Certificate Programs

Required

Core Skills for Practice in Intimate Partner Violence

This course provides foundational skills for responding to intimate partner violence (IPV). The focus is on translating systemic understandings of IPV into practice that centres diverse and intersecting identities and cultures, actively decolonizes practice, and is trauma and violence-informed. Skills for recognizing and amplifying strengths in response to violence are modelled and practiced.

Recognize, Assess, and Communicate Risk in Intimate Partner Violence Work

Recognizing, assessing and communicating risk is a core skill for all professionals responding to intimate partner violence. In this interactive course, participants will distinguish between risk screening and assessment, understand the value of using validated tools, and practice skills for using risk assessment to guide safety planning and risk management.

Electives

Engaging Men in Conversations about Family Violence to Manage Risk and Promote Safety

A critical part of reducing gender-based violence is engaging men. Participants will learn skills for asking questions in ways that promote understanding of abuse and risk, for making complex and ongoing judgements for balancing empathy with risk of collusion, and for joining with men around a shared commitment to safety.

Promoting Change in Abusive Behaviour

This course, through theoretical exploration and practical skill-building, offers opportunities to refine capacity to intervene effectively. The course reviews frameworks including the Duluth Model, Trauma and Violence Informed Practice, and equips practitioners with tools from CBT, Narrative Therapy, and ACT to address abusive behaviour, build accountability, and support safer relationships.

Working with Fathers Who Cause Harm to their Families

Engaging fathers in the context of family violence is a crucial strategy for enhancing safety. This course equips professionals with practical tools to effectively engage fathers who cause harm, foster accountability, and support safer, more stable family relationships within a coordinated gender-based violence response.

Skills for Working with Mothers and Infants Who have Experienced Intimate Partner Violence

Practitioners working with parents and young children require practical skills to amplify strengths in mothers who themselves are Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) survivors. This course focuses on skills for working collaboratively with survivor parents to manage impacts of IPV while also supporting them to recognize and respond to their children's needs in nurturing child-centred ways.

Strengthening Community Coordination in Ontario to Prevent Femicide

Over decades of death reviews and inquests into domestic homicides / femicides, recommendations have pointed repeatedly to the need for effective community coordination that include high-risk tables to reduce the risks associated with escalating violence. In Ontario, the government funds 48 Violence Against Women Coordinating Committees (VAWCCs) across the province. The course will explore ideas toward strengthening VAWCCs through restructuring and look at an example in Perth County where they have implemented a high-risk table that is led by the shelter.

Supporting and Advocating for Survivors Who are Navigating the Criminal Justice System

The criminal justice system often exacerbates trauma and risk associated with Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). This course supports service providers in advocating for survivors through sharing knowledge of legal frameworks and procedures that they can use to promote TVI responses from the criminal justice system that are sensitive to the risk of lethal IPV.

Supporting and Empowering Service Users with Lived Experience of Intimate Partner Violence and Substance Use

This course explores the complexities of working at the intersection of intimate partner violence and substance use. Participants will explore why responses rooted in trauma- and violence-informed, gender-transformative care, informed by sex-, gender-, and equity-based analyses, are essential, and will practice strategies that uphold safety, empowerment, and self-determination. 

Understanding and Responding to Young People with Childhood Experiences of IPV

Hear the perspectives of young people on the support they need in the aftermath of living with Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). Practice skills for listening to, respecting and valuing children’s voices and experiences, working with children to continually assess risk and safety plans, and building on children’s strengths and resilience in responding to violence.

Our program offers courses led by experts in the field of Gender-Based Violence (GBV), utilizing a specialized framework developed through extensive collaboration. This framework, called Recognizing Critical Expertise: A Knowledge and Skills Framework for Intimate Partner Violence Specialists [link], was created through hundreds of meetings with service providers, service users, and survivors across Canada.

Our Report

The framework is structured around The Flourishing Practice Model, which uses a visual representation of a flower to illustrate key areas of knowledge, skills, and expertise in Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) work.

Experts

Dr. Katreena Scott, PhD, C.Psych

Katreena is a Professor and Canada Research Chair in Ending Child Abuse and Family Violence in the Faculty of Education at Western University. She is the Academic Director of the Centre for Research and Education on Violence Against Women and Children at Western University. She leads an applied research program aimed at ending violence in family relationships, with specific expertise in addressing violence perpetration in men. See Katreena Scott's Profile!

