Dr. Gwendolyn Gosek

Professional Information & Research Interests

• Decolonizing Indigenous child welfare services
• Indigenous children and youth with learning and behavioral challenges in child welfare
• Indigenous women's social service agencies
• Front line child welfare social workers' experiences

Gwendolyn Gosek is a member of Lac La Ronge First Nations in Saskatchewan and has Cree/Dene and Norwegian ancestry. Dr. Gosek is honored to be a visitor to the unceded Territories of the Songhees, Esquimalt and WS'ANEC' peoples. Her community work centered around crisis intervention, working with Indigenous youth as well as women and children seeking shelter. She holds a BA in political studies, along with a BSW and MSW from the University of Manitoba and a PhD from the University of Victoria.

Her studies and research have focused on Indigenous child welfare and front line workers’ perceptions of culturally based practices, world views in the context of Indigenous women’s organizations and child welfare agencies, as well as supporting Indigenous children and youth with learning and behavioural disabilities in the care of Indigenous child welfare.