in High Risk Cases

Debby Hamilton and Kate Rossiter

This workshop will describe Interagency Case Assessment Teams (ICATs) – which are community partnership groups including police, child welfare, anti-violence, corrections, health, and others with a goal of keeping domestic violence victims, their children, the perpetrator, and the community safer. This goal is achieved by legally and ethically sharing risk-related information using a structured tool, and collaboratively building safety plans and offender management plans. There are currently more than 60 ICATs in British Columbia and research is underway to measure their effectiveness and efficacy.

About the Presenters:

Debby Hamilton is the Manager of Interagency Case Assessment Teams (ICAT) and the Community Coordination for Women’s Safety (CCWS) program at the Ending Violence Association of BC. She has more than 25 years of experience in front-line, leadership and community coordination anti-violence work, in both rural and urban settings. The focus of her work has been primarily women and children affected by intimate partner violence and sexual assault. Debby is also co-founder of the North Okanagan ICAT, a provincial pioneer in interagency case assessment and safety planning for highest risk domestic violence and one of the first VAWIR Coordinators hired through the BC Attorney General’s initiative in 1989. 

Kate Rossiter, PhD is Research & Projects Manager at the Ending Violence Association of BC (EVA BC) and Adjunct Professor in the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. She was Associate Director of the FREDA Centre for Research on Violence Against Women and Children at SFU, before undertaking a Postdoctoral Fellowship with the Canadian Observatory on the Justice System’s Response to Intimate Partner Violence. Kate is Co-Lead of the Immigrant and Refugee Populations Research Team for the Canadian Domestic Homicide Prevention Initiative for Vulnerable Populations.

5.8 Helping Couples Develop Respectful Relationships after Domestic Violence

Felicia Eghan

This presentation will focus on empowering couples and families to embrace non-violent strategies to build respectful, safe and strong relationships. The workshop will focus on elements of strong resilient relationships: assertive communication, active listening, managing conflict and forgiveness. While families are proudly effected by domestic violence, the wider community also is negatively effected. Strategies for addressing domestic conflict through healthy relationships such as connected love, empathy, respect, healthy communication, and conflict resolution are essential for promoting healthy families and communities. 

About the Presenter: 

Felicia R. Eghan, PhD retired as an Associate Professor in Family Studies and Gerontology Department at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax after 25 years of service. She taught family relationship courses such as:Dynamics of Family Relationships, Resilient Families, Family and Personal Finance, and Conflict Management and Mediation. Currently she serves on the Advisory Council on the Status of Women board dedicated to the wellbeing and advancement of women and their families. She is the CEO of BOSFAM: Builders of Strong Families and Marriages. She is a relationship consultant, mentor, mediator and educator helping, families, engaged, cohabiting, and married couples, to build healthy relationships to prevent violence. 

5.9 Men’s Intervention in the Context of Coordinated Child, Youth & Family-centred Support

ART FISHER, BEN HIRTLE, CHRIS HESSIAN, DONETTE GETSON, GILL LANDRY, DONNA CROZIER, JOSH PURDY AND BJ ARSENAULT

In this presentation, the Family Service of Western Nova Scotia (FSWNS) team will explore how coordinated Child, Youth and Family-centered support helps to prevent violence at personal, interpersonal and structural levels. This kind of support also advances children’s rights and health, as well as a socially and financially effective transformation of existing social service structures.  The FSWNS team has worked in partnership with government and community to develop Freeman House, which offers a coordinated Child, Youth and Family centered support and services prototype in Nova Scotia. Through linking Intervention with Prevention, this model connects underserved individuals and families with free support and services spanning the Social Determinants of Health.

About the Presenters:

Art Fisher has been an IPV practitioner for twenty years. He has provided hundreds of trainings internationally, and consultations for government, on preventive, violence- and trauma-informed service transformation. He is Executive Director of Family Service of Western Nova Scotia, Manager of Freeman House, and Co-Founder: Nova Scotia Trauma Informed Network.

Ben Hirtle has been counseling individuals, couples and families at FSWNS since April 2016. He has previously worked in the non-profit, government, health, and academic sectors. In 2011 Ben graduated with a Master of Social Work from Dalhousie University where he has since taught social policy and international social work.

Chris Hessian is a Men’s Interventionist with FSWNS. The men she works with include those who use, or are at risk of using, violence. Previously, Chris has worked within the fields of community capacity building, corrections and homelessness. She is currently completing an MSW at Dalhousie School of Social Work.

Donette Getson is a Youth Outreach Worker with Family Service of Western Nova Scotia in Lunenburg County, supporting Youth 16 to 29. Donette works within a coordinated community Hub continuum linking Youth Outreach with Family Support, Men’s Intervention, Housing Support, Primary Health Care access and local support and services.  

Gill Landry has worked with Adsum House and is now a Social Worker with Housing Support in Lunenburg and Queens Counties, a federally funded Housing First program located with Harbour House and Freeman House. The Program supports people 16 years and over experiencing multiple barriers to finding and maintaining housing.

Donna Crozier has worked in the USA, at Phoenix in Halifax, and now with Housing Support in Lunenburg and Queens Counties, a federally funded Housing First program located with Harbour House and Freeman House. The Program supports people 16 years and over experiencing multiple barriers to finding and maintaining housing.

Josh Purdy has fifteen years experience providing support and services together with underserved Youth in rural Nova Scotia. Currently Josh works within Housing Support, Youth Outreach and Men's Intervention Programs, providing coordinated service delivery linking young and adult men with supports spanning the Social Determinants of Health.

BJ Arsenault, MEd (Counsellor Education) is a Men’s Interventionist with Family Service of Western Nova Scotia working in collaboration with community partners in Windsor, Kentville, Middleton and Digby. BJ has extensive and recognized experience working with men in the context of Correctional Services, Nova Scotia Department of Justice.

5.10 Intimate Partner Violence and the Debilitating Effects of Shame on Men

Magi Cooper

In this interactive presentation, Magi will explore how shame can keep people stuck in a cycle of helplessness, hopelessness, disconnection and fear.  All of these factors support conflict, and harming behaviours.   She will underscore the importance of making distinctions between shame and guilt in efforts to help men move from the disempowering downward helix of obligated accountability (shame) to the more courageous, vulnerable and empowering upward helix of sustainable, willing accountability (guilt). She will also explore the transforming power of self-compassion and the role that this practice can help men reconnect to their common humanity and place in the world.

