BCIFV home > Newsletter > 1999 Archives > Summer 1999 articles

From the Executive Director

Penny Bain, LLM

We are pleased to announce that the Institute has been approached to become a partner in the Canadian Health Network, funded by Health Canada, to distribute information about violence and health issues across Canada. We plan to enhance our Resource Centre information and referral capacity in order to accommodate the anticipated increase in demand for information. We are also pleased to announce the hiring of a librarian, Rosie Croft, to increase the technical capacity of the Resource Centre. Rosie will also be working to expand the information available on our web site.

The Institute successfully launched the video and handbook "The Person Within", an educational resource designed by Dr. Sally Rogow and a community advisory group, for caregivers on abuse issues relating to children with disabilities. Dr. Rogow has presented a series of information sessions and workshops to caregivers, parents, and persons with disabilities in a variety of BC communities. We have hired an evaluator to review our progress with this successful project to date. Organizations wishing to partake in a "Person Within" workshop or purchase the video and/or handbook are encouraged to contact Tracey Moropito at the Institute.

The Institute is well underway in organizing a major international conference on risk assessment and family violence to be held in Vancouver this November. The Planning Committee, under the leadership of Dr. Derek Eaves, have assembled an impressive offering of plenary speakers and workshop presentations. You will find registration information enclosed with this newsletter.

We are also pleased to co-sponsor with the BC/Yukon Society of Transition Houses the International Conference on Children Exposed to Violence in October. Please see the "Upcoming Events" section of the newsletter for more information on this event.

The Institute is completing a three-year program to evaluate four assaultive men's treatment programs in BC. Dr. Randy Kropp is preparing a summary of the results of the evaluations which should be available for publication in late summer.

Finally, thanks to the assistance of several law and criminology summer students, the Institute is preparing new literature reviews, particularly in the areas of the impact of justice system services on victims of family violence, corporal punishment and child abuse, and child custody and access. Institute-based researchers are conducting studies of profiles of criminal harassment prepetrators, typologies of spousal assaulters, sexual assault risk assessment tools, and institutional and community education programs for spousal assaulters.