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The Epidemic of
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Guest Speakers
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Christine Taylor
Manager, Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Treatment Centre of Waterloo Region, St. Mary's General Hospital
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Christine Taylor is a Registered Social Worker with a Master of Social Work from Wilfrid Laurier University. She has worked on the front-lines with victims of intimate partner violence for 13 years and is currently the Program Manager of the Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Treatment Centre of Waterloo Region at St. Mary's Hospital.
Prior to this, Christine was engaged in gender-based violence work in West Africa. Christine is also a member of the clinical panel with the Office of the Children’s Lawyer (The Ministry of the Attorney General of Ontario). |
Jennifer Hutton
CEO of Women's Crisis Services of Waterloo Region
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Jennifer Hutton is the CEO of Women's Crisis Services of Waterloo Region. She has passionately led the organization as CEO since 2018 but has been with Women’s Crisis Services for more than ten years in total. Jen holds a Master's degree in Social Work and a Master's in Business Administration, both from Wilfrid Laurier University.
Prior to working in the violence against women sector, Jen worked in children's mental health. What fuels Jen is the strength and resiliency she sees in women and children as they overcome significant barriers to lead happier, healthier lives. |
Sarah Robertson
Advocate and Survivor of Intimate Partner Violence
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Sarah Robertson is a former Director on the Board at Women’s Crisis Services of the Waterloo Region. She is employed in the child welfare sector and is a survivor of Intimate Partner Violence. She is an advocate for supports and resources for families that have experienced violence and seeks to improve how we assess risk to women and children.
Sarah will focus her presentation on Coercive Control as it is often misunderstood and minimized in terms of psychological harm and risk of lethality. |
Amy Hachborn
Staff Sergeant - Intimate Partner Violence Unit, Waterloo Regional Police Service
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Staff Sergeant Amy Hachborn has been a police officer with the Waterloo Regional Police Service for the past 20 years. She has worked patrol in Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge and as a detective in the Intimate Partner Violence Unit and the Special Victims Unit. She has also worked as a School Resource Officer, in the Training Branch and at Court Services.
Currently she is the Staff Sergeant of the Intimate Partner Violence Unit which is comprised of 20 investigators, two sergeants and detectives assigned to focus on early intervention and high risk offenders. |
Halina (Lin) Haag
MSW, RSW, PhD(c)
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Ms. Haag is a PhD candidate and Contract Faculty member with the Faculty of Social Work at Wilfrid Laurier University and a research trainee at the Acquired Brain Injury Research Lab at the University of Toronto. Her research explores the intersection of intimate partner violence and brain injury. Lin is committed to improving outcomes through direct practice, innovative research, and professional education, believing that increased knowledge and understanding in the community is key. In 2021 she was honoured to recieve the Neurological Health Charities of Canada’s Changemaker Award for her work in IPV-related brain injury. As someone with lived experience of brain injury, she has been a guest speaker addressing issues of disability, brain injury, and marginalization for a variety of international academic, professional, and community-based organizations. Her work has been generously funded by the Ontario Women’s Health Scholar Award.
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David Morneau Jr.
Reformative Family Lawyer; Educator; Advocate for Evolution and Innovation
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For over 20 years, David has practised law with empathy, compassion and integrity, helping families through challenging circumstances with considerable care. He applies innovation and creativity in assisting clients in determining what they need to overcome the obstacles they are facing, empowering them to do so with dignity, honour and a focus on the future and communication, ensuring that they have all information and advice to make informed decisions.
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Accredited as a family mediator and collaborative legal professional, David has been a passionate advocate for legal reform and spoken about the legal system and its intersection with human sex trafficking and family violence.
His contributions include:
Throughout his career, David has observed and analyzed our legal systems and has spoken widely about reform and change. He has acted as counsel for parents and children in the family justice system and was able to witness firsthand the impact that adversarial processes can have on families in transition. Through his training, he continues to learn new skills for conflict resolution which give the participants the ability to listen, communicate, solve their own differences, both now and in the future.
His contributions include:
- Presenter of “Collaboration and Working with Victims and Survivors of Human Trafficking” for Ontario Association of Family Mediators (Child Protection);
- Commentary on changes to the Children’s Law Reform Act, including the definition of family violence, for local politicians;
- Various podcasts, including “Navigating Through Separation and Divorce and Domestic Violence” for Women’s Crisis Services of Waterloo Region;
- Appearances on CBC Tonight and CTV Your Morning discussing changes to the Divorce Act;
- Educational content including “Navigating Separation and Divorce” for Women’s Crisis Services of Waterloo Region and YWKW and “Changes to the Divorce Act -- What front-line workers need to know to support their clients” for Connecting Ottawa.
Throughout his career, David has observed and analyzed our legal systems and has spoken widely about reform and change. He has acted as counsel for parents and children in the family justice system and was able to witness firsthand the impact that adversarial processes can have on families in transition. Through his training, he continues to learn new skills for conflict resolution which give the participants the ability to listen, communicate, solve their own differences, both now and in the future.
Janet De Gazon
Gender Based Violence Lead at Camino Wellbeing + Mental Health
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Janet De Gazon is the Gender Based Violence Lead at Camino Wellbeing + Mental Health. She coordinates and facilitates the Strong Moms, Safe Kids group; supporting mother's who have experienced intimate partner violence and their children. Janet also provides training and education about supporting survivors and those at risk of abuse including screening, assessing and safety planning. She is the co-chair of the Waterloo Region Domestic Violence Service Coordination Committee and is a Registered Psychotherapist and Child and Youth Worker.
Previously Janet worked in children’s mental health as the provincial Intake Worker for the Internet Child Exploitation program and as a child abuse prevention educator. |