About the Presenter:

Magi Cooper has been a dedicated advocate of domestic peace for over 25 years. She has worked at the Justice Institute in the Children Who Witnessed Abuse Counsellor Training Program.  For many years, Magi has also facilitated Respectful Relationship Programs for men incarcerated for spousal assault and Relationship Violence Program for the Ministry of Public Safety & Solicitor General, Corrections Branch. Magi is a Certified Hakomi Therapist and Trainer and a Right Use of Power Trainer and Board Member. She also sits on the MCC End Abuse Program Advisory Committee.

Concurrent Session 6 – Friday, March 23, 2018

10:00 am – 10:55 am

6.1 Risk Assessment, Risk Management, and Safety Planning Strategies in Indigenous Populations 

Olivia Peters and Claudette Dumont-Smith 

This workshop examines the literature review conducted by the Canadian Domestic Homicide Prevention Initiative with Vulnerable Population’s (CDHPIVP). The Indigenous Populations Research Team focuses on risk assessment, risk management, and safety planning for Indigenous populations in Canada. A broad range of literature was reviewed to capture current research and knowledge of the existing tools, strategies, and needs specific to Indigenous populations.   This workshop will review some of the challenges of addressing heightened risk of domestic violence and domestic homicide within the context of colonialism. Key findings, research priorities, and implications for practice are also discussed. 

About the Presenters:

Claudette Dumont-Smith is a registered nurse and holds her Master's degree in Public Administration from Queen's University. She has been actively involved in the field of Aboriginal health since 1974. Ms. Dumont-Smith was the executive director of the Native Women’s Association of Canada until she retired in April, 2016 and continues to sit on various boards in the Indigenous health and social sectors.

Olivia Peters is a Master’s student in Criminology at the University of Manitoba. Her research focuses on domestic violence and domestic homicide prevention. She has conducted research focusing on the overrepresentation of Indigenous peoples in violent victimization and perpetration. Olivia is currently working with RESOLVE, a tri-provincial research centre on Interpersonal Violence..

6.2 Men's constructed narratives of IPV: Using a  biographic narrative interpretive research method

David Delay and Bolaji Akinyele-Akanbi 

This presentation will focus on the ways men describe their experience of using intimate partner violence (IPV). The presentation draws on a Manitoba study that uses the biographical narrative interpretive method to compare life events against men’s corresponding narrative constructions, with a specific attention on men’s reports of their violence to police and probation services. The presentation will also explore both the construction of masculine indentities and men’s performance of these idententies. The research project was developed as a partnership among various community players from different service sectors, with support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The presentation will look at the development of these partnerships, the methodology and theoretical concepts of the study and the preliminary findings. 

About the Presenters:

David Delay, PhD is a social work practice researcher and Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Social Work at University of Manitoba. His research includes previous studies of men who have participated in counseling to address their use of intimate partner violence and abuse. He has presented his research at previous CDVC gatherings. 

Bolaji Akinyele-Akanbi is a social worker with Winnipeg Child and Family Services in Manitoba, where she works mostly with domestic-violence cross-cultural related cases... Since 2012, she has been the volunteer director for Rehoboth Christian Centre in Winnipeg. Bolaji volunteers time to counsel community members dealing with domestic violence and advocate for parents in custody battles with their abusive partners. 

6.3 Changing the narratives about women:  Reducing barriers to services 

Allison Mclauchlan 

This presentation will focus on reducing barriers to shelter services for women with substance abuse or mental health issues. To reduce these barriers, staff at the YW Calgary Sheriff King Home Emergency shelter examined how their own negative stories about women were shaping and influencing the women’s identities and the services they received. Staff’s misconceptions and personal judgements often influenced their shelter practices, leading to women being labelled as “difficult to house” or denying them services. This presentation will discuss the difficulties and successes the shelter faced when staff both challenged their unhelpful assumptions and practices and moved toward a low-barrier, harm reduction approach to shelter services.

About the Presenter:

Allison Mclauchlan is currently the manager of the YW Calgary Sheriff King emergency shelter and outreach programs. She worked for Scotland’s lead Domestic Abuse agency, Women’s Aid as a training facilitator before going on to develop and run a rural outreach domestic abuse program. Since arriving in Canada in 2009, Allison has continued to work with women and children experiencing abuse and violence.

6.4 I CAN Plan 4 Safety: A Personalized online Safety Planning and Health Promotion Tool for Women

Marilyn Ford-Gilboe 

This presentation will focus on I CAN Plan 4 Safety, a personalized online safety and health intervention for Canadian women experiencing IPV. The research project measuring the impact of this interactive, online tool included feedback from 462 women. This workshop will look at how online services demonstrate tangible benefits for women, complement existing shelter services and are feasible to maintain over time. 

About the Presenter:

Marilyn Ford-Gilboe, PhD is Professor and Women's Health Research Chair in Rural Health, Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing, University of Western Ontario. For the past 2 decades, she has led research focused on the health, economic and social impacts of violence against women, and the development of trauma-and-violence-informed interventions and services for women experiencing intimate partner violence. She is particularly interested in interventions and services appropriate for women living in rural communities. 

6.5 Violence threat assessment and IPV

Tracey Marshall

This presentation will focus on threat assessments in cases of potential IPV.  Three approaches will be discussed:  unstructured professional judgment, actuarial risk assessment, and structured professional judgment.  These approaches emphasize the importance of detailed information gathering from multiple sources, multidisciplinary case management teams and transparency in articulation of risk reduction strategies.   Conducting effective violence threat assessments requires specialized training in the principles of violence threat assessment and management for law enforcement agencies, justice professionals  and community service providers. 

About the Presenter:

Tracey Marshall is the president of Threat Management Matters Inc. She has over 20 years of law enforcement experience both with the Toronto Police Service and the Durham Regional Police Service, serving most recently as a Detective in the Threat Assessment Unit. She has been qualified as an expert witness in the Ontario Court of Justice. She is a member of the Canadian Association of Threat Assessment Professionals which is part of a world-wide organization of threat assessment professionals. 

6.6 Domestic Violence in the Workplace: Building Alliances & Making Change

Barb MacQuarrie

This workshop will look at the relationship between the labour movement and domestic violence experts in Canada.   The first national study on the impact of domestic violence on workers and the workplace was released in 2014. Since then there has been a growing awareness of both the opportunities and the imperative to address domestic violence in the workplace. Several provinces have changed labour legislation to provide leave for survivors of domestic violence and the federal government is considering similar provisions. Unions have also sucessfully bargained for supports for survivors in collective agreements.  The presentation will consider the future directions of this partnership between the domestic violence movement and the labour movement. 

