2026 SVN International Conference Sessions

Meet the Speakers:

Michael Saini is a Professor and holds the endowed Chair of Law and Social Work at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto. He is the Co-Director of the Combined JD and MSW Program with the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto and the Corse Director of the 48-hour Foundations of Custody Evaluations Program. 


He conducts custody evaluations, assists children's counsel for the Office of the Children’s Lawyer, Ministry of the Attorney General in Ontario and he is a parent coach. He is also actively involved in family law related program evaluations. 


His publications have focused on high conflict, strained parent-child relationships, supervised visitation, virtual parenting time and parent competencies post separation and divorce. 

Elizabeth S. Abraham is a Family and Child Protection lawyer.  She joined Legal Aid Ontario as a full-time staff lawyer in January of 2024, where she assists low-income litigants in their court matters.  She was called to the Ontario Bar in June of 2014.


Prior to joining Legal Aid Ontario, Elizabeth worked in several law firms as a family and child protection lawyer for close to ten years.  She gained valuable experience arguing at the Ontario Court of Justice, Superior Court of Justice, and the Unified Family Court.


Elizabeth pursued her undergraduate studies at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science.  She then went on to obtain her Bachelor of Laws (Hons.) at the University of Buckingham in the United Kingdom.  


When not practicing law, Elizabeth sits on the Board of Directors at Dalhousie Place Supervised Access Centre in Brantford, Ontario. She was previously a member of the  Family Law executives at both the Ontario Bar Association and Canadian Bar Association, as well as a Board Member at the Hamilton Arts Council, Wesley Urban Ministries, Centre [3] for Artistic + Social Practice, and Contact Brant.

Danica Maslov is a Family, Child Protection, and Immigration Lawyer. She is the founder of Maslov Law, based in Guelph, Ontario, where she has practiced since March 2021, serving clients in the Guelph and Brantford areas in matters of family law, child protection, wills, powers of attorney, and adoptions.


Called to the Bar in Ontario in 2017, Danica gained broad legal experience across several firms where she practiced family law, child protection, and wills and estates. Earlier in her career, she worked in the United States, where she practiced personal injury, medical malpractice, and family law, and served as a Student Attorney at the Civil Legal Clinic at the University of Arkansas School of Law, representing low-income clients in civil matters. 


Throughout her career, Danica has represented clients at the Ontario Court of Justice, Superior Court of Justice, Unified Family Court, and the Ontario Court of Appeals.


Danica pursued her undergraduate studies at the American Institute of Technology in Dubrovnik, Croatia, and at the Rochester Institute of Technology, where she obtained her Bachelor of Science degrees in Business and Hospitality and Service Management respectively. She then obtained her Juris Doctor from the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville.


Fluent in English, Spanish, and Croatian, Danica is committed to providing accessible, client-centered legal representation to the diverse communities of the Guelph and Brantford areas.

Kelly Brownbill's spirit name, Wabunnoongakekwe, means Woman Who Comes from the East and she is proud to be Wabizhashi Dodem, Marten Clan.  She is a member of the Flat Bay community of the Mi’kmaq Nation in Newfoundland and the Three Fires Midewin Society.


As an educator on Indigenous issues, Kelly has conducted countless cultural awareness training sessions and provided support for a broad range of service sectors including key staff from both the provincial and federal governments.  Her aim is to make sure all service providers, Indigenous or non-Indigenous, are as effective as possible in making services accessible for First Peoples in culturally safe and appropriate ways.  


She has published Indigenous perspectives in 2 peer-reviewed texts and was the Senior Editor of 4 Canoes magazines and Canoe Kids children’s books for 7 years.  She is currently very proud to the the Auntie in Residence at Young Peoples’ Theatre in Toronto, ON.


 Kelly honours the wisdom and vision of her elders and she continues to seek their assistance with her ongoing journey.  For more information, please visit www.kellybrownbill.ca

Austin Mixemong’s spirit name, Negonquit, means First Cloud.  He is proud to be Maang Dodem, Loon Clan, and a member of the Pottawatomi Nation.  His home reserve is Chiminissing, or Beausoleil First Nation.


