Jennifer Pepper

Curriculum Vitae

[email protected]

www.jenniferpeppertherapy.com

(519) 830-0357

Academic Background

2008-2010      University of Guelph , Master of Science in Couple and Family Therapy, OGS recipient 

                           - Recipient of the Vanderkamp Academic Medal. Awarded annually to the highest ranking
                             graduate student in the College of Social and Applied Human Sciences.
                           - Nominated for the Forster Medal, the U of G's top convocation award.

1998-1999       McGill University, Master of Arts in Communications

 - Recipient of the Margaret Gillett Graduate Research Award,

 - Completed Empirical thesis

1993-1997      University of Guelph , Honours Bachelor of Arts

 - 3 ^rd year spent at the Université de Nice in France

 - Graduated with Distinction

Work Experience

2010 – Present   Individual Couple and Family Therapist at Jennifer Pepper Therapy

                     Primary therapist working with families, couples and individuals.

2010 – 2016      Instructor, Family Relations Department,  University of Guelph
                         - Taught a variety of applied courses including: Social Policies for Children, Youth and   Families; Communication & Counselling Skills (Fall 2011); Third Year Practicum in Adult Development; 4th Year Practicum in Child Youth and Family.

1999 – 2008 Government of Canada (CSIS, Service Canada and Environment Canada ), Policy Advisor

- Researched, co-wrote, and promoted two of Service Canada’s Service Strategies

- Developed and delivered three large scale presentations on service delivery to senior management

- Organized and chaired a branch wide ‘community of practice’ related to best practices in developing service strategies

- Advised on the design and delivery of public involvement activities, and relationship and partnership building both internally and with external stakeholders

- Researched, analyzed, interpreted and reported on complex socio-economic information related to urban communities, community partnerships, children’s environmental health, and national environmental objectives

- Counseled fellow employees on the design and delivery of public involvement activities

- Member of the Privy Council Office’s Urban Task Force

- Supervised several co-op students, which included grading them on assignments and providing constructive oral and written feedback on presentations and policy papers.

1997/1999 University of Guelph , Liaison Officer

- Developed group facilitation skills by leading discussion groups and delivering formal and informal presentations to groups of students, parents, and teachers at over 150 high schools in Ontario

- Frequently engaged in one-on-one academic counseling sessions with potential students.

Pastoral Care - Volunteer Work

2002-2008 Pastoral Care Worker, Parkdale United Church,
Ottawa

• As part of a pastoral care team, I focused on active listening, providing spiritual support, and companionship to senior women
• Worked with individuals experiencing the effects of a variety of circumstances such as: diminished independence; preparation and recovery from surgery; diagnosis of serious illness; intermittent periods of dementia; and the death of a family member
• Completed a 12 week pastoral care course and attended regular meetings.
  

2002/2003 Volunteer, In from the Cold Supper Program,
Parkdale United Church, Ottawa

• The In from the Cold program at Parkdale United, a large church close to downtown Ottawa , provides a hot meal and fellowship to large numbers of guests once a week between the months of November and March. With my partner, I volunteered in a “meet and greet” role every other weekend for the first two years of the program.
• Through this enriching experience, I got to know several of the regular guests and thus developed a sense of the complexities of their circumstances within the context of broader issues such as social justice and social/economic inclusion and exclusion.

Academic Research and Activities 

2010 Research Assistant, University of Guelph

I was involved in a variety of research activities related to a mixed method study dealing with training family therapists. Duties include: revising ethics board submission as necessary, analysis of qualitative and quantitative data.

2010 Major Research Paper, MSc. CFT Program,
University of Guelph

Through this research paper, I analyzed the family therapy literature that deals with work family issues in order to understand how family therapy researchers are conceptualizing and approaching work-family balance and conflict. I also aimed to discern the ways in which the construct of ‘guilt’ is brought to bear on work-family issues in a family therapy context and what this tells us about how work-family issues could be addressed in therapy settings using a narrative therapy approach.

2010 Co-created & Co-Produced the Short Film
“ Narratives of Resistance ”

The film is grounded in narrative therapy ideas and focuses on the active and creative ways that people have responded to – and resisted – the influence of trauma and violence on their lives. The film has been/will be presented at:

- The Imagyn Film Festival in Waterloo , Ontario (Spring 2010)

- The “Catching the Winds of Change” Conference in Halifax , Nova Scotia (June 2010)

- Ryerson University , Toronto , Ontario (September 2010)

- ‘Reach out Centre for Kids’, Burlington , Ontario (October 2010)

- Ontario Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, AGM, Toronto , Ontario ( November 2010)

- Annual National Domestic Violence Conference, Toronto , Ontario (forthcoming: March 2011)

Note: The other creators/producers of this film are Amanda Cooke-Simpson, Corinne Carter , Stacian Williams and Melissa Kroonenberg-Taylor .

1998-1999 Thesis, M.A. in Communications, McGill University

My thesis, titled “FAMILY vs. FULL-TIME: Women’s Redesign of Organizational Practice through Job-Sharing”, aimed to answer the following interrelated questions. “To what extent are women, through their initiation and maintenance of job-sharing arrangements, redesigning organizational practice in the employing organization and the family to better integrate their work and family roles”? And, “how does gender, as a culturally created notion, factor into the redesign of organizational practices and to what extent does this affect men’s and women’s roles in the family and employment”? In exploring these questions, the study combined empirical evidence gathered in the field with a theoretical framework comprised of social theory (primarily Anthony Giddens’ Theory of Structuration (macro level) and Erving Goffman’s work on presentation of self (micro level)), work and family role analyses, and feminist theories of gender in the social system.