About the Presenter:

Barb MacQuarrie, PhD is the Community Director of the Centre for Research and Education on Violence against Women & Children in the Faculty at Western University. She develops and promotes evidence based education and prevention initiatives involving both community-based and university-based partners. Barb coordinated the first national Canadian study on the impacts of domestic violence on workers and the workplace and she convenes the International Domestic Violence at Work Network. 

6.7 Learning from Women about the Connections between Violence, Trauma, Substance Use and Mental Health Issues and What They Need to Heal

Norma Jean Profitt

This presentation will provide an overview of the literature about the connection between violence and trauma in women’s lives and substance use and mental health issues.  Norma Jean will also describe the patterns and connections to the literature that she has seen in her work as the Women’s Services Coordinator in a Mental Health and Addictions Department.. She will share what she has learned from women about what they need to heal, including the supports, services and broader social changes they want, as well as their ideas on the social determinants of health that impinge on women’s well-being and quality of life. 

About the Presenter:

Norma Jean Profitt, PhD was associate professor in the School of Social Work, St. Thomas University, where she taught the women and social work course. She also developed the first social work course on lesbian, gay, bisexual and Two-Spirit peoples as well as the first course on international perspectives on violence against women at the University of New Brunswick. In 2016, she received a Governor General’s Award in Commemoration of the Person’s Case, honouring Canadians who advance gender equality. She is co-editing a book on spirituality and social justice with Cyndy Baskin of Ryerson University.

6.8 Co-constructing the meaning of taking responsibility for men who have abused

Yoshiyuki Takano

In this presentation, Yoshi will discuss the importance of co-constructing the meaning of taking responsibility and re-consider the clinical therapeutic processes that foster responsibility-taking.  Many intervention programs for men who have perpetrated violence against their intimate partners often focus on men and taking responsibility. Often such definitions of ‘taking responsibility’ develop independently from the experiences of the women and children they have harmed. . In defining ‘taking responsibitiy’ men need to include their partner’s and children’s perspectives and language.  These voices need to be consulted to define what men can do to meaningfully repair the harm they have created

About the Presenter:

Yoshiyuki Takano, PhD works at the John Howard Society of Grande Prairie, Alberta. He is an experienced clinician and researcher in the field of domestic violence. Yoshi is also specialized in program development and risk assessment. He has an extensive experience with cross-cultural work in domestic violence and has published “Coping with domestic violence by Japanese Canadian women” in the Handbook of multicultural perspectives on stress and coping (2006). 

6.9 Reaching for a Good Life program: A bio-psycho-social approach with men who abuse

Ann Marie Dewhurst and Karen Nielsen

This presentation will focus on the Reaching for a Good Life program, which offers a bio-psycho-social approach with men who have abused.  The presenters will share their community-based program designed to meet the needs of non-mandated men who have used violence and abuse. Ann Marie and Karen emphasize the importance of men developing  self-regulation skills and adopting a non-shaming approach to engage men in the change process.  This presentation will share the evaluation outcomes of men attending the program.  This research indicates that participating in the program results in men demonstrating significant change in both behavioural self-regulation skills  and meta-cognitive skills, as well as significant decreases in hostility and aggressive attitudes toward their partners. 

About the Presenters:

Ann Marie Dewhurst, PhD is a psychologist and Karen Nielsen, PhD is a social worker and both are in private practice. They have each been providing individual and group counselling services to men and women dealing with intimate partner violence for over twenty-five years. 

6.10 Representing femicide: Using the media and court reports to identify dominant attitudes and stereotypes about violence against women

Myrna Dawson

This presentation will introduce the concept of ‘geography of justice,’ which is how media and the courts represent dominant attitudes and stereotypes about femicide. This presentation describes the evolution of the Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability (CFOJA), its approach to defining femicide, proposed research and knowledge mobilization activities. Its initial research focus builds on knowledge generated by ongoing work documenting femicide in Ontario during the past 40 years. While women killed in the context of intimacy will be a key focus, a priority focus on marginalized and vulnerable women and girls at increased risk will be highlighted. 

About the Presenter:

Myrna Dawson, PhD is a Professor and Canada Research Chair in Public Policy in Criminal Justice, Director of the Centre for the Study of Social and Legal Responses to Violence University of Guelph. She is also Co-Director of the Canadian Domestic Homicide Prevention Initiative and Project Lead on the recently-launched Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability. She has spent the past 20 years researching social and legal responses to violence with particular emphasis on violence against women and femicide.

Concurrent Session 7 – Friday, March 23, 2018

11:05 am – 12:00 pm

7.1 Dancing in the Light: A First Nation conference to address sexual abuse and IPV  

Melinda Mack and Jeanette Apps

In this presentation, Melinda and Jeanette will share their experience developing the Dancing in the Light Conference, which began in 2009.  The Conference is focused on ending the normalization of sexual and spousal abuse and incest that happens in their small community. An important part of this process is the development of the Safety Committee which includes the RCMP, Victim Services, Transition House, Elder, public school representatives, independent school (band) elected chief and a court team. The impact of the Conference on the surrounding small communities has been significant and has begun to give a voice to those who have been harmed and to contribute to their healing. 

About the Presenters:

Melinda Mack is from the Nuxalk Nation in Bella Coola, British Columbia and is the founder of the Dancing in the Light Conference.  She has worked at the Naxalk Nation Transition House Society.  She has also worked as a Health Care Aid, jail guard, and Home support worker.   She has trained with Susan Aglukark and Theo Fleury.  She has also worked in partnership with the BC Lions and the Ending Violence Association of BC. 

Jeanette Apps lives in the Nuxalk Nation in Bella Coola British Columbia and is a victim services worker and serves on the Bella Coola Safety Committee. She was instrumental in the development of the Dancing in the Light Conference.   She ran a residential drug and alcohol treatment program for youth.  This program was a wilderness-based program where youth were taught how to live off the land and work together.

7.2 Reducing Barriers to Services for Women with Mental Wellness and Substance Use Issues

Pak Ka Liu

This workshop focuses on ways to improve access to housing for women with mental health and substance use issues who have experienced violence. These women often face obstacles accessing transition and second stage houses and safe homes. As a result, they are at increased risk of homelessness and further violence. The British Columbia Society of Transition Houses (BCSTH) Reducing Barriers framework will be presented and participants will have an opportunity to hear about some of the best practices for working with women with varying levels of mental wellness and substance use. The presentation will also discuss Open Doors, the Pan-Canada partnership between YWCA Canada, Women’s Shelters Canada, the Canadian Women’s Foundation and BCSTH. 

