Bree Akesson
Associate Director, Centre for Research on Security Practices (CRSP); Associate Professor, Social Work and Social Justice & Community Engagement (SJCE) Graduate Program; Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Global Adversity and Wellbeing
bakesson@wlu.ca
548-889-4966
Brantford, Ontario
Lyle S. Hallman Faculty of Social Work
Bree Akesson is an expert in biopsychosocial impacts of domicide, displacement, experiences of war-affected families, global social service workforce strengthening, immigration, international social work, migration and resettlement related to international conflict, place-based research methods, qualitative geographic information systems (GIS), refugee families, and Syrian refugees.
War-torn countries, mental health, trauma
Areas of Expertise
- Geography and GIS (Geographic Information Systems)
- Immigration, Migration and Refugees
- Social Work Practice and Theory
- War and War Crimes
Biography
Education
- PhD in Social Work, McGill University (2009-2014)
- MPH in Population and Family Health, Columbia University (2004-2006)
- MSSW in Advanced Clinical Social Work Practice, Columbia University (2003-2006)
- BA in Sociology, Columbia University (1997-2001)
Other Affiliations
- Clinical Treatment Facilitator, Global Psychiatric Epidemiology Group, Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene, New York State Psychiatric Institute
- Faculty Affiliate, Child Protection in Crisis (CPC) Learning Network, Columbia University
- Faculty Affiliate, Centre for Research on Children and Families, McGill University
- External Affiliate, Centre for Refugee Studies, York University
My program of research focuses broadly on international social work, ranging from micro-level understandings of the experiences of children and families affected by war to macro-level studies on social service and mental health systems strengthening. My past research projects include:
- An evaluation of psychosocial programs for children in Chechnya (2005) with International Rescue Committee and northern Uganda (2008) with Save the Children.
- UNICEF-funded mapping of social work education in West and Central Africa (2014).
- SSHRC-funded place-based study on the experiences of Palestinian children and families living in the West Bank and East Jerusalem (2014).
- An eight-country baseline study to determine child protection practices and social service workforce needs in southeast Europe (2015-2016) in partnership with Terre des Hommes.
- Delphi study to determine effective practices and approaches to strengthen the global social service workforce (2015-2017).
- SSHRC-funded mixed methods study investigating Syrian families’ well-being and mobility in Lebanon using geographic information systems (GIS) (2015-2018).
- UNICEF-funded project to support university professors to mainstream child protection content into undergraduate curriculum in Ghana (2015-2018).
- USAID-funded project to support the counseling psychology academic programs in two universities in Afghanistan (2016-2018).
My current research projects include:
- SSHRC-funded mixed methods study of the resettlement experiences of refugees in Ontario.
- SSHRC-funded phenomenological study of the experiences of pregnancy loss among Syrian refugee families living in Lebanon.