Pre-Conference Institute: Violence Against Women and Animals
October 11, 2018

The one day pre-conference institute will explore research, theory, and practice specific to the intersection of violence against animals and women within the context of domestic violence. A recently published survey of battered women residing in shelters across Canada found that 89% of respondents who had a pet with their abuser reported at least one form of threatened or enacted violence against their animal companion (Barrett, Fitzgerald, Stevenson, & Cheung, 2017). As such, service providers in both the animal welfare and domestic violence sectors have a vested interested in knowledge exchange to promote best practices to serve and protect abused women and their pets. Addressing the co-occurrence of animal abuse and woman abuse relies on cutting edge research to document the scope and complexity of the issue, the development of sound social policy to guide program development, and the effective training of front line workers to identify and intervene in cases in which women and animals are at risk. This event will serve as a catalyst for these critical discussions between researchers, scholars, anti-violence activists, and front line practitioners working with abused women and/or animals.

Our keynote speakers for this day will be Dr. Frank Ascione and Jaki MacKinnon. Dr. Ascione’s talk will address risk assessment for front line practitioners and provide a review of evidence based approaches for addressing the co-occurrence of violence against women and animals in practice settings. Ms. MacKinnon will draw on her experiences as a program administrator as well as feedback from women in the program to discuss both the successes and challenges of integrating services for women and their pets within residential facilities.

Attendance is free and open to the public. Advanced registration is required.

Animals and Us: Research, Policy, and Practice is supported with funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.