This thesis examines the role of structural violence in the contemporary transition to adulthood of street involved youth. Anchored in structural social work, the study understands the origin of social problems and of violence to be structural rather than individual. Conducted in two phases, the study used participatory action and arts-informed methods, group discussions, and semi-structured interviews. Autonomy, a key component of the contemporary transition to adulthood, was central to the research results. The findings demonstrated that structural violence works to misrepresent or to nullify street involved youths’ expressions of autonomy. Structural violence affects how they exercise and manifest their autonomy as well as how their autonomy is represented or socially valued. The findings made visible the invisible structural violence, illuminating social causes of individual problems. Accordingly, to better support street involved youth and the development of their autonomy during their transition to adulthood, the study proposes recommendations for practice, policy, and research that target systems level change.

This paper explores a Master of Social Work (MSW) student's experiences in engagement with structural social work during an advanced practicum with a perinatal mental health project in Northeastern Ontario. The goals of the advanced practicum were to: (a) improve reflexive practice, (b) improve understanding of structural social work, specific to social justice, and (c) improve understanding of the role of structural social workers within inter-organizational collaborations. Deconstruction of the engagement with each of the goals and the challenges in facilitation of the objectives are reviewed. Though there are issues and dilemmas facing those who wish to engage in structural social work, this advanced practicum experience was successful in improving the student's engagement with structural social work praxis.

This thesis explores lifespan and intergenerational trauma effects experienced by Russian Mennonite women who fled from Stalinist Russia during WWII and migrated to Canada, and adult sons or daughters of this generation of women. As an adult child of survivors, I employed an autoethnographic methodology, conducting 1-on-1 interviews with eight women aged 78 to 96, and seven adult children aged 50 to 68. Older women demonstrated a lifelong emphasis on mental strength, faith, and resilience; the marginalization of emotions; evidence of insecure attachment styles; and potential for unresolved trauma to resurface in later life. The majority of adult children experienced attachment and identity issues; their life experiences are viewed through the lens of biological, psychological, familial, cultural (religious) transmission of trauma effects. Results highlight the importance of structural and narrative social work approaches that externalize and contextualize trauma and transform service environments that individualize and/or pathologize lifespan outcomes of trauma.

As a relatively recent phenomenon, the increasing overrepresentation of Aboriginal persons in both the child welfare and criminal justice systems is of critical importance to the field of social work. As social control systems, how do social workers contribute to or mitigate against overrepresentation as contemporary colonialism? What can social work professionals who themselves have been through these systems add to our social work discourse? A sample of fifteen Aboriginal social workers who had as youth been in either one or both of these systems were interviewed with respect to: what they found was helpful or unhelpful in their interactions as youth with social workers, why they subsequently chose social work as a career, the supports and barriers they encountered along their career path, and the difference their experiences had for their own professional practice. Using structural social work theory, overrepresentation as a contemporary colonializing process was re-conceptualised as structural violence. Institutional Ethnography (IE) and Hermeneutic Phenomenology were used to explore how these neo-liberal ruling relations are produced, maintained, and potentially deconstructed. The findings from this unique population have implications for decolonizing social work practice, education, and research.

This thesis explores lifespan and intergenerational trauma effects experienced by Russian Mennonite women who fled from Stalinist Russia during WWII and migrated to Canada, and adult sons or daughters of this generation of women. As an adult child of survivors, I employed an autoethnographic methodology, conducting 1-on-1 interviews with eight women aged 78 to 96, and seven adult children aged 50 to 68. Older women demonstrated a lifelong emphasis on mental strength, faith, and resilience; the marginalization of emotions; evidence of insecure attachment styles; and potential for unresolved trauma to resurface in later life. The majority of adult children experienced attachment and identity issues; their life experiences are viewed through the lens of biological, psychological, familial, cultural (religious) transmission of trauma effects. Results highlight the importance of structural and narrative social work approaches that externalize and contextualize trauma and transform service environments that individualize and/or pathologize lifespan outcomes of trauma.