Austin celebrated 44 years of sobriety this spring.  He credits the traditions of Alcoholic Anonymous with saving his life by teaching him to stop drinking.  But his addiction was deeply rooted in the trauma he suffered as a child at Indian Day School, run by the Government of Canada to assimilate Indigenous children and steal their identities from them.  It was by returning to his culture and spirituality that he could address the trauma that drove him to self-medicate with alcohol and drugs.


Today, Austin is 3rd Degree Midewiwin, working in his Lodge to sustain Indigenous spirituality and protect it for future generations.  He recently retired after 14 years at Waypoint Centre for Mental Health and Wellness in Penetanguishene, Ontario,  as the Traditional Healer, helping others to find their healing.  He also sits on the Elders Advisory Circle at Georgian College.

Dr. Pamela J. Pine is a recognized global keynote speaker, trainer, and workshop presenter. She is an international public health, communication, and development specialist, child abuse expert, and multi-faceted artist and author. She is well-known for her presentations, trainings, workshops, and education programs on childhood trauma, and also speaks on global health and development (e.g., What is going on in Yemen?), and personal life-changing events and what that has to teach us (the near-death and recovery of her daughter).


Based on over 30 years of extensive world-wide experience designing, developing, implementing, and managing international programs and organizations, Dr. Pine brings a unique, creative, comprehensive and transformative approach to tackling challenging global and community issues. Weaving expansive and fascinating knowledge, passion, and her innovative, educational storytelling approach that draws on her breathtaking global professional experience, Dr. Pine allows participants and audiences to move along a path to a true understanding of pressing complex issues, while offering action-driven, take-away solutions that unite people, communities, and societies toward effective change.


Her stand-out, creative, and interactive presentations and trainings inspire, engage, and motivate organizations and professionals across the world with foundational, long-lasting strategies and results.

Chrystal Fischer is dedicated to strengthening families, reducing conflict, and protecting children through trauma-informed, child-centered services. Under her leadership, Parenting with Grace has grown into a comprehensive family support organization offering co-parenting education and coaching, parenting skills classes, youth emotional skills development, and prevention programming including the Not a Number human trafficking prevention program for teens, along with supervised parenting time and safe exchange services.


Chrystal brings a strong background in business management, human resources, and team leadership, combined with extensive specialized training in supervised visitation and trauma-informed family services. She is a certified Divorce Coach through the Divorce Coach Academy, author of Protected & Connected™, and provides co-parent coaching and education with a focus on supporting families navigating high-conflict and court-involved situations.


She serves as Secretary on the Board of Directors for the Supervised Visitation Network (SVN) and is actively involved in both the Legislative & Advocacy Committee and the Governance & Nominating Committee, contributing to national standards, leadership development, and policy efforts within the field. In addition, she is a member of the Legislative and Public Policy Committee for the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC), contributing to efforts that improve family law systems and outcomes for families.


A dynamic and purpose-driven leader, Chrystal is deeply committed to advancing equitable, accessible, and trauma-informed services that support the well-being of children and families across all backgrounds. Her work is rooted in the belief that when parents are given the right tools, education, and support, they can create safe, stable, and meaningful connections with their children—even in the most challenging circumstances

Emilyn Wahl has over 20 years of experience in the supervised visitation field, beginning her career as a visitation monitor and advancing to her current role as Director of Parenting Time Centers. She oversees five Parenting Time Centers across West Central Minnesota, providing leadership and operational management to ensure high-quality, trauma-informed services for families.


Emilyn’s educational background includes studies at Minnesota State Community and Technical College, the University of Minnesota Moorhead, and graduating as a Paralegal from Penn Foster. She currently serves as the Immediate Past President of the Worldwide Supervised Visitation Network (SVN), and is an active member of the Minnesota Supervised Visitation Committee, the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC), and the Early Childhood Initiative.


A passionate advocate for innovation and collaboration, Emilyn is known for bringing forward-thinking ideas to the field and fostering meaningful dialogue among professionals. She has presented numerous webinars hosted by SVN and AFCC and teaches Parents Forever, Minnesota’s court-mandated divorce education program.


