Join us on Wednesday, October 29th, as the AVA Webinar Series presents Mothers in Mind: Strengthening the Mother-Child Relationship After Trauma, featuring Lisa Sura and Sarah Woods from the Child Development Institute (CDI).
Wednesday, October 29th, 2025
12 – 1:30pm MST
Experiences of relational trauma, including childhood abuse, neglect, and intimate partner violence, can influence a mother’s parenting, her relationship with her young child, and her sense of herself as a parent. Developed by CDI in response to a recognized gap in service, Mothers in Mind® (MIM) is a trauma-informed, therapeutic mother-child group program designed for mothers* of infants and toddlers who have experienced relational trauma.
This webinar will introduce MIM’s early intervention, child-centred approach, demonstrating how the program builds on parenting strengths, fosters healthy mother-child connections, and supports mothers in practicing self-compassion while developing strategies for sensitive and responsive caregiving. Adaptations of the model and findings from program evaluation will also be discussed.
About the Speakers
Lisa Sura, MSW, RSW is the Senior Clinical Program Lead at Child Development Institute (CDI), an accredited child and youth mental health agency in Toronto. Lisa has over 20 years of experience in developing and implementing innovative intervention and prevention services within the children’s mental health, child protection and gender-based violence sectors. Lisa is the co-creator and clinical lead of Mothers in Mind, a trauma-informed, therapeutic mother-child group program specifically designed to meet the parenting needs of mothers who have experienced relational trauma and have children under four.
Sarah Woods, PhD, is the Director, Impact & Scaling in the Scaling, Research and Development at CDI. Her research focuses on aggression and disruptive behaviours in children, gender-based violence, risk assessment, youth justice, implementation science, program evaluation and evidence-based programs. As a Senior Researcher, Sarah leads the monitoring and evaluation of CDI’s programs and services to monitor program effectiveness and treatment outcomes. She also supports the implementation of a comprehensive children’s mental health and crime prevention framework, SNAP, that includes referral mechanisms, risk/need assessments and evidence-based programs.