The Faculty of Social Work's research focuses include:
- human rights and social justice
- child welfare
- family violence
- social determinants of mental health
- Indigenous methodologies and ways of being
Social action. Social justice. Social change. Research areas
The knowledge generated by our social work researchers is shared with other academics, students, government policy-makers, not-for-profit social service organizations, individuals who make use of social work services and supports and members of the general public.
Featured research
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Exploring Anti-Racist and Decolonial School Social Work and Anti-Racist Advocacy in North America
This research stems from the gap in literature on anti-racist and decolonial practices in school social work. We aim to better understand the facilitators, barriers, and examples of these practices across English-speaking North America and to offer best practices at the micro, mezzo, and macro level to improve the ways school social work is practiced and supported. This project is supported by the Endowment Fund, Faculty of Social Work.
We are currently recruiting for active school social workers to participate in our survey.
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Community-led Safety as Wâhkôhtowin: A Study of Community Safety Hosts’ Relational, Kinship, and Anti-Carceral Practices
This community-based research project was co-developed by Dr. Christine Mayor (FSW) and Dr. Julie Chamberlain (Inner City & Urban Studies, University of Winnipeg) with Persons Community Solutions and Zoongizi Ode Inc. The project focuses on the work of Community Safety Hosts who are hired throughout Winnipeg to connect with members of the community, build safety through relationships, and serve as an alternative to traditional security guards and policing. This mixed methods research demonstrates the ways in which the natural Cree law of Wâhkôhtowin offers an alternative to community safety that is rooted in Indigenous ways of knowing, connection, and deep listening. This project is supported by the Manitoba Research Alliance, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, and the Social Science and Humanities Council. Stay tuned for the launch of a community report and gathering later in 2025!
In the media
New and upcoming research
Projects
Dr. David Delay
Dr. Delay's current research project is a collaboration with Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre. The research study is a survey of men's attitudes, perceptions, and practices related to sex buying. This project is focused on surveying Manitoba men. A planned follow up study will include interviews with men who have indicated their willingness to participate when completing the current survey. This study is part of a larger engagement initiative that will involve men and boys in the development of education workshops and other interventions intended to address sexual exploitation and other harms experienced by women and girls.
Dr. Kendra Nixon
Awareness to Action: Moving from Screening and Assessment to Developing Appropriate Parenting Plans After Family Violence in the Family Justice System (A2A)
This project will continue the work of the previous Family Violence Family Law project by sustaining the Manitoba Community of Practice and continuing to produce educational webinars, research briefs, and legal bulletins. However, A2A will shift its focus to developing an online guide that will aid in developing parenting plans that account for the impacts of IPV and keep families safer.
Improving Shelter Experiences for Indigenous Women
This research project was developed in partnership with our community partner Circling Buffalo Inc. Our collaborative research project aims to contribute to our understanding of Indigenous women’s experiences seeking help in Indigenous and non-Indigenous-led women’s shelters. We hope the results of the research will contribute to the betterment of shelter experiences for Indigenous survivors. As an opening ceremony, we organized a sweat lodge on November 30, 2023, with Elder Redsky (also known as Norman Campbell) to start our research project in a good way. The project is supported by Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE).
Reducing Family Violence: Perspectives of Cultural Communities Interacting with Service Providers Applying Cultural Safety and Humility
This project was developed in partnership with the Coalition of Manitoba Cultural Communities for Families (CMCCF) to explore the experience of family violence within cultural communities in Manitoba. Md Saidur Rashid Sumon, a Faculty of Social Work doctoral student, will be assisting with the project. The project is supported by the Prairieaction Foundation.
To learn about these research projects and others, please visit RESOLVE Manitoba.
Publications
Dr. Blessing Ojembe
Ojembe, B. U. (2025). (Un)availability of Social Provisions and the Framing of Loneliness by Black Older Adults in Canada: A Qualitative Narrative Study. Journal of Black Psychology, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/00957984251319746
Egbumike, C. J., Ojembe, B., Ezulike, C. J., Oyinola, O., Nwachukwu, E., & Kalu, M. E. (2025). Unmet Social Needs of Older Adults with Mobility Limitations Following Inpatient Rehabilitation Discharge in Nigeria: A Qualitative Narrative Inquiry Study. Journal of geriatric physical therapy (2001), 10.1519/JPT.0000000000000419. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1519/JPT.0000000000000419
Dr. Kendra Nixon
O’Connor, C., Alaggia, R., & Nixon, K. L. (accepted). "Something's got to give": A qualitative exploration of policies and practices by child welfare services in cases of children exposed to intimate partner violence exposure in Ontario, Canada. Journal of Family Violence.
Tutty, L., M., & Nixon, K.L. (accepted). He stole my meds to get high:” The mental health and well-being of women abused by intimate partners and their disability status. Journal of Interpersonal Violence.
Collaborate with us
We are always interested in hearing about issues that arise in the field, which may require further investigation and research. If you have a research idea that you would like to discuss, please feel free to contact any of our researchers who work in that area.
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
Monica Anne Batac: Immigration, labour migration; community organizing, development, and practice; program design and evaluation; non-profit management; critical Filipino/a/x studies, Filipino diaspora; transnational feminism, anti-racism; decolonizing methodologies, critical qualitative research, action research, community-based research
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
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
Deana Halonen: Indigenous social work, international social work, distance education
Jennifer Hedges: critical and feminist pedagogy, anti-oppressive practice, moral courage in social work, allyship relationships, child welfare, co-teaching and peer learning
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
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
Kendra Nixon: violence against women, intimate partner violence, child protection, social welfare, social and family policy
Blessing Ojembe: Loneliness, Social Isolation, exclusion, Black older adults, Black community health and representation, climate change, Adult day programs, Social justice, social provisions, aging, transnational and cross-cultural aging, critical gerontology
Rusty Souleymanov: community-based research, social work in healthcare, decolonizing and Indigenizing health, marginalization, poverty, and access to health and social services, sexual health, HIV/AIDS, and sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections, substance use, harm reduction, and drug policy, racial, ethnic, and cultural inequities in health, mental health
Ashley Stewart-Tufescu: children's rights, adverse childhood experiences, child maltreatment, parenting, discipline, child welfare, mental health, family violence, program evaluation
Collaborating with our community
Transforming EDI to RDEI Outcomes Through Practice Theory
Advancing human rights values in professional practice
MITACS BSI is a partnership project with the City of Saskatoon and the University of Manitoba, in collaboration with the University of Saskatchewan.
The purpose of the project is to advance Reconciliation, Diversity, and Equitable Inclusion (RDEI) institutional programs and initiatives by addressing root causes of systemic barriers, application of human rights values-based practice theory and strategies, and measurement of outcomes.
Ongoing support projects
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 Counselling 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 Counselling 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
Research resources
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Funding
Contact us
David C. J. Delay
Associate dean, Graduate Programs and Research
Faculty of Social Work
Room 418H Tier Building
173 Dafoe Rd. W
University of Manitoba (Fort Garry campus)
Winnipeg, MB R3T 2M9 Canada
204-474-6669
204 474-7594