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  • PHO: Supporting Trauma- and Violence-Informed Practice Among Public Health Professionals Responding to COVID-19

PHO: Supporting Trauma- and Violence-Informed Practice Among Public Health Professionals Responding to COVID-19

  • 11 Aug 2020
  • 12:30 PM - 2:00 PM
  • Webinar

About this Event

Experiences of trauma and violence impact health. As we respond to COVID-19, we recognize that the COVID-19 pandemic and related public health measures are stressors among the general population, and can be particularly distressing for those with previous and/or ongoing experiences of trauma and violence. The COVID-19 pandemic also presents new challenges and additional barriers, including reduced access to services/supports and increased loneliness due to physical distancing and self-isolation. Incorporating Trauma- and Violence-Informed Practice (TVIP) into public health has the potential to reduce these barriers, and promote compassionate relationships with those that we serve.

Using a facilitated panel format, this webinar will discuss the principles of trauma- and violence-informed practice and explore its applications to the COVID-19 public health response. Participants will leave the webinar with TVIP tools and resources and an understanding of how to apply these principles, tools, and resources in their own practice and within their organizations.

Intended audience:

Panellists will be sharing their knowledge and experience from working in public health in Ontario. Our intended audience includes staff at public health units and other public health professionals, including public health nurses, inspectors, evaluators, epidemiologists, program managers, medical officers of health, and others.

The objectives of the webinar are to:

  • Describe trauma- and violence-informed practice and its importance and relevance during the COVID-19 response;
  • Identify tools and resources that can support public health practitioners, leaders, and organizations in developing their trauma- and violence-informed lens; and
  • Explore how trauma- and violence-informed practice can support and strengthen the public health response to COVID-19 in a variety of settings.

Register Here


About the presenters:

Ellen Stevens (RN BScN MPH IBCLC) has worked with Niagara Region Public Health in the Nurse Family Partnership (NFP) program for 1.5 years supporting vulnerable, at risk, first time mothers and their children - all of which have experienced significant ACEs. Prior to her transition to the NFP program, she provided parenting and breastfeeding support to families in the Reproductive / Child Health program, something that she has been privileged to support virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to her work at Niagara Region, she continues to work casually as a NICU RN at the St. Catharines Hospital supporting medically fragile and / or premature infants.

Lucia Taggart is an acting manager (due to COVID-19 redeployment) with the Healthy Living and Development Department at the Leeds, Grenville & Lanark District Health Unit, taking a break from her Nursing Practice Coordinator position. Lucia has been the Project Lead through the Health Unit’s journey to achieve designation as a Best Practice Spotlight Organization in 2018. The Health Unit has provided training in Trauma Informed Care for its staff and community partners and strives to incorporate these practices through implementation of numerous best practice guidelines such as Person and Family Centred Care and Perinatal Mood Disorders.

Dr. Pamela Leece (moderator) is a Public Health Physician in the Health Promotion, Chronic Disease, and Injury Prevention department at Public Health Ontario and a Clinical Associate at Women’s College Hospital Substance Use Service. Her research and evaluation work focuses on public health approaches to substance use.

Rachel MacLean is a Senior Project Officer with the Canadian Public Health Association where she manages various training and education initiatives related to sexual health, harm reduction, healthy relationships and stigma reduction. Rachel holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Toronto and has been working in the field of sexual health for several years in various capacities, including research, policy and community engagement.

Rose Burns has been a Public Health Nurse with Niagara Region Public Health for over 30 years. Most of those years have been spent in Healthy Babies Healthy Children home-visiting. She has been in a supervisor/team lead role with Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) since it was first introduced to Niagara in 2018. Her role is unique in NFP in that she dedicates half of her time to supervisory responsibilities, such as reflective practice and accompanied home visits with the other NFP nurses, and the remaining time is spent as an NFP public health nurse delivering the program to a smaller caseload of clients. This shared supervision model provides the opportunity to work alongside colleagues and incorporate front-line experience during reflective supervision sessions.

Dr. Sarah Carsley is the Applied Public Health Science Specialist in Healthy Growth and Development in the department of Health Promotion, Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention at Public Health Ontario. Dr. Carsley completed a Master of Science in Epidemiology at McGill University and a PhD in Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. She is the Chair of the Healthy Growth and Development Evidence Network and provides scientific and technical support to the Ontario public health units and the Ministry of Health. Her research interests include adverse childhood experiences, childhood obesity, early child development, electronic medical records, public health and preventive medicine.

Your registration confirmation, with modality and connection information, will be emailed to you after successfully registering and again before your session.



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