Knowledge Hub Presents - June 25, 2025
Mothers and children who survive gender-based and family violence may experience mental, physical, behavioural and relational challenges. Our evaluation explored the impacts of expressive arts-based programming offered by YWCA Toronto, that provides support simultaneously to both mothers and children who have survived violence. This presentation will share perspectives from mothers, children, and group facilitators about the strengths and opportunities that exist in this approach to programming.
Learning objectives:
- Develop a comprehensive understanding of the Sharing in the Healing Journey program's evaluation components.
- Explore the impacts and outcomes of the program from the perspectives of mothers and children.
- Examine the successes, opportunities, and sustainability for such programming in the future.
Presenters
Dr. Stephanie Begun is an Associate Professor and RBC Chair in Applied Social Work Research at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work. Her research focuses on improving the health and wellness of equity-deserving youth, with particular attention to youths' reproductive and sexual health access, education, and outcomes. Stephanie has been recognized through awards received at academic conferences, including the North American Forum on Family Planning and the American Public Health Association Annual Meeting. She is also the co-founder and the co-director of the Youth Wellness Lab at the University of Toronto, a research collaborative that brings together academic researchers, community-based partners, and youth advisors, with a shared goal of improving services and outcomes across multiple intersecting domains by, with, and for youth. Stephanie is also Cross-Appointed Affiliated Faculty with the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto, and a Faculty Affiliate with the University of Toronto School of Cities. She was named Director, Social Work Research to the Contraception and Abortion Research Team (CART-GRAC), based out of the University of British Columbia.
Gaja Ananthathurai came into her Master of Social Work program with an interest in being involved in making systemic change and taking action against the social injustices she was seeing in the world around her. However, she was still trying to figure out what was the best route to do that and how she wanted to engage in making the changes she was hoping to see. She was involved in research during her undergraduate degree, namely in mental health and linguistic research, but it wasn't until she took policy and research classes in her social work program that she was able to more clearly make the link on how research informs practice. Gaja found herself soon drawn to social work research as a means of producing the data and reports necessary to provide a strong foundation/knowledge base to inform the advocacy work she was passionate about. Issues that she hopes to positively impact through research include reproductive justice, abortion information and care, gender-based violence, and complex mental health and these intersections with youth, gender-diverse, neurodiverse, racialized, and newcomer populations.
Rasnat Chowdhury is a doctoral student at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work. She holds a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Toronto, a Bachelor of Arts Psychology degree from York University, and a Social Service Worker Diploma from Humber College. Rasnat’s research interests are focused on the intersection of child welfare and intimate partner violence. Rasnat has worked in child welfare, education, and residential settings, supporting individuals and families with diverse needs. Currently, she works as a research assistant supporting various projects related to child welfare and/or family violence.
