| © 20011 by Brian O'Connell |
I was born in Montreal, Quebec and have lived in this great city all of my life (with the exception of nine months when I lived in Ottawa Ontario while I was obtaining my graduate degree).
I grew up with my younger brother in a loving Irish Canadian family and have been married to my beautiful wife for over 44 years. We have three children (2 boys and a girl) and four wonderful grandsons.
I am a retired (June 2007) professional social worker with 35 years experience in many areas which include family therapy, couple therapy, individual therapy, group therapy and all aspects of youth protection work, as well as the supervision of both workers and university social work students.
Since 2003 my major responsibility was the supervision of student units (4 students) and I have developed a model of student unit supervision and have written a paper in this area.
I have also developed models in the areas of team supervision, sexual abuse treatment, risk assessment and family focused youth protection intervention.
I have taught at the CEGEP level for over 20 years and as a teacher (both in the classroom as well as in the field) I believe that learning is both an experiential as well as a cognitive process and I encouraged my students to apply abstract concepts to their own life experiences.
In 1968 I received a Bachelor of Arts Degree with a major in Sociology from Loyola College (Université de Montréal) and in 1972 I received a Master of Social Work Degree from Carleton University (Ottawa, Ontario).
From June 1972 to June 2007, I was employed as a Professional Social Worker by Batshaw Youth and Family Centres, formally Ville Marie Social Service Center and before that formally Catholic Family & Children Services.
My responsibilities during this period included:
§individual, couple, family and group therapist
§youth protection worker (all aspects of youth protection)
§supervisor foster care team
§supervisor regional (Verdun) youth protection team
§supervisor physical and sexual abuse team
§supervisor students (both individually and in units)
§division student coordinator - responsible for the selection and placement of students in the division as well as the orientation of students to the division and I also provided consultation to student supervisors
§staff consultant for parental capacity assessments - trained in the Steinhauer Model
§staff trainer - parental capacity assessment
§staff trainer - sexual abuse assessment and treatment
I helped develop the above two training projects and was involved as a teacher/facilitator in both programs.
I have also developed a risk assessment model which allows workers to assess the risk of harm to children taking into account the many potential biases which workers may bring to the situation.
From 1974 to 1995 I was employed as a part time professor by Cégep Marie-Victorin in Montreal, Quebec.
During this period I taught in both the social work and the special care counseling programs, teaching courses in many areas including:
§both introductory and advanced casework interventions
§group work intervention
§understanding families (sociological perspective)
§family interventions and family communications
§crisis intervention
§intervention models
§professional ethics
§fieldwork/practice seminars
Teaching Philosophy:
Tell me, and I will forget.
Show me and I may remember.
Involve me, and I will understand.
This ancient Chinese proverb sums up, quite accurately, my approach to teaching.
I grew up with my younger brother in a loving Irish Canadian family and have been married to my beautiful wife for over 44 years. We have three children (2 boys and a girl) and four wonderful grandsons.
I am a retired (June 2007) professional social worker with 35 years experience in many areas which include family therapy, couple therapy, individual therapy, group therapy and all aspects of youth protection work, as well as the supervision of both workers and university social work students.
Since 2003 my major responsibility was the supervision of student units (4 students) and I have developed a model of student unit supervision and have written a paper in this area.
I have also developed models in the areas of team supervision, sexual abuse treatment, risk assessment and family focused youth protection intervention.
I have taught at the CEGEP level for over 20 years and as a teacher (both in the classroom as well as in the field) I believe that learning is both an experiential as well as a cognitive process and I encouraged my students to apply abstract concepts to their own life experiences.
In 1968 I received a Bachelor of Arts Degree with a major in Sociology from Loyola College (Université de Montréal) and in 1972 I received a Master of Social Work Degree from Carleton University (Ottawa, Ontario).
From June 1972 to June 2007, I was employed as a Professional Social Worker by Batshaw Youth and Family Centres, formally Ville Marie Social Service Center and before that formally Catholic Family & Children Services.
My responsibilities during this period included:
§individual, couple, family and group therapist
§youth protection worker (all aspects of youth protection)
§supervisor foster care team
§supervisor regional (Verdun) youth protection team
§supervisor physical and sexual abuse team
§supervisor students (both individually and in units)
§division student coordinator - responsible for the selection and placement of students in the division as well as the orientation of students to the division and I also provided consultation to student supervisors
§staff consultant for parental capacity assessments - trained in the Steinhauer Model
§staff trainer - parental capacity assessment
§staff trainer - sexual abuse assessment and treatment
I helped develop the above two training projects and was involved as a teacher/facilitator in both programs.
I have also developed a risk assessment model which allows workers to assess the risk of harm to children taking into account the many potential biases which workers may bring to the situation.
From 1974 to 1995 I was employed as a part time professor by Cégep Marie-Victorin in Montreal, Quebec.
During this period I taught in both the social work and the special care counseling programs, teaching courses in many areas including:
§both introductory and advanced casework interventions
§group work intervention
§understanding families (sociological perspective)
§family interventions and family communications
§crisis intervention
§intervention models
§professional ethics
§fieldwork/practice seminars
Teaching Philosophy:
Tell me, and I will forget.
Show me and I may remember.
Involve me, and I will understand.
This ancient Chinese proverb sums up, quite accurately, my approach to teaching.