All Webinars

Join Kristina Fifield with the Can't Buy My Silence campaign for an online webinar about the misuse of non-disclosure agreements. NDAs (or confidentiality agreements) were invented to protect intellectual property but have become the default solution for organizations, corporations and public entities to settle cases of sexual violence, racism, pregnancy discrimination, disability discrimination and other human rights violations.

The training will look at the abusive use of NDAs through an Intersectional GBV Trauma Lens and will discuss the ethical implications, trauma impacts and far-reaching consequences of NDAs when used to silence survivors/victims, conceal wrongdoing and perpetuate a culture of secrecy. The training will provide ideas for justice initiatives and ways to support survivors/victims in your work who are being asked to sign or who have signed an NDA.

Learning Objectives: 

• To provide up-to-date information to Social Workers about the abusive use of NDAs exploring the traumatic impacts of silencing, systemic injustices that give rise to NDAs, and the legislative changes happening in Canada and abroad around this issue.
• To educate Social Workers about how NDAs are used to protect perpetrators of abuse from consequences and how this permits a cycle of violence to continue unchecked inside workplaces and institutions.
• To share ways to get involved in the movement to ban the abusive use of NDAs, and provide tools and knowledge to help individuals in these situations to navigate the system and ensure they have opportunities to receive the care and support they need. 
• To ensure Social Workers have the knowledge and skills to effectively inform and counsel any survivor who may be asked to sign an NDA regarding their experiences of violence, racism, harassment or other human rights violation(s).
• To support Social Workers in recognizing the intersectional nature of the issue of the misuse of NDAs, including the disproportionate impact on women, gender diverse and racialized individuals, and in responding accordingly.

This presentation equips social work practitioners with essential knowledge and cultural insights to understand, address, and prevent gender-based violence (GBV) and intimate partner violence (IPV) within diverse communities. Grounded in a trauma-informed and anti-oppressive framework, the session provides a comprehensive understanding of how GBV and IPV manifest across various cultural contexts, emphasizing how cultural beliefs, social norms, and systemic oppression influence survivors' experiences and the barriers they face in seeking support.

Participants will learn culturally responsive intervention strategies that respect each client’s background and personal experiences. By the end of the session, social workers will gain actionable insights and tools to promote resilience, effectively advocate, and offer culturally affirming support, empowering clients on their healing journeys with dignity.

Learning Objectives:

1. Build a Comprehensive Understanding of GBV and IPV: Equip social workers with a comprehensive understanding of gender-based violence (GBV) and intimate partner violence (IPV), focusing on how these issues manifest within various cultural contexts.

2. Addressing Stigma and Cultural Sensitivity: Explore how cultural beliefs, practices, and social norms can influence the experiences of survivors, and identify barriers they may face in seeking support or services.

3. Intervention and Support Strategies: Learn culturally responsive strategies for intervening in gender-based and intimate partner violence cases, ensuring support respects each client’s cultural background and personal experiences.

The care leaving process has become an issue of international relevance over the last 20+ years, with emerging and growing research in the Canadian context. This research has contributed to a better understanding of care leaving experiences and outcomes for youth ‘aging out’ of care. Research in this field has also helped to inform the development and evaluation of practices, programs, and interventions to better prepare care leavers and help them during their transition to adulthood.  

Although research on care leaving in Canada is still limited, emerging scholars have been advancing the research agenda in different areas (e.g., judicialization, schooling, coping process of care leavers during the transition to adulthood, motherhood). During this webinar, Ph.D. candidates from CANTRAC will present their doctoral research proposals and provide a summary of how it addresses current research gaps in Canada. Preliminary practice and policy implications will also be discussed.

This webinar is intended to help professionals learn about and engage with emerging scholars on their research on the experiences of young people exiting the Canadian child welfare system and care leaving processes.

Household food insecurity is the inadequate or insecure access to food due to financial constraints. It is a significant, serious and avoidable public health issue that disproportionately affects racialized households and has profound impacts on the mental and physical health of individuals and strains the healthcare system. Dietitians and Social Workers have a vital role to play in addressing the causes and consequences of household food insecurity through evidence-based advocacy for effective public policy interventions and the provision of dignified, person-centred care to those experiencing household food insecurity.

By the end of the presentation, you will be able to describe:

• The causes, consequences, and prevalence of household food insecurity in Canada
• Policy recommendations to address the root cause of household food insecurity
• The role of social workers and dietitians in addressing both the causes and consequences of household food insecurity

Studies have shown that youth exiting care are drastically overrepresented in the homelessness population. Few studies, however, have examined the experiences of homelessness of young people after they have exited care using collaborative and participatory methods. This study investigates youth’s experiences while in the child welfare system, their transition out of services, their experiences with homelessness, and the factors that contributed to their struggles and their resilience.

A Participatory Action Research (PAR) methodology and arts-based Photovoice (PV) method was utilized to engage eight youth residing in the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) between the ages of 18 and 25, with both child welfare system and homelessness experience. Project session transcripts and photographs were thematically analyzed to identify common and individual themes emerging from the experiences of the youth co-researchers.

Themes emerged under three categories: (1) supportive factors that contributed to their resilience; (2) systemic or interpersonal challenges that contributed to negative experiences; and (3) recommendations for policy change. Of importance, six of the eight participants were employed while experiencing homelessness. Findings from this study provide a nuanced and youth-centred explanation of both the risk and protective factors that influence young people’s trajectories from the child welfare system to (and out of) homelessness.

