"Healthy Small Cities and Rural Communities: The Importance of Context and Place"
Please join us at this upcoming BCRRHRN Coffee & Chocolate/Thompson Rivers University CIHR Café Scientifique event:
Presenters: Dr. Julie Drolet and Natalie Clark
Location: Hoodoos, Sun Rivers, Kamloops, available via WebEx!! (Download instructions)
Date & Time: Friday February 5, 11:30 am – 1:30 pm
Lunch and refreshments will be provided!
Registration is required. RSVP at:
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Dr. Julie Drolet (PhD, MSW, BSW, BA) is Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work and Human Service at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, BC. She has over 15 years’ of international experience in social work projects and programs. She maintains a particular interest in international social work, international development and community development and has practice, training and research experience in Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Egypt, Mexico, France and India, as well as with Canadian Indigenous communities and immigrant and refugee communities in Canada. As a former United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) program officer she assisted in the development of sub-programs in reproductive health, population and development strategies, and advocacy, in collaborative teams to develop ten projects with a budget of over 20 million dollars for five years. Julie is Treasurer of the Canadian Association for the Study of International Development (CASID), a national, bilingual, interdisciplinary and pluralistic association devoted to the promotion of new knowledge in the broad field of international development. Julie is Secretary and founding member of the Centre for International Social Work in Chennai, South India. Dr. Drolet is co-investigator in the Community University Research Alliance (CURA) on Quality of Life in Small Cities funded by SSHRC at Thompson Rivers University, and is the Principal Investigator of two SSHRC funded international social work research projects: 1) post-tsunami reconstruction in India, and 2) climate change, disasters and sustainable development in BC, Canada. As a dedicated internationalist, with extensive practice, policy and research experiences in various countries, Julie is well-positioned to discuss the importance of “place” and “context” in research projects.
Natalie Clark (MSW, RSW) has a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the UBC, is completing her PhD in Public Policy through SFU, and is currently on faculty with Thompson Rivers’ University within the School of Social Work and Human Services. She is the Director of the Centre for Community Based Youth Health Research at TRU which examines the impact of a number of factors on youth health within an intersectional framework. Natalie’s community based participatory research projects over the last 15 years have focused on marginalized and at risk young women’s experiences with issues of sexual exploitation; eating disorders; addictions, youth justice and health, violence, trauma and the support needs of girls and women. Natalie’s work is informed and mobilized through her interconnected identities including her English, Welsh and Aboriginal ancestry; as a solo-parent of three Aboriginal children under 6; an academic; a community based researcher and counsellor; and finally her geographic shifting from rural girl to urban woman to rural woman in her recent move back to the Interior after 17 years in Vancouver. Her most recent research is focused on examining the health and transition of experiences of marginalized youth growing up in small cities and rural communities, and Urban Aboriginal Youth Health in the Interior of BC. Natalie continues to practice and provide training on girls groups, including the model she developed and facilitated for over 12 years in both rural and urban space; including her recent work with Aboriginal Rites of Passage groups for girls in partnership with the Interior Indian Friendship Society and School District 73 Aboriginal Programs.
Presentation Abstracts:
Abstract – Julie Drolet: Climate change is the most significant environmental, social, cultural and economic threat facing humankind. In 2007, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) concluded that evidence of global warming is unequivocal: that it is caused by greenhouse gas emissions from human activity and that it is threatening ecosystems, societies, cultures and economies worldwide. Rising sea levels, increased heat waves and drought occurrences, and increased extreme precipitation events have the potential to devastate our quality of life. British Columbia (BC) is feeling significant effects of global warming. According to the BC provincial government many parts of the province have been warming at a rate that, in some cases, is more than twice the global average. Warmer winters have also contributed to the mountain pine beetle epidemic, which has destroyed more than 13 million hectares of pine forest. The beetle's numbers have historically been controlled by cold winters and warmer weather is directly linked to their devastating spread. Dr. Drolet will present her study that aims to better understand the impacts of climate change on small cities and rural communities using qualitative research methods by focusing on responses and adaptations. It is a global imperative to better understand how local communities view problems and solutions and to identify innovative ways to moderate and adapt to climate change. The purpose of this research is to investigate the potential impacts of climate change and resultant disasters in the Interior of British Columbia (BC), specifically in rural communities and small cities of the Thompson Cariboo Shuswap-North Okanagan (TCS-NO) region.
Abstract – Natalie Clark: Research on youth health and transition often neglects to consider the impact of geography on identify and transitional development, yet youth often identify issues related to community and geography as key components in their transition into adulthood. In this presentation, Natalie will share the findings of a research project through the Centre for Community-Based Youth Health Research which utilizes community based and youth friendly methods to explore transitional experiences for youth in a small city and rural context. Through weaving voices of university-based researchers, together with community-based researchers and youth themselves, the research and presentation gives voice to life in smaller communities’ where rural living is seen as both strength and a challenge. Further, for youth who are marginalized in small cities and rural communities due to factors such as disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, and cultural identity, the experiences of invisibility and hyper-visibility that exist and challenge the transitions to adulthood. Inclusion of the voices of youth who are living at the intersections, or meeting points of two or more of these factors can provide a rich understanding of the complexity of healthy youth transitions in Kamloops and surrounding rural communities. Implications for social work practice and policy will be shared, including advocacy and knowledge translation emerging from the research.
WebEx Instructions:
We invite you to attend this online meeting.
Topic: Coffee and Chocolate: Healthy Small Cities and Rural Communities: The Importance of Context and Place
Date: Friday, February 5, 2010
Time: 11:30 am, Pacific Standard Time (San Francisco, GMT-08:00)
Meeting Number: 925 676 942
Meeting Password: Rural10
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To join the online meeting (Now from iPhones too!)
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1. Go to https://msfhr.webex.com/msfhr/j.php?ED=133694742&U
ID=0&PW=NZDU0MmZiYzFi&RT=NCM0
2. Enter your name and email address.
3. Enter the meeting password: Rural10
4. Click "Join Now".
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