Sarah Webb, MSW/RSW

Sarah is the Communications and Global Enterprise Development Specialist at Centre for Research & Education on Violence Against Women & Children, Western University. Previously, Sarah worked for the Caring Dads Global Enterprise as an Accredited Trainer who also provided Clinical Consultations to communities around the world on how to work with abusive fathers. Sarah also worked 15 years in the Child Welfare system as a Child Protection Worker on a specialized Domestic Violence Team conducting child protection investigations while working closely with the Violence Against Women sector. Sarah also has a private practice counselling teens, parents and adults.

Dr. Angelique Jenney, MSW, RSW, PhD

Angelique is an Associate Professor and the Wood’s Homes Research Chair in Children’s Mental Health in the Faculty of Social Work, at the University of Calgary. She has 25 years of experience in intervention and prevention services within the gender-based violence, child protection and children’s mental health sectors. Her community-based research and practice interests focus on the impact of intimate partner violence (IPV) on children and families including: family-based interventions for childhood trauma; child protection responses to IPV cases; and the use of reflective, simulation-based learning approaches to training both social work students and practitioners in the field.

Charmaine Lane, PhD, MSc, RP, BA

Charmaine is a registered psychotherapist experienced in children and adult mental health and working with a variety of issues such as marriage and family, transitions such as divorce and separation, social issues in child welfare as it pertains to family reunification and advocacy. She has been working as a mental health and counselling professional since 2003 and specializes in racial trauma and its contribution to other mental health issues such as depression, anxiety and mental illness routed in internalized oppression and trauma.

Margaret MacPherson

Margaret has been working in the gender-based violence sector for the past twenty years on local, regional and national projects. As a Community Research Associate, she has been leading and supporting projects at CREVAWC on workplace domestic violence, sexual violence and harassment, elder abuse, sexual and labour exploitation, trauma -and violence- informed care in police services and cultural integration in the GBV sector. Margaret also convenes the regional (Southwest Region) and provincial (Building a Bigger Wave) networks for Violence Against Women Coordinating Committees.

Tim Kelly, BA, MSW/RSW

Tim Kelly has worked with abusive men since 1986 and is Executive Director of Changing Ways, a social service agency for men who abuse women in Ontario. Tim has spoken both nationally and internationally on issues related to violence against women and children and community collaborations. Much of his efforts have included engaging men to end violence against women and children.  He has collaborated with women’s advocates and child protection leaders to develop programs and processes to engage and hold men who perpetrate gender-based violence responsible for their actions and systems accountable for change. 

Vivien Green

Vivien is an experienced community developer who has worked in the non-profit field for over 30 years in both rural and urban Ontario. She has had a special focus in violence against women services and policy development, community needs assessments and program development and community coordination. Vivien has also worked as an educator in the community college and university system and a consultant.

Carolyn Coffell, MSW/RSW

Carolyn Cofell has worked in the VAW sector for over 25 years providing intake, crisis intervention, safety planning and counselling/psychotherapy for individuals, couples and families on issues related to trauma, mental health, and gender-based violence with an emphasis on predominant aggressor engagement. Currently in private practice, she offers counselling/psychotherapy to service-users of all genders on issues ranging from mental health, GBV/IPV/DV, trauma, grief, accountability (including restorative justice), improving well-being and specializes in supporting men to have healthier and safer relationships with their partner/ex-partner and children. Carolyn has also co-developed narrative guidance documents using GBV dynamic risk framework to aid in identification and assessment of risks, has provided training, support, and case consultation with child protection workers with a focus on supporting their engagement with fathers who cause harm, as an approach to mitigating the risk they pose to their families.

Lisa Sura, MSW, RSW

Lisa Sura is the Senior Clinical Program Lead at Child Development Institute, an accredited child and youth mental health agency in Toronto. Lisa has over 20 years of experience in developing and implementing innovative intervention and prevention services within the children’s mental health, child protection and gender-based violence sectors. Lisa is the co-creator and clinical lead of Mothers in Mind, a trauma-informed mother-child group program specifically designed to meet the parenting needs of mothers who have experienced relational trauma and have children under four.

