Join us on Wednesday, October 8th, as the AVA Webinar Series presents The Atlas Institute’s Co-Designed Resources on Intimate Partner Violence for Veterans and Veteran Family Members, featuring Petra Babic, Victoria Carmichael, Robin Dziekan, Kaitlyn LaRiviere, and Ashlee Mulligan from the Atlas Institute for Veterans and Families.
Wednesday, October 8th, 2025
12 – 1:30pm MST
This presentation will introduce the work of the Atlas Institute for Veterans and Families (atlasveterans.ca), a national non-profit that collaborates with Veterans, Families, service providers, and researchers to improve mental health care and supports for Canadian Armed Forces and Royal Canadian Mounted Police Veterans and their Families. It will provide an overview of the Institute’s mission and key activities, then focus on its intimate partner violence (IPV) resources, highlighting the co-design process involving Veterans, Family members, and service providers; summarizing the content and use of each resource with insights from contributors; and briefly outlining other related resources. The session will close with ways to stay informed about ongoing work and a short Q&A.
About the Speakers
Petra Babic is a certified life coach, peer support facilitator, and advocate with over 15 years of experience helping women through life transitions. As an ex-Veteran wife, she understands the unique challenges of military families. She has served as an advisory member for the Atlas Institute’s IPV resources project and supports research to improve IPV services. Her advocacy also addresses single parenting, the long-term effects on children, OSI/PTSI, codependency, social support, and the need for greater recognition of ex-spouses in the Veteran family system. Petra fosters compassionate, empowering spaces that promote healing, connection, and community.
Victoria Carmichael is a Senior Knowledge Mobilization Specialist at the Atlas Institute. In this role, she collaborates closely with Veterans, Family members, service providers and researchers to share knowledge in meaningful and accessible ways. Victoria’s background encompasses research, community engagement and project management, with a focus on stigma, violence prevention and suicide prevention. She also holds a Master of Science in Evidence-Based Social Intervention and Policy Evaluation from the University of Oxford.
Robin Dziekan is a stakeholder engagement professional working for the Atlas Institute. She has a BA in psychology from the University of Ottawa. She is the daughter of two Canadian Armed Forces Veterans – as such, working for a not-for-profit focused on improving the mental health and well-being and Veterans and their Families is of great personal importance to her. Robin has been working in the field of stakeholder engagement for the past seven years. During this time, she has ensured a variety of stakeholder perspectives have been included in projects ranging from health care standards to knowledge mobilization resources
Kaitlyn LaRiviere is a Registered Social Worker and counsellor with over nine years of experience supporting military and Veteran families through the Military Family Resource Centre. She offers compassionate, trauma-informed support for navigating transitions, trauma, and family challenges, with specialized training from the When Love Hurts program and the Battered Women’s Support Services. With a deep understanding of military community stressors, Kaitlyn is committed to fostering resilience, safety, and healing.
Ashlee Mulligan is the Director of Partnerships of Stakeholder Engagement at the Atlas Institute, where she works to promote engagement, collaboration and knowledge exchange, in view of foundationally embedding the lived experience and expertise of Veterans and Veteran Families in the networks we are building and the work we do. Ashlee has a Master of Science (specialization in neuroscience) and a background in women’s studies and psychology