Plenary #3: Trauma-and Violence Informed Practice: Reflections from CoP members

SLIDES COMING SOON


Overview

This plenary discussion featured Community of Practice members’ reflections on the challenges and benefits of utilizing a trauma-and violence-informed approach in their work; how it is different from other approaches, and the impact it has on practitioners and the people we work with. The conference closed with a traditional ceremony led by Alice Echaquan.

Speakers

Kelsy Dundas

Kelsy Dundas (she/her) is an abolitionist feminist working towards and on dreaming, collective liberation, and transformative survival for sustainable and abundant todays and tomorrows. She has a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Social Work from Dalhousie University and a Master of Social Work from York University. She is currently a Program Manager at WomenatthecentrE, leading two initiatives to respectively strengthen community capacity to address the ‘parallel pandemic’ of gender-based violence (GBV)-related brain injury (BI) through a survivor-led support program and build internal team and community capacity to support survivors of GBV. 

Fernanda Camejo

Fernanda Camejo is the coordinator of the Art et Contes project at PEYO, Parc-Extension Youth Organization. She is a dedicated educator and artist with a solid background and experience. She immigrated with her family from Montevideo, Uruguay, to Montreal in her childhood, allowing her to enrich her life with the influences of both cities and cultures, and to become sensitive to the issues of immigration and interculturality. 

She earned her degree in Art Therapy from the ITACA School in Montevideo and continued her education with studies in visual arts and Logotherapy. With this educational foundation, Fernanda has developed programs that promote emotional, cognitive, and physical development in various groups. Between 2012 and 2021, she worked as a drama teacher for elementary students at the Lycée Français "Jules Supervielle" in Montevideo, stimulating the creativity and personal development of children through interactive pedagogical activities. She also played a crucial role as an art therapist at the C.R.E.A. Vida Addiction Recovery Clinic at the Ospedale Italiano in Montevideo from 2009 to 2016, using artistic and therapeutic techniques to help individuals express their emotions and overcome addiction-related challenges. She has also used her skills and knowledge to implement projects aimed at facilitating emotional management in women's circles and groups of elderly individuals. With international experience in dramatic arts, including her participation in the Mutanteatro Company in Uruguay and various theatrical activities in Montreal, Fernanda is a versatile professional committed to helping others through artistic intervention and education. 

Laurence Gauthier

Before joining the Art et contes department at PEYO in 2023 as an art-therapist and intervener by the arts, Laurence Gauthier was a volunteer and participant in activities related to the program. Since her arrival in Parc-Extension in 2016, she has shown great devotion towards her community by committing to projects with the objective to better the well-being of the residents of the neighborhood. She has accumulated many years of experience working with a variety of clients from various cultural communities, including more than two years abroad in the United Arab Emirates. During her time in the middle east, she also traveled to places such as western Africa, in Nepal and in India for four months. Those experiences within a variety of cultures has let her develop a more profound comprehension of the challenges encountered with immigration. Her journey in art-therapy also motivated an engagement in using art and creativity to focus on empowerment and healing. By adopting an approach of humanistic therapy focused solely on the person, Laurence is interested in questions surrounding cultural identity, attachment relationships and intergenerational memories.

Sabry Saadi

Sabry Adel Saadi is a social worker, doctoral student and lecturer at the School of Social Work, Université du Québec à Montréal. He is the French-speaking implementation coordinator for the Knowledge Hub. He has participated in several research projects in Quebec and Canada, such as the Canadian Domestic Homicide Prevention Initiative. His thesis uses secondary data from this pan-Canadian research, and focuses on the psychosocial-judicial needs of women survivors and bereaved relatives of domestic homicide. 

Katreena Scott

Dr. Katreena Scott is a Professor, clinical psychologist and Director of the Centre for Research and Education on Violence Against Women and Children at Western University. She currently holds a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Ending Child Abuse and Domestic Violence. 

Dr. Scott leads an applied research program aimed at ending gender-based violence in violence in family relationships, with specific expertise on addressing abuse perpetration in men. She has authored over 50 articles and book chapters on the development of violent relationships, the efficacy of interventions, the effect of abuse and trauma on children, and on empirically and ethically sound policies for working with abuse perpetrators. 

She regularly presents to audiences of academics, community-based service providers and to policy-makers to share emerging knowledge from research on gender-based and family violence. 

Alice Echaquan

Alice Echaquan, Atikamekw Niheriwisiw Iskwew, Petapan, spiritual name. Daybreak. • Community Worker, Sexual Assault Treatment and Prevention • Atikamekw Nation Council • Atikamekw sexuality researcher with Université du Québec à Chicoutimi • Ambassador for the Office of Joyce Echaquan 

“I am an Atikamekw woman from Mamawan and mother of 4 children: 3 adopted in spirit, and a beautiful 13 year old Métis daughter. I am a grandmother. I am the daughter of a craftsman of bark canoes and bark baskets. My father was a tourist guide from Manawan. He was a guardian of the beautiful Nitaskinan Nemiscacik territory. My mother Madeleine was a bead artist of moccasins and mittens, and an excellent cook of traditional dishes. I am the third youngest of 9 children, of which 3 are dead. I have worked for 25 years in the fields of neglect, domestic and sexual abuse, child placement and suicide. I worked for Cirque du Soleil for 15 years, giving children in difficulty the chance to experience beautiful moments through Cirque du Monde workshops. For the past 3 years, I’ve been an expert in sexual assault and I’m trained in a cognitive-behavioral approach. I adapt my interventions to my Atikamekw language, values and traditions. I have been a team leader in my organization, an internal department head and a clinical supervisor. I work in collaboration with various committees to develop intervention projects adapted to my culture. I am a researcher in sexuality education to prevent sexual violence in my beautiful community and I’m a healer for my community.”