Beyond her professional work, Emilyn is deeply committed to community impact. She has volunteered with Habitat for Humanity for over two decades, with a special focus on promoting affordable housing. In her free time, she enjoys hiking Minnesota’s scenic trails, cheering on her husband at the racetrack, tackling home improvement projects, and spending quality time with her family.
  • The Trust Factor in Supervised Parenting Plans: Incremental Steps from Safety to Relationship Repair

    Michael Saini 

    Professor and  endowed Chair of Law and Social Work at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto.


    Supervised parenting plans are often framed as a way to manage risk, monitor behaviour, and preserve parent-child contact when concerns have been raised about safety, emotional harm, or strained relationships. Yet supervision also raises a central question: what kind of trust has been damaged, and what incremental steps are needed before parenting time can safely become less restrictive?  


    This presentation introduces the trust factor as a practical framework for designing supervised parenting plans. Trust is not treated as a single feeling or a binary judgment. Instead, the presentation distinguishes among different forms of trust that may need to be assessed and rebuilt over time. Calculus-based trust develops when a parent demonstrates compliance with expectations, follows rules, respects boundaries, and shows that predictable, safe behaviour can be relied upon. Knowledge-based trust emerges through repeated experiences that allow the child, supervisor, and other parent to better understand how the parent responds to stress, limits, disappointment, and the child’s emotional cues. Identification-based trust reflects a deeper level of relational repair, where the child experiences the parent as emotionally attuned, accountable, respectful, and able to hold the child’s needs in mind. 


    Using this framework, supervised parenting plans can be structured as incremental pathways rather than static arrangements. Early stages may focus on safety and behavioural reliability; later stages may assess consistency, emotional regulation, responsiveness, and insight. Participants will consider how courts, supervisors, and parents can use observable indicators, review points, and step-up criteria to support plans that are transparent, proportional, developmentally sensitive, and focused on both protection and repair.

  • The Ins and Outs of the Office of the Children's Lawyer

    Elizabeth Abraham, Legal Aid Ontario

    Danica Maslov, Maslov Law


    This session will demystify the Office of the Children's Lawyer's (OCL) role for administrative staff, child welfare providers, and family law/IPV professionals. 


    Participants will leave with a clear overview of the OCL’s mandate, learn to distinguish between the different types of OCL involvement and when each applies, and gain a realistic understanding of the OCL’s limitations so they can set appropriate expectations with families and colleagues.

  • Meaningful Land Acknowledgements for Everyone

    Kelly Brownbill, Wabizhashi Dodem, Marten Clan 

    Austin Mixemong, Maang Dodem, Loon Clan

    Kelly Brownbill Consulting, Inc. 


    Land Acknowledgements started as a good idea.  Then they became material for comedians.  It's time to make them meaningful, impactful and a necessary tool to Reconciliation.  


    Participants will learn their purpose, when to do them, when not to do them, what to include, and now to personalize them into meaningful statements of intent.  


    Participants will also learn how to talk about Land Acknowledgements to ensure uptake across numerous sectors and communities, and how to talk about Land Acknowledgments to children, youth and adults.


  • Building Trauma-Informed Communities: Strategies for Prevention and Resilience

    Dr. Pamela Pine 

    Department of the Institute on Violence, Abuse and Trauma (IVAT)


    This workshop provides actionable strategies for creating trauma-informed communities and organizations. Participants will learn to identify signs of child sexual abuse and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), apply trauma-informed practices, and develop policies that enhance safety and resilience. 


    The session will offer tools for effective communication and support, empowering attendees to take immediate action in their communities.

  • Safety by Design: Preventing Escalation Before It Starts

    Chrystal Fischer, Fouder & Executive Director Parenting with Grace in Buffalo, MN

    Emilyn Wahl, Director of Parenting Time Center, Someplace Safe in Fergus Falls, MN 


    Safety incidents often follow predictable patterns, yet many programs focus on reacting after conflict has already escalated. This interactive workshop introduces “Safety by Design,” a proactive approach that helps supervised visitation and parenting time programs build prevention into everyday practice. 


    Participants will explore trauma-informed strategies, environmental design considerations, and practical de-escalation tools while engaging in real-life scenarios and small-group activities. Attendees will leave with ready-to-use safety resources, intervention scripts, and strategies to better support children, families, and staff.