Nicola Memo (MSW, RSW)

With over 15 years of experience, Nicola’s expertise is trauma, addictions and mental health, cultural issues and intersectionality. She is a social worker by profession and has worked in the London community in different capacities since 2004, bringing her valuable experience working with diverse, marginalized and multicultural individuals, using a trauma and violence informed and gendered lens. Nicola’s work includes working with women who have experienced violence; she is an advocate for the safety of women and children. She is currently the Executive Director at Family Service Thames Valley, an organization that provides community counselling, including violence against women counselling services, and case management services for folks with developmental disabilities. Nicola is passionate about social justice, supporting the community in its goals for mental wellness; and creating inclusive spaces. She brings a global perspective as an immigrant, having grown up in Zimbabwe and Canada being the second country she immigrated to before calling London Ontario her home.

Dr. Lisa Heslop

Lisa joined the team at the Centre for Research and Education on Violence Against Women and Children (CREVAWC), Western University following career managing a clinical crisis intervention team with the London Police Service. Lisa co-leads initiatives at CREVAWC related to family violence and family law and currently co-leads the Awareness to Action, Moving from screening and assessment to developing appropriate parenting plans after family violence in the family justice system. Lisa has a doctorate degree developmental psychology from the University of Toronto. She is the co-author of articles and book chapters related to gender-based violence and its impact; trauma and violence informed practice; and the criminalization of persons with mental illness. She is a member of the Clinical Panel of the Office of the Children’s Lawyer, and a consultant at Navigating Onward, London Family Court Clinic.

Maureen Reid, MSW RSW

During her 45 years of social work practice, Maureen Reid has worked with children and parents experiencing domestic violence and involved in the family court system. She developed a protocol for collaborative community conferencing of high risk domestic violence case and chaired over forty safety planning conferences that included the woman, her supports and representatives from the Criminal Justice and Violence Against Women sectors, to develop coordinated safety plans and risk management strategies. She has also participated in the research and development of the Caring Dad’s Program for fathers who have been abusive to their children and/or partner. Maureen trains with the National Council for Juvenile and Family Court Judges in the United States in the area of Enhancing Judicial Skills in Domestic Violence Cases. She is a consultant with the Centre for Children in the Justice System of the Family Court where she conducts high-conflict custody and access assessments with Dr. Peter Jaffe. In addition, she has a private therapy practice where she provides counselling services for those experiencing violence in their lives. Maureen teaches at the University of Western Ontario at King’s College, School of Social Work and Brescia College.

Dan Zamfir

Dan is a Registered Psychotherapist with extensive experience in the domestic violence field, having worked on projects such as Caring Dads and the Domestic Violence Death Review Committee. He brings specialized expertise in addressing wellness and accountability, particularly focusing on men's issues and supporting first responders through his private practice, Henley Psychotherapy. With over five years of professional experience, Dan has dedicated his therapeutic work to understanding and addressing complex interpersonal dynamics and trauma-informed care.

Corey Allison

Corey Allison is an experienced leader in the gender-based violence (GBV) sector with over two decades of work advancing safety, equity, and systemic change. She has led teams and organizations, developed cross-sectoral community coordination models in rural settings, and championed survivor-informed approaches to violence prevention. Corey currently serves as Executive Director of Huron Women’s Shelter, working collaboratively with her community and across the region to advance rural responses to the recommendations of the Renfrew County Inquest. Her work is grounded in feminist leadership, systems thinking, and a deep commitment to restoring humanity and justice within community care. Corey also supports organizations and leaders through coaching, consulting, and teaching, with a focus on open-hearted leadership and building collaborative, trauma-informed systems of support

Bianca Stewart

Bianca Stewart started her career in the Violence Against Women (VAW) sector in 2007 at Ernestine’s Women’s Shelter. Bianca held many diverse roles at the shelter, including Child and Youth Programmer, Housing Counsellor and Legal Counsellor. In 2012, Ms. Stewart was seconded to work at the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto (CAST) as a VAW worker who assisted child welfare workers on both the intake and family services teams to help them better understand how to support families experiencing Intimate Partner Violence. In 2013, Bianca Stewart left the VAW sector for the child welfare sector at the CAST. While at CAST, Bianca has held many roles, including Intake Worker on one of the two Domestic Violence teams; Family Services Worker; Senior Child Welfare Worker and Trainer; and Supervisor of both the Access and York teams at the Northwest Branch. In 2022, things came full circle as Bianca ended up supervising one of the two intake domestic violence teams where she started her child welfare career path in 2013. Bianca holds degrees in both psychology and social work from McMaster and Toronto Metropolitan universities.

