Professor Delphine Collin-Vézina will deliver the prestigious Claude Ryan Lecture at the Newman Centre of McGill University (3484 Peel St). Her lecture, titled “Breaking the silence about child sexual abuse: How to promote safer places for our children,” will be held on Thursday, Feb. 12, a 5:30 p.m.
Trained as a clinical psychologist, Dr. Delphine Collin-Vézina is one of Canada’s leading scholars in the area of child sexual abuse, child maltreatment and trauma research. She is one of a handful of international scholars based at McGill University who has been called upon by major institutions around the globe, including the Vatican, to deepen our understanding of trends in child maltreatment, and to improve the provision of treatment for victims through protection agencies and healthcare centres.
The Claude Ryan Lecture was inaugurated in 2004 as part of the annual cycle of lecture of The Newman Centre of McGill University. Named in honour of the late Claude Ryan (1925-2004), who had been active as a teacher at the Centre in the latter years of his life, the lectures aim to address questions arising at the intersection of religious belief, ethics and political philosophy, each of which were areas of deep and abiding interest to Mr. Ryan during his distinguished career as journalist, editor, politician and public intellectual.
Stemming from her experience and current research, Dr. Collin-Vézina’s Claude Ryan Lecture will explore the particular problem of silence in cases of child sexual abuse and comment on the role that adults can play in reversing the prevalence of silence on this matter and in creating safer environments into which children can grow. Her lecture will present some of the latest research on pathways and processes of disclosure of child sexual abuse, the evaluation of social and organizational responses to reports of child sexual abuse, and the implementation trauma-based interventions to help victims heal.
The very first professor at the McGill School of Social Work to be awarded a Tier II Canada Research Chair (2008-2018), she acts as Director of the McGill Centre of Research on Children and Families — a vibrant, internationally-renowned institution that brings together 18 faculty members and 40 graduate students to spearhead projects, programs and policies, which aim to protect vulnerable children, youth and their families at the local, national and international levels.
To learn more about this lecture, go here or call 514 398-4106.
