PREVNet held its annual conference in Toronto, Ontario. This conference was an opportunity for partners, researchers, educators, policy makers, and other adults and students who work with youth to come together and discuss how we can create spaces that support equity, diversity and inclusion.
On May14th, we held a pre-conference day for PREVNet members. In the morning, PREVNet graduate students participated in interactive games to get to know one another, as the graduate students come from across Canada. Thank you to the Graduate Student Executive Committee: Karen Bouchard, Carleigh Sanderson and Heather Woods for organizing and leading the activity.
Next, the graduate students had the chance to engage with a panel of early career professionals. They shared their thoughts on lessons learned throughout their career and provided insight on potential next steps. Thank you to: Dr. Alicia Lapointe (Research Scientist for the Centre for School Mental Health, Faculty of Education, Western University), Dr. Alex Sutherland (Psychologist with the Toronto District School Board), Dr. Irene Vitoroulis (Ontario Women’s Health Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Offord Centre for Child Studies at McMaster University), Laine Bourassa (Researcher at Taylor Newberry Consulting), and Dr. Kirsty Lee (Postdoctoral Fellow at University of Ottawa).
‘Doing a PhD is an opportunity in self discovery, to find what you’re passionate about’ - @profwendycraig. Our early career panel discusses the many things you can do with a PhD at #PREVNetConf pic.twitter.com/H3ZcslNsCc
— PREVNet (@PREVNet) May 14, 2019
Following the morning, PREVNet researchers, graduate students, youth advisory committee members and partner organization staff gathered for lunch. After lunch Alita Sauve - Traditional Knowledge Keeper, Indigenous Culture Program, Native Child and Family Services of Toronto – opened up the afternoon by assisting us in acknowledging the land. The land we met on is the traditional territory of many nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples and is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. We also acknowledge that Treaty 13 with the Mississaugas of the Credit covers Toronto.
Throughout the afternoon, we celebrated PREVNet’s successes with presentations by:
These presentations show us that co-creation with researchers, graduate students, NGOs, and community organizations is key to our success in building healthy relationships.
Following the success stories’, PREVNet members broke out into small groups to discus PREVNet 2.0 and planning for our future.
Moving forward to address teen dating violence - thoughts from our break out sessions at #PREVNetconf on how we can continue to build #healthyrelationships across development and what is important for our partners pic.twitter.com/VwUpdCCY9D
— PREVNet (@PREVNet) May 14, 2019
Grad students and researchers want continued support from PREVNet to connect with schools and community groups to research tricky topics like dating violence. We love working collaboratively and want to keep that piece!
— PREVNet (@PREVNet) May 14, 2019
That evening, our PREVNet members joined us for a wine and cheese reception wiwth a musical performance by Sir John A. MacDonald Public School's Junior/Intermediate Choir.
The next day, May 15th, was our public day! We welcomed a variety of folks to particpate in a day filled with learning and networking. Dr. Wendy Craig and Dr. Claire Crooks, as well as our Gold Sponsors, TELUS and Facebook welcomed everyone to the conference. Dr. Deinera Exner-Cortens, opened the conference with a presentation on "Safe Schools for All Youth: Considering Identity-Based Victimization."
@D_ExnerCortens delivers the opening keynote at #PREVNetconf - “We need to think holistically - what are the different oppressions youth might face because of their identity, & how do they interact? We need to take into account all factors to be effective in violence prevention” pic.twitter.com/doIVbCqWp0
— PREVNet (@PREVNet) May 15, 2019
Conference attendees had the opportunity to view graduate students research findings on posters, and view partner displays. Thank you for your contributions!
We are also grateful to all our workshop presenters for developing a diverse array of learning opportunities for our attendees! Presenters included:
After the workshops, PREVNet’s National Youth Advisory Committee took the stage with a presentation on “Consent Is For Everyone”
Thank you to our amazing Youth Advisory Committee for sharing their work on discussing consent - teaching boundaries from an early age and revisiting consent as kids develop into young adults is key to help build #HealthyRelationships pic.twitter.com/czj2fV6hOL
— PREVNet (@PREVNet) May 15, 2019
We finished the day with our closing keynote by Dr. Claire Crooks with a presentation on "Finding the Middle Ground Between Evidence-based Practice and Locally Relevant Programming."
To close, Dr. Wendy Craig reflected on what a phenomenal conference we had. We want to thank everyone who made the conference possible. As well as everyone who attended. By coming together and sharing ideas, the conference was truly unforgettable.