This webinar is intended to help professionals learn about and engage with:

• The realities and challenges faced by young people in care as they transition to adulthood, and in particular the heightened risk of experiencing homelessness;
• A Photovoice and Action Research (PAR) study;
• Key risk and protective factors emerging from the photography; and
• Concrete recommendations for improving child welfare policies, practices and support for youth exiting care.

McCreary Centre Society’s Youth Research Academy (YRA) was established in 2016 to train youth with government care experience in community-based research. Each year, eight youth aged 16–24 complete a 10-month paid employment training program, with the support of community researchers and two Indigenous peer mentors. Evaluation results from the eight cohorts of the YRA completed to date show that the YRA is achieving its aim of supporting young people to achieve educational and employment goals, as well as to develop research skills, build natural connections, and enhance life skills.

Since 2019, the YRA have been conducting a longitudinal study with care leavers in British Columbia. The study aims to better understand the experiences of youth as they transition from the care system. Results are used to provide policy makers and service providers with up-to-date information about what factors appear to support young people to flourish; as well as what is challenging for these young people; and how they can be supported to experience the most successful transition possible.

During this webinar, the presenters will discuss the YRA model and share how their longitudinal study is being used by statutory and non-statutory agencies to help to evaluate and adapt services for care leavers in B.C. A discussion of McCreary’s latest youth group – the Young Indigenous Research Team (YIRT) – will also be featured, which has been formed by Indigenous graduates of the YRA to conduct research projects specific to indigenous youth. Recommendations for those seeking to engage youth with care experience in community-based research will also be shared with the audience.

Webinar Key Objectives:

• To share the successes and challenges of the Youth Research Academy model;
• To share results of the longitudinal study of youth transitioning out of care; and
• To discuss how these results appear to be impacted by the recent extension of supports to care leavers in B.C.

The Basic Income series is an accessible introduction into the world of basic income and what its implementation could mean for youth across what is colonially known as Canada and beyond. Our series is designed to provide accessible insights and spark discussions on this important topic.

The third webinar of this series will delve into the current context of 2SLGBTQ+ poverty and income insecurity in Canada, highlighting the ongoing and systemic economic inequities faced by this community. We will explore the potential implications of a guaranteed livable income for 2SLGBTQ+ equity and justice, blending both research and advocacy perspectives to consider a basic income’s transformative potential for queer, trans, and Two-Spirit people in Canada.

Webinar Objectives: 

• Understand the current context and systemic economic inequities contributing to 2SLGBTQ+ poverty and income insecurity in Canada
• Consider the impacts of basic income broadly, and apply learnings to connect basic income and the well-being of 2SLGBTQ+ people specifically
• Explore the connections between basic income advocacy and core social work values as they relate to our professional commitments to social justice, including for queer, trans, and Two-Spirit individuals

In this webinar, facilitators will address topics such as the history of two-spirit people, naming and labels, grappling with an unwelcomed identity, significant timeline events, decades of resurgence, and an approach to decolonizing gender.

Learning Goals:

• Participants will understand the historical and social impacts on Two-Spirit people.
• Participants will be introduced perspectives on Indigenous roles, status and gender identity.
• Participants will understand the importance of revitalizing Two-Spirit spaces for the Indigenous community.

This webinar is offered in partnership with the Centre of Indigegogy. 

During the first part of the webinar, participants will learn about The Canadian Research Network on Transitions to Adulthood from Care (CANTRAC), the Canadian chapter of the International Network on Transitions to Adulthood from Care (INTRAC). INTRAC is a well-established academic research consortium that brings together researchers from across the world to promote collaboration, dissemination of research findings, and advocacy for youth leaving care across the world. The second part of the webinar will focus on recent statistics and descriptive data on youth transitions from care across Canada, regional disparities in post-majority supports and how Canada fares in the international context of transitions to adulthood for youth in care.

This webinar is intended to help professionals learn about and engage with:

• The International Network on Transitions to Adulthood from Care (INTRAC) and the Canadian Research Network on Transitions to Adulthood from Care (CANTRAC);
• The status of youth leaving care in Canada;
• Regional disparities in post-majority supports across the country; and
• How Canada fares in the international context.

Webinar Key Objectives:

This webinar is intended to help professionals learn about and engage with:

• Understanding the Canadian Youth Justice System and how it came to be what it is today;
• The overrepresentation of youth in care in the Canadian youth criminal justice system;
• Trauma impacts on youth in care and the importance of trauma-informed practice; and 
• Concrete recommendations for social work policy & practice.

Webinar Summary:

Many Canadian youth involved in the child protection system tend to end up in the criminal justice system at one point or another. Findings from a 2009 report by the BC Representative for Children and Youth paint a grim picture: youth in care in BC had a one in six chance of being detained or sentenced to custody, compared to a one in 50 chance for youth who were not in care. Referred to in the research community as “crossover youth,” their involvement of these young adults in both the child protection and criminal justice systems is often the result of ongoing trauma that goes untreated, of multiple placements, of zero-tolerance policies in group homes and of various government ministry silos that allow troubled youth to fall between the cracks. The child protection system also tends to criminalize youth who exhibit behavioural problems, which has been highlighted in multiple reports including the New Brunswick Child and Youth Advocate’s 2008 reports Connecting the Dots and The Ashley Smith Report.

This webinar will provide an overview of the Canadian Youth Justice System, and delve into its overrepresentation of youth in care. A trauma-informed lens will be used to shift perspectives on youth in care being viewed as “trouble” vs. “troubled”, with a focus on the importance of trauma-informed  practice across systems. Concrete recommendations for social work policy and practice will also be presented.