Shannon Long

Shannon Long has worked in the Child Welfare sector for over 13 years with experience in Intake, Investigation, Ongoing and Family Resources. She is currently a Service Manager with the Children’s Aid Society of Oxford County, as well as the agency's designated Gender-Based Violence Specialist. Shannon is passionate about collaborating with service recipients from a strength-based, anti-oppressive, family-centered approach, and is focused on championing the engagement of fathers in developing safety for children and mothers dealing with the harm caused by intimate partner violence. Her work has centered around developing and implementing training for front line staff to increase capacity in engaging men, while holding them accountable for harm, building their networks to increase safety within families, and better understanding the risks and harm related to Intimate Partner Violence and the impacts on the mother and children. Shannon routinely participates in professional development to further grow her skill set, including the BSAFER Risk Assessment, Caring Dad’s Facilitator Training, preliminary courses through the Safe & Together Institute, Leading for Impact for Emerging Leaders with the Schulich School of Business, and extensive training and practice of the Signs of Safety model.

John Tefler

John Telfer brings a strong foundation in social work, holding both a Bachelor of Arts and a Master’s degree in Social Work. With extensive experience in child welfare and strategic leadership, he is committed to promoting equity in every facet of his work with individuals and communities. John has proven expertise in team management, program development, and facilitation. He is also a licensed facilitator for the Caring Dads program and a certified trainer in the Safe and Together model.

Dr. Nancy Poole

Dr. Poole is the Director of the Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health, and a leader on online participatory methods for knowledge generation and exchange on complex women’s health issues. She has co-led system change initiatives and co-developed toolkits, training curricula and guidelines on trauma-informed practice with organizations, institutions and governments across Canada. She has a strong commitment to working with Indigenous partners to incorporate strengths based and Indigenous wellness approaches in all health and substance use related initiatives. She received an Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from the Justice Institute of BC in 2021 for her work in advancing women’s health including trauma-informed practice and the treatment of substance use and addiction. She will co-lead the development of and training for the workbook and social support intervention with onsite facilitators during the pilot and implementation phases and lead the development of the knowledge translation products and knowledge dissemination processes.

Dr. Lorraine Greaves 

Dr. Greaves is the founding Executive Director of the Centre of Excellence for Women's Health and its Senior Investigator since 2009. She was previously the Director of the Centre for Research on Violence Against Women and Children in London ON. She is a medical sociologist and has worked in education, government, hospitals, and academia. She was appointed Chair of Health Canada’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Health Products for Women in 2019. She has received numerous awards for her work, including a Doctorate of the University from the University of Ottawa. She is leading the academic evidence review and the co-development of the workbook, social support curriculum, and facilitator’s guide. She has experience in creating social support group curricula, leading numerous national and international projects and has authored twelve books, 120 journal articles, and numerous reports, guidance documents, workbooks, toolkits and articles on sex and gender science, intimate partner violence and substance use. 

Subsidy

These courses have been developed with and for the GBV field. Our aim is to be revenue neutral; making these opportunities as assessable as possible while recognizing the expertise of our instructors and the work it takes to develop and offer skills-based courses. We have reserved a few subsidized spaces. We also invite you to contact Seema Hooda (shooda5@uwo.ca) to talk about our collaboration options.

Our program is designed for those looking to improve their skills in recognizing and responding to Gender-Based Violence (GBV). This training is ideal for service providers such as: 

• Mental health practitioners
• Child and family workers
• Probation/parole officers
• Shelter staff
• Child welfare workers Specialized healthcare workers
• Facilitators in programs for those who have behaved abusively
• Private practice therapists
• Human resource professionals
• Academics
• Community members

We are also developing specialized certificate programs, starting with a series of courses for child protection workers.

Students benefit from our partnership with Western University's Continuing Studies program. Our partnership with Western University ensures that your education is recognized in our community, across Canada, and around the world.

Our standards reflect the learning experience and quality of courses and programs that Western University provides to its global community of learners.

• Flexible Learning: We offer flexible programming throughout the year to help you reach your personal and professional goals.
• Online: These flexible courses and certificates are offered fully online, allowing you to keep learning, even if you work full-time or live outside of the London area.
• Take a Course: For added flexibility, you can register for individual courses. You can take one course or stack them towards a certificate program.
• Certificate: Build your knowledge and develop your skills for career advancement with our Certificate programs.

We're always looking to expand and improve our course offerings to meet the needs of service providers in the GBV field. If you have an idea for a course or specific skills you'd like to develop, we want to hear from you. Let us know how we can help you grow and enhance your expertise: fill out our survey.