Inviting Resilience is the overarching theme of a national conference to be hosted by Trent University; Kawartha Sexual Assault Centre; and The Mane Intent Inc. on May 21 & May 22, 2019 at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario. The Inviting Resilience Conference will combine academic and experiential learning to provide meaningful opportunities in building community capacity for the newest evidence-based practices; community-driven, multi-sectoral initiatives; and trauma-informed programming focused on building resilience in youth and adults impacted by childhood trauma and sexual violence over the lifespan.
Dr. Kateryna (Katia) Keefer will Chair the Inviting Resilience conference. Dr. Keefer is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychology at Trent University and the research lead for Building Internal Resilience Through Horses. Her program of research is focused on the developmental dynamics and applications of socioemotional competencies in the promotion of wellness and resilience across the lifespan. As an emerging scholar, Dr. Keefer has co-authored over 30 journal articles and book chapters on the topics of emotional intelligence, resilience, mental health, and psychological assessment; delivered numerous invited talks and conference presentations on these topics; and co-edited the Springer book of Emotional Intelligence in Education.
Dr. Keefer is the opening plenary keynote scheduled at 8:45 a.m. on Tuesday, May 21, 2019. Her presentation themed Resourceful Communities, Resilient Youth will focus on the developmental dynamics and applications of socioemotional competencies in the promotion of wellness and resilience across the lifespan. She will also share preliminary research results from Building Internal Resilience Through Horses.
Dr. Sandrina de Finney is the Associate Professor and Graduate Advisor, School of Child and Youth Care, at the University of Victoria. Dr. de Finney is an associate professor whose primary focus of scholarship is Indigenous and minoritized populations, particularly youth in care and girls/young women. Drawing on over two decades of experience as a community activist, researcher, trainer and youth worker, Dr. Sandrina’s academic work documents the impact of (neo)colonial practices and policies and how racialized communities negotiate and disrupt their effects. Her scholarship is rooted in participatory, action-oriented, and arts-based methods and draws on Indigenous, queer, anti-racist, anti/postcolonial and transnational feminist theories and perspectives.
The theme of Dr. de Finney’s keynote scheduled for Wednesday, May 22 at 8:45 a.m. is: Indigenous Resurgence as Resilience: Promising Pathways for Resilience and Healing in Indigenous Contexts. In this presentation, Dr. de Finney will explore the issues of trauma, resilience, healing and reconciliation can be reconsidered through Indigenous lens. This conceptual shift takes Indigenous resilience out of its individualized psycho-social definition and locates it instead in relationship with ancestors, lands, kinship, and self-determination.
