Cindy Holmes, PhD
Network Member
PhD, Interdisciplinary Studies, University of British Columbia
Assistant Professor, School of Social Work, University of Victoria
Cindy Holmes is an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at University of Victoria with over 25 years experience in community-based health and social work. Her research and teaching interests include: intersections between violence, health and place; the wellbeing of lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, Two-Spirit and trans people; best practices to support gender creative, Two-Spirit and trans children and their families; white settler colonialism, decolonization and practices of allyship; ethics; critical discourse analysis; health geography; community development; and community-based participatory action research methodologies, including Photovoice and other arts-based approaches.
For the past 3 years, she has worked collaboratively with a group of trans, Two-Spirit and gender nonconforming co-researchers exploring connections between safety, wellbeing, belonging and place through the use of Photovoice methodology — a participatory action research approach using photography, storytelling and social action (MSFHR-funded). Cindy is a member of various research teams including: three projects focused on the health and wellbeing of trans and gender diverse children, youth and their parents (CIHR and SSHRC-funded); and the Canadian Coalition Against LGBTQ+ Poverty (CCALP) focused on developing a national research agenda to address gaps in knowledge about poverty and health for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, Two-Spirit, and queer people.
Prior to joining UVIC, Cindy worked with non-profit organizations in the areas of community development, counseling and advocacy, education and research, and also taught graduate and undergraduate students in: the School of Social Work, the School of Nursing and the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice at the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver BC; and the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby BC. In addition to her appointment at UVIC, she is also an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University.
Cindy is a queer, cisgender, white settler of English, Scottish and Irish ancestry raised in the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation in the city known as Guelph Ontario, and is a family member of trans and gender nonconforming people.
I love running and with my family I enjoy kayaking in the summer and cross-country skiing in the winter.
+1 250-472-4674
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