About the Presenter:

Pak Ka Liu is the Training Coordinator for the BCSTH.  She has been a frontline worker in transition houses, rape crisis centres and women’s centres. She incorporates an anti-oppressive intersectional feminist framework throughout her work to provoke meaningful dialogues on the complex, multifaceted factors that contribute to inequality and social injustice. 

7.3 WiseGuyz: A Healthy Relationship Program for Young Men 

Joe Campbell

WiseGuyz is a leading evidence-informed, healthy relationships program for grade nine boys in the Calgary area. In this workshop, Blake will discuss developing the program with the Calgary Sexual Health Centre and  will highlight research findings and best practices for engaging young men. WiseGuyz started in 2010 and has steadily expanded to include 13 schools and 4 community sites with 300 boys having completed the program in 2016/2017. Program participants experience enriched social and emotional capacities and fostering of critical thinking skills to negotiate and support the on-going development of healthy masculinities and relationships. 

About the Presenter:

Joe Campbell is a WiseGuyz Program Facilitator and Sexual Health Educator at the Calgary Sexual Health Centre.  A recent graduate from the Social Work Program at Mount Royal University, Joe is passionate about working with men and boys to explore the intersection of masculinity and violence. As a WiseGuyz Program Facilitator, Joe critically engages young men by initiating meaningful conversations about many of the aspects of masculinity that can perpetuate violence against women and other men. Joe wholeheartedly believes that through these conversations young men can forgo harmful masculine stereotypes and live their authentic selves. 

7.4 Circles of Safety and Support: A Prince Edward Island Response to Women’s Fear and Isolation

Kirstin Lund and Gloria Dennis

During this participatory workshop Kirstin and Gloria will introduce Circles of Safety and Support, which they began in 2006.  This process involves bringing together service providers, including police, a trained restorative justice mediator, a Family Violence Outreach Worker   and personal supporters to create and monitor a plan for women who have experienced violence. These service providers create customized responses for individual women based on what they want. Along with developing a safety plan, the process involves repairing the harms created not only by ex-partners but also by various state actors. 

About the Presenters:

Kirstin Lund, LLB. is a founding faculty member of the UPEI Centre for Conflict Resolution Studies. She has designed and taught numerous courses in mediation, conflict resolution and restorative justice, and is a national assessor for Family Mediation Canada’s certification program. As a co-founder of Justice Options for Women, she has coordinated projects focused on social change in the area of family violence prevention, and has been instrumental in the development of Circles of Safety and Support. 

Gloria Dennis is Outreach Service Coordinator at PEI Family Violence Prevention Services. In addition to providing one-on-one support, she has developed and facilitated numerous support groups for women and their children. Gloria is a steering committee member of Justice Options for Women, and was instrumental in the development of Circles of Safety and Support, for which she has acted as referring member and facilitator. 

7.5 Heard. Silenced. Ignored: The Voices of Affluent Women who experience IPV

Sharon Skaling

In this presentation, Sharon will present findings from a research project on affluent women’s experiences of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV).The research includes an analysis of face-to-face interviews with affluent women who experience IPV, as well as interviews through autobiography. Findings uncovered experiences that are unique to women in this socio-economic group, such as the absence of the traditional cycle of violence, lack of formal support systems (including transition houses) and little or no experience of IPV prior to the relationship. The research also documents women’s expereince following the interviews, as the participants described themselves as stronger and more confident, even though most did not seek help through formal support groups. 

About the Presenter:

Sharon Skaling, MA  is a researcher, trainer and a survivor of intimate partner violence.  She also has a Masters Degree in Women and Gender Studies.  She has served as Board President for Dress for Success Halifax and Chair for Bryony House/Halifax Transition House Association (2015-2017). 

7.6 Reclaiming Her Power: A second-stage housing approach to women’s recovery

Heather Byrne and Kira Kelly

In this presentation, Heather and Kira will share the process used at Alice Housing in Halifax, Nova Scotia to help women who have been abused.  Alice Housing offers second stage housing as well as programming for women and children that is responsive to what individual women want.  Programming for women is focused on improving physical and mental well-being, reducing trauma response symptoms and developing coping strategies.  Such programming also seeks to foster women’s autonomy and long-term independence through work, training or education. Programming for children focuses on reducing symptoms of anxiety, improving outcomes at school, developing coping strategies, and an understanding of types of abuse.

About the Presenters:

Heather Byrne, MSW is the Executive Director of Alice House. Heather has worked in the not-for profit sector for over 10 years.  Her roles have included the provision of front line service delivery and crisis counselling. She has contributed to harm reduction service delivery, women’s housing and homelessness, women’s support, safety and advocacy. 

Kira Kelly has been a social worker for over 10 years and is currently the Senior Counsellor at Alice House. She provides counselling, programing, and advocacy. She also directs program evaluation and delivery. Kira has worked with the Chebucto Family Centre in Spryfield in family and children’s support services. She continues to facilitate parenting programing in the community through the Izaak Walton Killam (IWK) Children’s Hospital.

7.7 Can I be a good father?: A group approach with Chinese fathers who have perpetrated IPV

Wai Hung Wallace Tsang

This presentation will focus on a group approach to working with Chinese fathers who have perpetrated IPV.  The program is designed to enhance men’s awareness of child-centered fathering and to help them become responsible  co-parents with their partners or ex-partners. The program seeks to help fathers foster a healthy and non-violent environment for their children.  The presentation will focus on qualitative research conducted with the  70 fathers as well as quantitative data that indicated a significant reduction in physical violence.  

About the Presenter:

Wallace Tsang, PhD is a lecturer at the College of Professional and Continuing Education at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He is a social worker and has  extensive experience working with families and the issue of IPV.   He is also a manager of a family services centre and Harmony House, the oldest anti-domestic violence service agency in Hong Kong.  He has been invited to present his work internationally on numerous occasions.   

7.8 Trauma-Informed care with men who use abuse

Kara Neustaedter and Hennes Doltze

In this presentation, Kara and Hennes will describe the benefits of using Trauma-Informed care in group work with men who have used abuse.  While there are many factors that contribute to men choosing abuse, men’s experiences of childhood trauma is strongly correlates to choosing abuse in adulthood. This presentation will share a trauma-informed service delivery approach that is used at an agency level as well as in conversations with men.  This presentation draws on the work of two agencies in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The presenters will illustrate how acknowledging the physiological and relational impacts of trauma makes men better able to take responsibility to stop their abuse and understand the effects of their violence on their partners and children.  

About the Presenters:

Kara Neustaedter has worked as a counsellor for men at Klinic Community Health in Winnipeg, Manitoba for ten years. She has also worked in correctional settings.  Kara has both individual and group conversations with men.    

