Research

Bolaji Akinyele-Akanbi: intimate partner violence/family violence, Immigrant and refugee issues, anti-oppressive/anti-colonial perspective, health and mental health issues, community-based research, social work and spirituality, racial injustice, critical cultural and African feminism analyses

Michael Baffoe: anti-oppression, human rights, immigrant and refugee issues, international social work, community development

Marlyn Bennett: Indigenous social work, child welfare, youth, violence against women, research methodology

Tracey Bone: mental health in marginalized populations, Deaf identity and Deaf mental health, deaf language and culture, criminal justice, domestic violence, social work practice, eating disorders and their impacts, mental health recovery

Marleny Munoz Bonnycastle: FASD, immigrants and refugees, human rights, child welfare, poverty, Indigenous social work, homelessness and housing, women and feminism 

Maria Cheung: Human rights, genocide studies, spiritual minorities, gender studies, international social work, immigrant and refugee, anti-oppression, Indigenous social work

David C. J. Delay: mental health, mindfulness-based interventions, intimate partner violence and treatment, men’s health and healing

Mary Kate Dennis: Indigenous elders, loss and grief, food sovereignty, environmental justice

Sid Frankel: nonprofit sector, poverty reduction policy (including basic income), population health promotion, voluntary and non-profit sector, social policy, research methodology, economic security

Deana Halonen: Indigenous social work, international social work, distance education

Diane Hiebert-Murphy: family violence, family-centred practice

Michelle Elizabeth Jonathan: relationship dynamics in marriage, parent-child relationship, technology and couple relationship, gender discrimination in families, social work interventions for families, biblical perspective of marriage enrichment

Mohammad N. Khan: economic well-being, financial capability, (Im)migration, disaster management, decolonization

Kathy Levine: mental health, child welfare, family violence, family-centered practice, youth, violence against women

Lindsay Larios: Canadian immigration and refugee policy, precarious status migration, citizenship and borders, immigration as a reproductive justice issue, politics of pregnancy, childbirth, and parenthood, access to healthcare, critical feminist policy analysis, community-based research

Hai Luo: aging, addictions, social capital, international social work, Indigenous social work

Christine Mayor: critical approaches to trauma, trauma-informed schools, whiteness and anti-Black racism, educational equity, anti-carceral and abolitionist social work , arts in social work practice, pedagogy, and research and drama therapy

James P. (Jim) Mulvale: economic security, distance education, social justice, social work theory

Jennifer Hedges: critical and feminist pedagogy, anti-oppressive practice, moral courage in social work, allyship relationships, child welfare, co-teaching and peer learning

Kendra Nixon: violence against women, intimate partner violence, child protection, social welfare, social and family policy

Rusty Souleymanov: addictions, public health, 2LGBTQ, anti-oppression, social justice, trauma, sexual health

Ashley Stewart-Tufescu: children's rights, adverse childhood experiences, child maltreatment, parenting, discipline, child welfare, mental health, family violence, program evaluation

The Faculty of Social Work admitted the largest cohort of PhD students to the Faculty in the history of the program when ten students accepted their offers of admission and began their program at the beginning of the 2020/2021 Academic Year on September 9, 2020. 

The 2021 cohort is rich and exciting in its diversity of international and domestic students from four countries: Canada, USA, Ghana and Nigeria. The Canadian students include three Indigenous students, the largest ever admitted to our PhD program. It is a group with diverse and rich experiences as well in various fields of endeavour locally and internationally. 

View our PhD 2021 cohort newsletter

Couples Counselling Project

Many couples that have experienced abuse/violence in their relationship choose to stay together. The Couples Counselling Project (CCP) is a service, training, and research program designed to help couples that have experienced abuse/violence in the past and want to work towards an abuse free-relationship.

When does abuse/violence occur?

• When someone threatens, mocks, insults, belittles, ridicules, or coerces another person. (This includes any behavior that causes one partner in a couple to feel frightened or worthless.)
• When someone strikes or threatens to hurt another person. (This includes pinches, pushes, slaps, and punches; it also includes preventing free movement, throwing or hitting objects, and unwanted sexual contact.)

In the CCP a co-therapy team works with couples who have experienced abuse/violence in the past and want to work towards an abuse/violence-free relationship. The program emphasizes safety while addressing the impact of abuse/violence. The overall goal of the program is the prevention of further abuse and greater relationship satisfaction.

Areas that may be addressed include: strategies to reduce the risk of future abuse in the relationship, identifying and addressing the effects of the abuse on individuals and on the relationship, effective problem solving and conflict resolution, supportive and respectful communication, and rebuilding trust. Services offered include couples conjoint therapy and couples group therapy.

The Couples Couselling Project is appropriate for couples:

• who have experienced abuse/violence in their relationships in the past but the abuse/violence has stopped.
• when individuals who have behaved abusively/violently accept responsibility for their behaviour and can contract for continued non-violence and when individuals who have been hurt by the aggressive behaviour can develop a safety plan.
• who are committed to developing a non-abusive partner relationship.

The Couples Couselling Project is not appropriate when:

• violence is ongoing.
• either partner is abusing alcohol or other substances.
• either partner is suicidal.
• there are domestic violence charges pending.

Couples Counselling Project service information

Services offered by the Couples Couselling Project are confidential and free of charge. Clients can contact the Couples Couselling Project directly or can be referred by other professionals in the community. We will work with clients to determine which services will be most useful. 

The Couples Counselling Project is funded by the Family Violence Prevention Program, Department of Family Services and Labour, Government of Manitoba.

For more information, please contact:

The Couples Counselling Project
The University of Manitoba
485 Selkirk Ave.
Winnipeg, MB R2W 2M6 Canada
204- 474-6711
couples@umanitoba.ca