Join us on Wednesday, February 25th, as the AVA Webinar Series presents ConnectED Parents: Lessons and Emerging Questions for Leveraging Technology to Empower Parents in Preventing Adolescent Dating Violence, featuring Lianne Lee and Sarah Winstanley from ConnectED Parents.
Wednesday, February 25th, 2026
12 – 1:30pm MST
In this webinar, Lianne Lee and Sarah Winstanley will present how ConnectED Parents combines evidence, innovation, and community engagement to support parents in fostering healthy youth relationships. They will outline the ConnectED Parents approach, present key research findings and practical lessons, and raise emerging questions about how technology is reshaping youth relationships and parent-focused prevention efforts.
Participants will come away with a deeper understanding of the ConnectED Parents model, ideas for using text messaging, peer support, and social environment approaches with parents, and new directions for research and collaboration to advance parent engagement in ADV prevention in a rapidly evolving digital world
About the Speakers
Lianne Lee (she/her; BEd, BA, MEd) is a researcher and program manager with 20 years of experience leading community and school-based initiatives that advance equity and well-being for children, youth, and families. Her work spans program design, policy development, and applied research aimed at strengthening supports for diverse young people and their caregivers. She has led the multi-sectoral C.A.R.E. for Ethno-Cultural Children & Youth initiative, managed undergraduate programs at the University of Calgary’s Youth Leadership Centre, and collaborated with government and the violence prevention sector to develop Alberta’s policy framework on domestic and sexual violence.
As Lead of ConnectED Parents, Lianne facilitates the design, implementation, and research of evidence-informed interventions that engage parents and caregivers in preventing adolescent dating violence and fostering healthy youth relationships.
Sarah Winstanley (she/her; BSW, MSW) is a facilitator, researcher and registered social worker of almost 15 years with a background in designing, facilitating and evaluating youth leadership and healthy relationship programs with a gender-transformative lens. From working with young people, she came to understand many of the barriers between youth and their caregivers to talking about critical issues like sexual and relationship violence, sexuality, consent, and dating. This motivated her to get involved with ConnectED Parents in 2022, where she is currently the team’s Knowledge Dissemination Lead and Curriculum Developer.