This project has hosted webinars since 2012 to promote learning, information sharing and to stimulate conversation on topics that we hope are relevant to your practice. Many of the archived webinars are part of the former project, the Refugee Mental Health Project. Since September 2017, webinars have encompassed the expanded scope of newly-arrived immigrants and/or refugees.
Our webinars are one-hour sessions that include a 30-minute presentation by professionals in the settlement, social or health services sectors followed by a 30-minute question and answer session where we encourage you to ask questions, pose scenarios and to generally discuss your practice with these experts in the field.
Monica Sesma-Vázquez, PhD, RSW, RMFT-SM (She/Her/Ella). Assistant Professor, Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary
Nathanael Hammond, PhD(c), Economics, University of Calgary
Monica Abdelkader, Director of Settlement and Community Services, Canadian Immigrant Women’s Association.
About the webinar:
Canada’s immigration system relies on the commitment and capacity of frontline settlement workers, yet their wellbeing is often strained by systemic pressures, vicarious trauma, and the invisible burden of cultural labor. This webinar introduces the CIWA-UCalgary Practitioner Wellbeing Framework, developed through a partnership between the Canadian Immigrant Women’s Association and the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Social Work. Grounded in lived organizational experience and academic research, the framework shifts the focus from individual resilience to structural responsibility, offering practical, evidence-informed strategies to embed equity, accountability, and trauma-informed leadership within organizations.
What’s in it for you?
Whether you are a practitioner, leader, or decision-maker, this session will provide concrete tools and insights to strengthen wellbeing and sustainability in your work and organization.
At the end of this webinar, you will be able to:
Apply principles of the Practitioner Wellbeing Framework to your organizational context
Recognize and address hidden forms of labor, including cultural and emotional work
Examine practical, trauma-informed and equity-focused strategies to support staff wellbeing
Translate CIWA innovative actions and academic research findings into actionable changes that enhance retention, effectiveness, and workplace culture in your organization
About the presenters:
Dr. Monica Sesma-Vázquez is a social worker, family therapist, educator, supervisor, and researcher. She is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary, and Director of the Distress Centre Knowledge Hub. Monica is a clinical practitioner at the Eastside Community Mental Health Services and the Calgary Family Therapy Centre. Her research program focuses on the mental health and wellbeing of underserved communities, particularly racialized, ethnoculturally diverse communities, immigrants, refugees, and newcomers. Her international social work research explores migration-related trauma, duelo migratorio, gender-based violence, and community-led approaches to suicide and GBV transforming crisis responses.
Nathanael Hammond isa PhD Candidate in Economics at the University of Calgary. His research on labor economics and inequality focuses on immigrant workplace homophily, as well as the role of owners, organizations and business in shaping the socio-economic outcomes of their employees.
Monica Abdelkader is the Director of Settlement and Community Services at the Canadian Immigrant Women’s Association. Over the last 15 years she has worked in settlement and resettlement in Canada, Egypt and Guatemala, focusing on psychosocial and community-based services, including in the areas of human trafficking, refugee protection, settlement and integration. In Canada, she has worked from coast to coast, including in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Nova Scotia, overseeing settlement and community services for newcomers to Canada. Her work includes strategic management, organizational development and psychosocial safety for staff, especially for nonprofits.
Dr. Nancy Clark, Associate Professor, School of Nursing, University of Victoria, British Columbia)
Alejandro Argüelles Bullón, GMBPsS MRSPH, Graduate Mental Health Researcher and PhD Student, Division of Health Research, Lancaster University, United Kingdom
Frontline providers know this reality well. Refugees don’t arrive with “mental health needs” neatly separated from housing, income, language, family reunification, or immigration stress. Yet our systems are still organized as if those needs exist in isolation. The result? Clients fall through gaps, staff burn out trying to hold systems together, and meaningful integration remains the exception rather than the norm.
This engaging and practice-focused webinar shares findings from a British Columbia based realist study that asked: what actually makes integrated mental health care for refugees work, and what causes it to fail?
The session will resonate deeply with frontline staff who regularly “stretch” their roles to support clients, as well as leaders grappling with system pressures and sustainability.
About the presenters:
Dr Nancy Clark is an Associate Professor at the School of Nursing at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. Her research focuses on social and structural inequities experienced by underserved populations, including groups negatively affected by displacement (i.e., refugees and other groups that experience displacement and structural vulnerabilities due to war, environmental change, and political persecution). She examines how age, sex/gender, ethnicity/race, class/poverty, and other social identity categories shape and are shaped by structural determinants of mental health, and how health and social systems respond to build resilience and adapt to the needs of these population groups.
Alejandro Argüelles Bullón, GMBPsS MRSPH, is a mental health researcher and PhD candidate in Mental Health at Lancaster University, where he received the Dean’s Ben Booth Award for Outstanding Contribution. His research focuses on a wide range of mental health topics, using realist approaches to understand what works, for whom, and why across different contexts and populations. He places a strong emphasis on inclusion, lived-experience roles, and health system responsiveness. He is currently affiliated with Lancaster University, the University of York and the University of Victoria as a mental health researcher.
With Debra Stein, MD, FRCPC, Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist
December 3, 2025
Description:
Drawing on principles of Attachment-Based and Developmental Dyadic Psychotherapies, this webinar will outline an approach to families coping with the effects of trauma and migration; the specific focus will be on guiding and supporting parents and caregivers.
Topics covered include:
a brief overview of theories of attachment and developmental trauma
assessing family context and parental concerns.
exploring current parenting practices and parental personal histories
fostering parent and child self-regulation and connection
teaching positive discipline
It is hoped that by the end of the session, viewers appreciate parent guidance as an important component of treatment for traumatized children and youth.
Archive:
Note that webinar recordings contain the presentation of the topic only; the question and answer session is not recorded.
Specific populations and issues
These webinars highlight strategies for supporting particular immigrant and refugee groups, or highlight specific issues in supporting immigrant and refugee mental health.
Support and treatment considerations
These webinars will focus on specific considerations for providing effective treatment to recent immigrants and refugees.
Successful or promising practices
These webinars outline innovative and unique approaches/programs for supporting the mental health of newly-arrived immigrants and refugees.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in the webinars are those of the presenter(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the Immigrant and Refugee Mental Health Project, CAMH, our funders or partners. Information provided in the webinars is for professional development and educational purposes only.
Community of Practice
Available for course participants, the Community of Practice (CoP) is a virtual community where service providers who support immigrant and refugee mental health can stay up-to-date on new events and resources.