Hennes Doltze is the program coordinator for the Choose 2 Change Domestic Violence Program with the Salvation Army in Winnipeg. He has worked in corrections, child welfare and mental health.  He engages with men who have been abusive toward their intimate partner or who have exploited vulnerable people for sex. His work draws on restorative justice. 

7.9 Non-criminal domestic dispute cases: Risk factors, escalation, and support services

Angela Hovey, Susan Scott and Lori Chambers

This presentation will provide evidence-based ideas about improving non-criminal risk evaluation and response to IPV.  The presentation will draw on data from 2429 non-criminal domestic violence incidents which occurred in a mid-sized Ontario city. It will compare police responses in criminal and non-criminal incidents, provide an appraisal of how effectively risk assessment is carried out in practice, and offer an overview analysis of non-criminal incidents data.  The presenters will engage participants in a discussion about improving non-criminal risk evaluation and response to IPV.

About the Presenters:

Angela Hovey, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at Lakehead University, Orillia Campus. Her current areas of research focus on domestic violence and policing practices, use of harm reduction approaches in domestic violence shelters, restorative justice based community programs for sex offenders, male survivor treatment evaluation, and student mental health accommodations.

Susan Scott, PhD is an Associate Professor with the School of Social Work at Lakehead University, Orillia Campus. She teaches social policy and all areas of macro social work. Susan has extensive practice experience in a broad range of social work fields, including justice, children’s services, mental health. She is currently engaged in research related to domestic violence and policing as well as the use of harm reduction approaches in women’s shelters.

Lori Chambers, PhD is a Professor in the Department of Women's Studies at Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, where she teaches courses in feminist theory, queer theory, reproductive justice, violence against women, and human rights. Her research interests include police responses to intimate partner violence, sexual violence policy, reproductive justice and policy, and women's legal history.

7.10 Child Welfare and VAW working together for the benefit of women and children

Silvia Samsa, Julie Fiddes, Ramona Sawatzky and Kendall Trembath

The presenters in this workshop  will describe several unique collaborations between service providers aimed at better serving victims of domestic violence and their children. One such collaboration is between the Violence Against Women Shelters and Child Welfare Societies (CAS) in Toronto.  Another is between Saakaate House and Kenora Rainy River District Child and Family Services in Kenora. The presenters will explore how these collaborations help women and children leaving abusive relationships.

About the Presenters:

Silvia Samsa is a social worker who has been in the field for over 30 years, working as a child advocate, consultant and as an Executive Director of various women’s shelters.  She has worked at Ernestine's Women's Shelter, YWCA Toronto, the Arise Women's shelter, Women’s Habitat,  and YWCA Canada.  She uses a trauma-informed approach.  
 
Julie Fiddes has been working in the Violence Against Women sector for over 16 years. She is a Social Service Worker and Assaulted Women and Children Counsellor.  She has worked with Women’s Habitat and  YWCA Toronto.  

Ramona Sawatzky is a Protection Supervisor at Kenora Rainy River Districts Child and Family Services, where she has worked  for 18 years. She has also worked at a woman’s shelter in Northwestern Ontario.

Kendall Trembath is the Executive Director of the Women’s Shalter Saakaate House in Manitoba.  She has also worked at Community Support Team with Creighton Youth Services and was a member of the Adolescent Sex Offender Treatment Team.

Concurrent Session 8 – Friday, March 23, 2018

1:00 pm – 1:55 pm

8.1 Working with Difference: Using racial and gender differences to help Indigenous men take responsibility for their abusive behaviour

Laura Boileau

This presentation explores the challenges and successes of a Yellowknife, Northwest Territories pilot program for men who have used violence in their relationships. This narrative therapy approach was led by a white woman and co-facilitated with an Indigenous man. Laura will present examples of the independently evaluated, evidence-based therapeutic approach for working cross-culturally with Indigenous male clients to reduce gender-based violence.  This approach involves a collaborative questioning of the influence of race and gender on men’s choices.  Laura will illustrate how her experiences are similar and different then the men’s experiences.  She will illustrate how she uses these similarities and differences in conversations with men to move the men toward taking responsibility.  . She will discuss how she engages in cross-cultural conversations that encourage individuals to take responsibility for increasing safety, respect, and peace both at home and in the community.

About the Presenter:

Laura Boileau, MA, has worked in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut as a counsellor with men who perpetrated violence since 2009.  She has a Masters in Counselling Psychology.  Laura has worked with numerous non-profit organizations to address issues of addictions, violence, homelessness, and the intergenerational impacts of Residential Schools.

8.2 Screening Family Law Cases for IPV: An evidence-based approach

Pamela Cross and Claire Farid

In this workshop, Pamela and Claire will present a review of the screening tools used by family law practitioners, mediators, the health sector and others.  This presentation will  compare and identify common elements among these tools and recommend best practices for a possible template for a family violence screening tool for family law practitioners. Many women access the family justice system to resolve parenting (custody and access) and child and/or spousal support  This presentation underscores the importance of lawyers considering IPV when assisting family law clients navigate the legal system.

About the Presenters:

Claire Farid is Senior Counsel/Manager of the Family and Children’s Law and Policy Unit at the federal Department of Justice. Claire is co-chair of the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Ad Hoc Working Group on Family Violence (related to better coordination between the family, criminal and child protection systems in family violence cases).  She has also worked as a Legal Policy Analyst with Status of Women Canada and Legal Counsel with the Cabinet Affairs Unit at Justice Canada.

Pamela Cross is Legal Director of Luke’s Place Support and Resource Centre in Durham Region, Ontario, which provides family court legal support to women leaving abusive relationships. Pamela’s work includes training and support for Ontario’s Family Court Support Workers, research, law reform advocacy and the development and delivery of training to lawyers, judges and others.. She is a member of the Ontario Premier’s Roundtable on Violence Against Women and is a frequent commentator on violence against women and the law for national media and at national and international conferences.

8.3 Developing a Domestic Violence Court

Nancy Komsa

In this presentation, Nancy will share how she developed the first Domestic Violence Court in the County of Oxford, Ontario (2016).  This process involves engaging the various parties involved in the justice system such as victims, accused persons, defence counsel, Judges, police, counsellors, victim service officers, probation officers, clergy and family members. The process strives to make each contact with the Court both meaningful and efficient for all those involved.

About the Presenter:

Nancy Komsa has been a lawyer and Crown attorney for over 24 years.  She is also a law professor.  She has recently developed a DV Court in Oxford County.

