Presenters
Rina Arseneault, C.M., MSW, RSW
Rina Arseneault has been the Associate Director of the Muriel McQueen Fergusson Centre for Family Violence Research since November 1993. She has a Masters in Social Work and is a Registered Social Worker. From 2001 to 2003, she worked in the Psychiatry Emergency Services and at the HIV/AIDS Clinic at the Ottawa Hospital.
She is recognized as an activist and educator on women issues. She has organized numerous training opportunities and workshops. Her experience includes extensive work with community - organizations, individual researchers, government agencies, the media and victims of violence.
In 1997, Rina was honoured with the NB Advisory Council on the Status of Women Recognition Award for her contribution to improving the status of women in New Brunswick.
In 2002, she received the Muriel McQueen Fergusson Foundation Award, for her work in violence against women and family violence.
In 2014, Rina was appointed to the Order of Canada. The Order of Canada, one of our country’s highest civilian honours, recognizes outstanding achievement, dedication to the community and service to the nation. She is recognized for her contributions as a researcher, activist, author and educator working to end family violence.
Suzanne McKenzie-Mohr, PhD, MSW, RSW
Suzanne McKenzie-Mohr is Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at St. Thomas University in Fredericton, Canada. Before accepting a faculty position in 2003, Sue had been a practicing social worker for 15 years, working in shelters, hospitals, and community counselling centres. Her scholarly interests include women’s experiences of sexual violence, trauma and youth homelessness, youth experiences in the care system, and women’s use of counter-stories in response to oppressive conditions. Her most recent publication, Women Voicing Resistance: Discursive and narrative explorations, was co-edited with Michelle Lafrance (Routledge Press, 2014).
Violence in the lives of women comes in various forms. The Muriel McQueen Fergusson Centre for Family Violence Research (MMFC), in conjunction with the Canadian Association of Social Workers, the New Brunswick Association of Social Workers, and School of Social Work at St. Thomas University have developed a series of three webinars to provide social workers with an understanding of the dynamics of violence in the lives women, what it is, why it occurs, how to respond and its impact in the lives of individuals and communities.
Detailed information on the presenters, Rina Arseneault, C.M., MSW, RSW and Suzanne McKenzie-Mohr, PhD, MSW, RSW follows the below descriptions of the 3 Part Webinar Series.
Webinar 1: Developing Capacity to Respond in Intimate Partner Violence Situations
When: January 30 – 11am to 12:00 noon (Eastern Standard Time)
Presenter: Rina Arseneault, C.M., MSW, RSW, Associate Director, Muriel McQueen Fergusson Centre for Family Violence Research
Summary of Presentation Our professional and personal experiences, in our various communities, confirm every day that we exist in a world where human interaction, social structures and ideologies have a profound impact on all aspects of gender and family life. Violence, including intimate partner violence (IPV), can occur in any family, regardless of ethnicity, social class, age or cultural group. Intervening in IPV situations is one of the most difficult aspects of social work practice, and social workers are often the first persons encountered by victims. Successful interventions rely on effective practices. What are the issues? What intervention strategies should we use? And, what other resources are out there to help? This presentation will focus on the effectiveness of a trauma-informed lens alongside a gender-based analysis to enhance our interventions.
Learning objectives
- To recognize and understand the complexity of the issue.
- To enhance trauma-informed practice skills for responding to IPV
- To ensure that we, as professionals, are accountable for the role we play in intervening in situations of IPV.
Watch Webinar 1 below: Developing Capacity to Respond in Intimate Partner Violence Situations.
Webinar 2: Acting as Allies to Women Counter-Storying their experiences of Sexual Violence
When: February 25, 2015 – 11am to 12:00 noon (Eastern Standard Time)
Presenters:
Rina Arseneault, C.M., MSW, RSW, Associate Director, Muriel McQueen Fergusson Centre for Family Violence Research
Sue McKenzie-Mohr, PhD, MSW, RSW, Associate Professor, School of Social Work, St. Thomas University
Summary of presentation:
How stories inform lives “can be a gift or a danger” (Frank, 2010), and there is no more compelling a case for this assertion than the narratives surrounding women’s experiences of sexual violence. Women’s resistance to harmful master narratives of sexual violence can be crucial to their progress toward living well. In this presentation, we will explore what women are up against as they work to make meaning of their sexual violence experiences and introduce ways that social workers can support women in narrative repair. By drawing upon feminist-narrative practice principles, social workers can assist women to resist harmful societal framings of their experience and subsequently create and exercise new empowering framings. We will highlight specific strategies to act as allies to women as they counter-story their experiences in liberating ways.
Learning objectives:
- To explore the effects of dominant rape and sex scripts in women’s lives;
- To introduce and consider feminist-narrative practice principles and strategies that can support women’s efforts toward living well after experiences of sexual violence (e.g., use of metaphor to create new scripts; use of audience to bolster counter-stories)
Watch Webinar 2 below: Acting as Allies to Women Counter-Storying their experiences of Sexual Violence.
Webinar 3: Nurturing Vicarious Resilience to counteract the challenges of IPV Work in Social Workers’ Lives
When: March 27, 2015 – 11am to 12:00 noon (Eastern Standard Time)
Presenters:
Rina Arseneault, C.M., MSW, RSW, Associate Director, Muriel McQueen Fergusson Centre for Family Violence Research
Sue McKenzie-Mohr, PhD, MSW, RSW, Associate Professor, School of Social Work, St. Thomas University
Summary of presentation:
Intervening in situations of violence is stressful; the experience of hearing about violence against women, witnessing violence, and living in a culture where violence exists has an impact on a person’s life. Social workers cannot be immune from vicarious trauma and compassion fatigue. And yet, alongside the potential negative effects of this work, it can be valuable to also acknowledge ways that our work can deepen our strengths and enhance our lives. These co-existing possibilities, of being both challenged and also enriched through IPV work, are common realities for social workers. What do we know about how to counteract vicarious trauma and transform compassion fatigue? And how can we cultivate vicarious resilience and practice ‘reasonable hope’?
Learning objectives
- To recognize the potential effects of IPV work on social workers’ private and professional lives;
- To explores strategies to strengthen and support our own well-being; and
- To examine critical and collective notions of self-care that highlight work team, institutional and structural change efforts to support the transformation of vicarious trauma and compassion fatigue to resilience and growth in our work lives.
Watch Webinar 3: Nurturing Vicarious Resilience to counteract the challenges of IPV Work in Social Workers’ Lives