After a traumatic event at age 20, I developed a kind of  PTSD called dissociative amnesia – for almost 30 years, I lost my memories and connection to who I’d been before the trauma. My journey back to myself has often been dark and complicated but ultimately led to joy and creativity.​ I share the story of my search for trauma-informed mental health services and  discuss the burdens we put on people living with trauma. ​

 

Keynote topics, media,  and university lectures can include:

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• The cost of the 'burden of proof' we put on survivors of trauma

• Redefining yourself after trauma & mental illness

• How women's treatment in the mental health system has too often put diagnosis, treatment, and compassion out of reach​

 

 

The History of Social Work & Social Policy in Canada

 

My book, Enriched By Catastrophe: Social Work and Social Conflict after the Halifax Explosion, describes how social work and social policy developed after the worst human-made explosion prior to the atomic bomb – in the Atlantic Canada port city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1917. I discuss how policy decisions made over a century ago still shape Halifax, disaster relief, public health, and the profession of social work.​

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Keynote topics, media,  and university lectures can include:

 

• The development of social work and public health as a result of the Halifax Explosion

• How racist and classist policy decisions made in 1917 still impact Nova Scotia today

• The lessons of the 1917 Explosion for current disaster response

• Women's roles in developing social work in Canada