NSCSW Workshop: Addressing rural & isolated family violence

Family violence continues to escalate across rural and remote regions of Atlantic Canada, where service gaps and structural inequities compound the risks faced by both survivors and those who have used violence.

This session will build upon a CASW webinar ( Expanding Access to Family Violence Support Through Virtual Delivery in Rural Atlantic Canada) which will share findings from a mixed-methods study that evaluates the implementation of an online-adapted version of a psychoeducational and restorative program, the Safety and Repair Approach (Augusta-Scott, 2022). Participants in this workshop will have the opportunity to process, debrief, integrate, and build upon learnings from the webinar, and explore ways they can apply these learnings in their own social work practice.

Drawing on needs assessments, demographic surveys, and in-depth interviews with both service users and facilitators, the study examines how virtual delivery can reduce geographic, financial, and social barriers to accessing family violence support. Participants described online programming as enhancing privacy, reducing stigma, and increasing safety and belonging, particularly for men navigating shame and isolation. Service providers and service users emphasized that trauma-informed and relational care can be preserved, and even strengthened, through thoughtful virtual design.

While grounded in the realities of rural and remote service delivery, the lessons learned around accessibility, gender inclusion, and trauma-informed virtual engagement also offer valuable strategies for social workers across practice contexts. The webinar will emphasize how integrating virtual access with community collaboration can build gender-inclusive, trauma-informed, and locally responsive networks of care for all communities.

Objectives

• Knowledge: Deepen understanding of the innovative approaches to family violence intervention; identify practical applications for diverse social work settings.
• Skills: Critically examine and integrate trauma-informed practices that sustain relational care and promote safety and belonging within online service delivery; apply practical applications for diverse social work settings.
• Values: Examine and shift worldviews, values, and beliefs related to family violence and the agency of social workers to address this complex issue.
• Relational: Make connections and build relationships with other social workers.

Foundations

The content of this workshop is directly related to the NSCSW Code of Ethics & Standards of Practice (2025):

Value 1: Respecting the dignity and worth of all people

Guiding Principles:

• 1.2: Social workers promote the self-determination and autonomy of all people.

• 1.3: Social workers uphold the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all people consistent with applicable rights and legislation.

• 1.7: Social workers uphold the rights of all people to receive services in a manner that considers intersecting factors of exclusion and respects all manner of diversity.

• 1.9: Social workers uphold the rights of every person, group, and community to be free from violence or threat of violence.

Value 2: Promoting social justice

Guiding Principles:

• 2.1: Social workers uphold the principles of social justice related to the rights of individuals, families, groups, and communities to receive fair and equitable access to services, resources, and opportunities and to be free of oppression, racism, and discrimination.

• 2.2: Social workers advocate for the rights of all individuals, families, groups, and communities to be free from oppression, exclusion, racism, and discrimination.

Value 4: Valuing human relationships

Guiding Principles:

• 4.1: Social workers place the well-being and interests of all people at the centre of their relationships.

• 4.2: Social workers continually develop self-awareness and practise self-reflection to guide their practice and personal well-being.

Speaker

Catrina Brown is a professor at Dalhousie University’s School of Social Work, cross-appointed to Gender and Women’s Studies. Her teaching, research, and feminist narrative private practice focus on the intersections of critical theory, policy, and practice in mental health, trauma, post-trauma, depression, eating disorders, and substance use. She has recently published the edited book, Reframing Trauma Through Social Justice: Resisting the Politics of Mainstream Trauma Discourse.

Eligibility

This event is only for members of the Nova Scotia College of Social Workers (NSCSW). All active, associate, retired associate, and student members are welcome to attend; our professional development programming is part of our member services funded by annual registration fees, to support safe(r) social work in Nova Scotia.

Professional development tracking

Members of NSCSW, may choose to track this as formal professional development, and use the registration confirmation email or PDF ticket as a verification document.

Visit nscsw.org/pd for more information about the updated professional development requirements for Nova Scotia social workers.

Questions?

If you have questions about our professional development program content, please contact the College's Professional Development Consultant, Tyler Colbourne, at tyler.colbourne@nscsw.org.