8.4 An Indigenous Community's Work on Gender-Based Violence in the Context of Healing

Annie ChaU and Juliana julian

In this presentation, Annie will discuss a Paqtnkek Mi'kmaw Nation approach to gender-based violence. Annie will describe her work with the project, Advancing Women's Equality: Partnering to Transform the Context and End Sexualized Violence. This project aims for systemic and cultural change within Paqtnkek and in the broader community of Antigonish, Nova Scotia through partnerships with the Antigonish Women's Resource Centre, the Strait Regional School Board, and St. Francis Xavier University. Both individual and community strategies for healing are explored, as well as issues in addressing violence in the context of colonialism, racism, and sexism.

About the Presenter:

Annie Chau is the Project Coordinator for Advancing Women's Equality: Partnering to Transform the Context and End Sexualized Violence. She has coordinated the Status of Women, Canada projects – Responding to and Preventing Sexual Violence in Paqtnkek Mi’kmaw Nation with the Antigonish Women’s Resource Centre and Preventing Violence against Women at Saint Francis Xavier University. Through this work, she developed a Mi’kmaw Community Engagement Toolkit on Sexual Violence and the pro-social bystander intervention program, Bringing In the Bystander.

Juliana Julian is the Health Director of her home community, Paqtnkek Mi’kmaw Nation. Her work involves providing programs and services that assist in the health and well-being of members of her community. A firm believer that community knowledge is key, she has collaborated to create opportunities for knowledge sharing. She has partnered with the Antigonish Women’s Resource Centre on the Responding to and Preventing Sexual Violence project, RCMP on the Domestic Violence Action group, and Guysborough Antigonish Health Authority on People Assessing Their Health project to develop Paqtnkek’s Community Health Impact Assessment Tool. Juliana is studying Education at StFX University.

8.5 Vicarious trauma: The impact on IPV Professionals and their relationships

Sharon Mailloux

IPV professionals are often at risk of being traumatized by hearing the traumatic experiences of those they are trying to help. This presentation will briefly define vicarious trauma and explore how IPV professionals personal relationships can be affected by the experience - often creating distance, conflict and disconnection.  Sharon will also explore how the family systems theories may be applied to understanding how and why our families are susceptible to experiencing the reverberating impacts of vicarious trauma. She will then share strategies for preventing vicarious trauma from impacting relationships with family and friends.  

About the Presenter:

Sharon Mailloux has worked with high risk populations and intimate partner violence over the last 15 years in rural Alberta.  She has worked with government departments and non-profit agencies. She specializes in working with families of IPV professionals who suffer from vicarious trauma.   

8.6 Domestic violence risk assessment & safety planning: Comparing Immigrant & Canadian-born victims of violence

Sakthi Kalaichandran

In this presention, Sakthi will describe her research comparing and contrasting risk factors for Immigrant and Canadian-born victims of Intimate Partner Violence.  The shifting sociodemographic profile of Canada's population calls for culturally-informed risk assessment, risk management & safety planning tools to protect as many people as possible from domestic violence & homicide. Sakthi will discuss how this research can inform the practice of front line workers and policy makers.

About the Presenter:

Sakthi Kalaichandran is an MA Counselling Psychology Candidate at Western University. She is conducting research that focuses on risk factors of domestic homicide in vulnerable populations, including immigrants & refugees. She holds a BA Honours Degree in Psychology from Brock University and a BA Honours Degree in International Relations from Western University. Her research experience in politics and psychology continues to influence her trauma-informed clinical work.

8.7 What’s in a name? Understanding who domestic homicide victims are and how they are identified

Jordan Fairbairn, Danielle Sutton, Myrna Dawson

This presentation will explore how deaths are classified as domestic homicide. The presenters draw on work by the Canadian Domestic Homicide Prevention Initiative with Vulnerable Populations (CDHPIVP). This national partnership focuses on four populations with unique vulnerabilities for domestic homicide: children, Indigenous peoples, immigrants and refugees, and rural, remote, and northern populations. This session explores how domestic homicides are defined and identified as well as the implications of these definitions for vulnerable populations. To illustrate, we explore select case examples from the CDHPIVP to consider how members of these vulnerable populations factor into these definitions, and what gaps these categorical boundaries create.

About the Presenters:

Jordan Fairbairn is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at King’s University College at Western University in London, Ontario. Her research explores the intersections of gender, violence, and media, with a focus on social responses to violence against women and the role of social media and digital technology in violence prevention. In her current work on domestic homicide and femicide, Jordan is a collaborator with the Canadian Domestic Homicide Prevention Initiative with Vulnerable Populations (CDHPIVP) and a member of the expert panel of the Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability (CFOJA).

Danielle Sutton’s research examines the characteristics and progression of police use of deadly force in Ontario from 1985 to 2013. This topic aligns with her broader research interests of homicide, policing, and the criminal justice responses to violence. Acting as a senior research assistant at the Centre for the Study of Social and Legal Responses to Violence, Danielle is involved in a series of projects focused on homicide generally and domestic homicide specifically.

Myrna Dawson is a Professor and Canada Research Chair in Public Policy in Criminal Justice, Director of the Centre for the Study of Social and Legal Responses to Violence University of Guelph. She is also Co-Director of the Canadian Domestic Homicide Prevention Initiative and Project Lead on the recently-launched Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability. She has spent the past 20 years researching social and legal responses to violence with particular emphasis on violence against women and femicide.

8.8 What supports are available for older women who experience intimate partner violence?

Lori Weeks, Christie Silversides, Lois Jackson, Colleen MacQuarrie, Heather Helpard and Robyn Burns

In this workshop, the presenters will share information collected as part of a larger study focused on current initiatives targeted towards diverse older women in Canada and internationally who experience IPV. Their research included a website review, online survey, interviews with administrators, and a document review. Results shared will include a description of current programs and services, target populations, strengths and challenges, outcomes, plans for future development, other initiatives to support older women who experience IPV, and the needs of those who provide services to older women who experience IPV. The results presented will highlight both innovative programs and gaps in service delivery.

About the Presenters:

Lori Weeks is an Associate Professor in the School of Nursing at Dalhousie University. She uses quantitative and qualitative methods to examine care and support services for older adults and their caregivers and factors affecting the health of seniors. She has conducted research on the abuse of older adults with particular focus on programs for older women experiencing intimate partner violence. She is currently the principal investigator of the RESPOND study: Identifying and responding to the needs of diverse older women who experience intimate partner violence.

Christie Silversides is a Master of Arts student in Health Promotion at Dalhousie University. Her master's thesis focuses on policies that promote Mi’kmaq conceptions of healthy aging in Atlantic Canada. She is a research assistant for the RESPOND study.

