Concordia Hires Sexual Assault Resource Centre Coordinator

Social Worker Jennifer Drummond Highlights Advocacy, Intervention and Education

NewsColin Harris — Published October 4, 2013

Social worker Jennifer Drummond has been hired as the centre’s coordinator, the one full-time position hired by the university to work with volunteers and both create and manage the centre’s services.

Drummond completed her Masters degree in social work at McGill, and whose experience includes working at the Montreal General Hospital and the Montreal Sexual Assault Centre. She is currently the board president at Stella, the Montreal-based sex worker advocacy group.

“The job is a really great opportunity. It’s something I’m really passionate about,” said Drummond, who is also a former Concordia student and has volunteered at the Centre for Gender Advocacy.

“I appreciate the diversity here in the Concordia student body, it’s a really diverse and great place to be.”

It’s only Drummond’s fifth day on the job, but she is already working on a long list of goals for the centre to achieve. The first step in officially launching the centre is finalizing what services will be offered—including advocacy, crisis intervention, referrals, accompaniment and building a resource library.

She says she also hopes to collaborate with the greater Montreal community, to create educational outreach services in the future.

The search committee to hire Drummond consisted of Concordia Counselling and Development, which the centre is operating under, the Centre for Gender Advocacy, Concordia Health Services, the Dean of Students Office, and the Concordia Student Union.

“She brings a wealth of experience to this position, I think it’s a culmination of everything she’s done so far,” said Counselling and Development Director Howard Magonet. “I believe she’s a great person to be collaborating with other people.”

He says hiring Drummond was a unanimous decision after interviewing the top candidates.

Although the position is a one-year contract, Magonet is optimistic about a sustained future for the centre.

“I don’t think the university would have invested all this into a resource for just one year,” he said.

The doors of the centre’s GM Building office are now open, and the centre’s official launch date will be released in the coming weeks.

Concordia announced the initiative in April, after a two-year campaign by the Centre for Gender Advocacy.