Lois Jackson is Professor of Health Promotion, School of Health and Human Performance at Dalhousie University.Her research interests include: health and well-being of marginalized populations, such as people harmfully involved with drugs; social determinants of health; qualitative research methods; and rural women's health. She is a co-investigator of the RESPOND study.

Colleen MacQuarrie is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at UPEI. Dr. MacQuarrie has expertise in community-based research practices, specifically working with vulnerable populations. She has directed her research programs toward making systemic changes within both the health system as well as broader policy environments. She is a co-investigator of the RESPOND study.

Heather Helpard is an Assistant Professor, School of Nursing, Dalhousie University. She has conducted research on rural women's health. She is a co-investigator of the RESPOND study..

Robyn Burns is a Master of Arts student in Leisure Studies at Dalhousie University. She is the research coordinator for the RESPOND study.

8.9 The Inclusion of Children in Service Provision Among Violence Against Women and Batterer Intervention Agencies in Ontario

Katherine Reif and Randal David

Katherine and Randal will present a review of the literature on how adult domestic violence service providers deal with the risk of harm to children. Specifically, how do anti-violence agencies like shelters for abuse victims or batterer intervention programs deal with this issue in their assessment and intervention strategies? The presentation will include a review of domestic homicide cases through the Ontario Domestic Violence Death Review Committee which raise some lessons learned from these circumstances. The presenters will also review preliminary results from key informants interviews in Ontario from the ongoing Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) research initiative, the Canadian Domestic Homicide Prevention Initiative for Vulnerable Populations (CDHPIVP). These interviews point to several barriers such as the lack of training and collaboration with agencies in providing services to children. The interviews also highlight promising practices in this area which have been developed through coordinated efforts such as programs to address the needs of children. 

About the Presenters:

Katherine Reif  is a PhD student at Western University. She is currently conducting research on how child domestic homicide risk is considered by adult domestic violence service providers.. Her past research has focused on cyberbullying in adolescent intimate relationships. Katherine has worked also worked as a counsellor in youth custody and residential facilities, as well as children and youth in crisis care. Currently, she works as a research assistant at the Centre for Research & Education on Violence Against Women and Children at Western University.

Randal David is a PhD student at Western University who is developing an original coding scheme to analyze father’s descriptions of their children and their relationships with them. Randal has worked with perpetrators and child victims of domestic violence. He is currently examining domestic homicide prevention among immigrant families.

Concurrent Session 9 – Friday, March 23, 2018

2:05 pm – 3:00 pm

9.1 Moving Services as a Violence Prevention Strategy - Shelter Movers of Toronto

Marc Hull-Jacquin and Amanda Levine

In this presentation, Mark and Amanda will outline the importance moving services for women who are leaving high risk relationships.  Shelter Movers is a volunteer-based charitable foundation that provides moving and storage services at no cost to women and children fleeing abuse. In collaboration with local shelters, businesses and law enforcement, Shelter Movers' 150 volunteers support families transitioning to a life free of violence. Shelter Movers moves 4 women a week and serves 14 women's shelters and social service agencies in the Greater Toronto Area and Ottawa.  This presentation will outline the rationale for Shelter Movers, which includes giving women important opportunities to gather and retain their family's belongings safely and with dignity.

About the Presenters:

Marc Hull-Jacquin is the founder and Executive Director of Shelter Movers, a charitable organization that provides moving services at no cost to women and children experiencing abuse. Marc works to create Shelter Movers chapters across Canada.  

Amanda R. Levine, PhD is a Psychologist and Neuropsychologist. She holds a clinical position at the Greater Toronto Area site of the Operational Stress Injury Clinic, a satellite clinic of St. Joseph’s Healthcare London, dedicated to assessing and treating the mental health needs of veterans, active military members, and members of the RCMP.  She is also currently the Executive Coordinator of Shelter Movers. Amanda’s program of research is centered on the psychological sequelae of trauma, with an emphasis on intimate partner violence..  

9.2 Ending Violence: A group therapy approach

Katherine Bridge

In this presentation, Katherine will present a group therapy approach that she offered for over 8 years at Hiatus House, a social service agency offering intervention for families experiencing domestic violence in Windsor, Ontario. Her approach draws on equine assisted experiential learning, which she has applied to adoption, divorce, addictions and children’s mental health. Katherine will also create the opportunity to explore how to bring hope, peace, inspiration and caring into the field of IPV and the wider community.

About the Presenter:

Katherine Bridge, MSW is a clinical therapist in private practice and has worked in the field for over 25 years. She presents her work internationally and is currently writing a book on her experiences helping people in the process of rebuilding their lives.

9.3 From Turning a Blind Eye to Evidenced-Based Policing: The Past, Present, and Future of Criminal Justice Responding to IPV  

Erin deJong

This presentation will describe the results of research conducted in collaboration with an Atlantic Canadian police force, examining the impact of police decision-making on recidivism among200 male and female IPV perpetrators. Erin will review how the criminal justice system’s response to IPV has evolved over the past 50 years. She will discuss current best practices, and the specific application of the Risk-Needs-Responsivity model of offender rehabilitation to cases of IPV. The effects of adhering to evidence-based crime prevention/reduction principles and future directions for policing IPV will be discussed.

About the Presenter:

Erin deJong is a PhD candidate at the University of New Brunswick and a member of the Centre for Criminal Justice Studies. Her research has spanned topics such as jury decision-making, bullying, and domestic violence. Her current research interests include evidenced-based policing of intimate partner violence.

9.4 Conceptualizing and operationalizing men's violence and the impact on men’s health

Kelly Scott-Storey, Sue O'Donnell  and Judith Wuest

This presentation will share research exploring how men broadly experience and think about violence. It will also address the complexities in measuring violence among men, and men’s health in relation to experiencing violence both as a victim and/or perpetrator. Despite emerging interest in men’s health and the prevalence of violence in men’s lives, understanding the intersection of gender with health and violence is limited. Studying of the effects of cumulative lifetime violence on men’s health is a promising line of inquiry for gaining new understandings of illness, disability, and death in men.

About the Presenters:

Kelly Scott-Storey, PhD., is an Associate Professor at the University of New Brunswick Faculty of Nursing. Among other work, she researches men’s experiences of cumulative lifetime violence and the intersection of gender and health She also worked on a randomized control trial exploring the use of an on-line health and safety decision aid for women experiencing intimate partner violence . She is currently working on a Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) contract to test the effectiveness of a nurse-led health promotion intervention for women who have experienced intimate partner violence.

Sue O'Donnell, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at the at the University of New Brunswick Faculty of Nursing and the Academic-Co-Chair of the Workplace Violence and Abuse Team of the Muriel McQueen Fergusson Centre for Family Violence Research. Her research interests broadly include violence, gender, and health and she is particularly interested in exploring and understanding how gender and sex influence health within the context violence. Among other work, Dr. O’Donnell is currently researching men’s experiences of cumulative lifetime violence and the intersection of gender and health.

Judith Wuest, PhD, is a Professor Emeritus at the University of New Brunswick Faculty of Nursing and a senior researcher in the field of violence and health. Her research focuses broadly on the health effects of violence, measurement, and intervention work. Dr. Wuest has been involved with and led national and international research teams in these areas and she is currently researching men’s experiences of cumulative lifetime violence and the intersection of gender and health.

9.5 Domestic Violence from a Newcomer Perspective

Wenche Gausdal and Gina Moynan

In this presentation, Wenche and Gina will discuss domestic violence in a Newcomer settlement experience of navigating legal, health and family services.  They will share the struggles in educating members from different immigrant communities on issues of domestic violence.  As workers at Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia (ISANS), the presenters will also highlight services and programs offered to newcomers to address IPV.  These services provide orientation, support groups, parenting support and individual services to families that are dealing with domestic issues and conflicts..

About the Presenters:

Wenche Gausdal, MSW, is a social worker and the manager of ISANS, where she has worked for 20 years.  She has also worked as a Settlement Worker and as Immigrant Health Coordinator.

Gina Moynan is Family Support Counsellor with ISANS and helps support healthy relationships and violence free families. She conducts both individual and group orientation and information sessions, parenting workshops and newcomer support groups in collaboration with community partners.

9.6 Mothers Parenting, Fathers Anger Awareness

Margaret Coombes

This is an overview of a two-year study of two different programs that had similar objectives to improve relationships and build stronger families. Agencies collaborated to assess the effectiveness of grassroots programs. Parents enrolled in the Parent Project and Anger Awareness were administered pre and post instruments. The findings indicate there were differences between the groups that highlight the double standard of the expectations placed on mothers compared to fathers that are all too evident when there are child welfare concerns. The presentation will delineate these issues, along with the benefits and essential interventions to engage fathers and mothers.

About the Presenter:

Margaret Coombes, Ph.D., RCSW has extensive experience in the child welfare system and mental health services in the USA and Canada. Her research has focused on community collaborations and interventions in the child welfare system. Her passion and substantive areas of interest have been, how to best serve, engage, or intervene with children and their families who are often marginalized, experienced trauma and violence and come to the attention of the child welfare systems.  In the classroom, as a registered clinical social worker in BC and NY, she strives to connect research to social work practice and the real world.

9.7 All Women are Welcome: Reducing barriers to shelter services with a harm reduction model

Kathy Willis

In this presentation, Kathy will discuss the benefits and challenges to using harm reduction for substance use within a VAW shelter context. The health and safety of women who experience domestic violence is at greater risk when shelters have policies prohibiting admission if noticeably impaired. Harm reduction strategies can help address this problem.  Kathy will present the results of a collaboration between Huronia Transition Homes and faculty from Lakehead University's Social Work Department to examine women's experiences with a harm reduction service delivery model at our rural VAW shelter.

About the Presenter:

Kathy Willis, MA, is the Executive Director of Huronia Transition Homes, a non-profit working towards ending all violence against all women. Her commitment to anti-racism/anti-oppression led her to fully integrate harm reduction practices throughout her organization. Kathy has delivered workshops and training on harm reduction to VAW organizations and shelters across Ontario. She has a Masters degree in Human Resource Management.

9.8 I’m still Standing: Promoting Resilience in Survivors and Advocates

Rosalyn James

In this presentation, Rosalyn will explore the factors that foster resilience and how they can be employed during a crisis. They will provide techniques that will help survivors and their advocates to move forward after traumatic or vicarious traumatic experiences. Attendees will get hands on training in interdisciplinary theories of resiliency factors such as the RQI, protective factors, and other conceptual frameworks..

About the Presenter:

Rosalyn James has worked in Homeless Services, Foster Care and Adoption, and Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault support and prevention. Currently she is a School Site Coordinator with Communities in Schools of Richmond, Virginia. Rosalyn works with underserved youth in the Richmond Metropolitan Area. She is the Vice Present of the Board of Directors of Dress for Success Central and serves as  a Hotline Crisis Specialist with the Virginia Domestic and Sexual Violence Action Alliance.

9.9 MANifest Change: Engaging Men and Boys in the Prevention of Domestic Violence

Matt Schaaf

This presentation will provide an overview of MANifest Change’s approach to working with men and boys as allies in preventing GBV. Drawing on best practices and reviewing the evidence for effective prevention, the presentation will show how the program is being adapted by and for First Nations and Inuit youth, varsity athletes, engineering students, racialized youth, and youth in conflict with the law.  MANifest Change is a project of the Ottawa Coalition to End Violence Against Women and draws directly on the expertise of front-line VAW workers to empower young men to prevent gender-based violence

About the Presenter:

Matt Schaaf, BEd., is the coordinator of the MANifest Change project.  He combines public education and conflict resolution to bring VAW advocates and male allies together in prevention of gender-based violence.  Of settler descent and raised in Cree territory, Matt worked with youth at a Winnipeg Aboriginal family centre.  He has also supported civilian communities facing armed conflict in México, Colombia and Canada.

9.10 Portuguese-speaking immigrant women’s experience of accessing services for intimate partner violence

sepali Guruge & Stephanie LucchesE 

This presentation will explore the barriers to service experienced by Portuguese-speaking immigrant women in abusive relationships.  The research stems from women who live in the Greater Toronto Area. The study consisted of individual surveys and focus group discussions with nine women from Brazil and Portugal. The results revealed that fear of deportation, the expectation that service providers would demand proof of the abuse, lack of information about the available services, and the lack of language-specific services were all barriers to seeking help. Improvements in coordination of services that address the above-noted barriers are needed to help immigrant women who are dealing with intimate partner violence. 

About the Presenters:

Sepali Guruge, PhD is a Professor and the Research Chair in Urban Health at the Daphne Cockwell School of Nursing. Dr. Guruge is co-director at the Nursing Center for Research and Education on violence against women and children. Dr. Guruge obtained her education in Sri Lanka, the former Soviet Union, and Canada.

Stephanie Lucchese is a Registered Nurse working at St. Michael's Hospital Mental Health and Emergency Service. Stephanie obtained her education at Ryerson University in 2015 and is currently completing her Masters of Nursing at Ryerson University. Stephanie's research interest include mental health, women's health and intimate partner violence.