Our Team

Dr. Nancy Nason-Clark is a social scientist by profession who has a very important story to tell. For over 20 years, she has been writing about what happens when abuse strikes families of faith. Through her books, her international speaking engagements, the workshops she conducts and the articles she writes, the message is clear: there is a holy hush hovering over most religious congregations when it comes to talking about abuse. Nancy’s creation of the RAVE Project is based on her desire to shatter that silence NOW! By combining the language of the spirit (religious-based resources) with the language of contemporary culture (community-based resources), every pastor and every congregation can be part of the solution to abuse. To find out more about Nancy’s activities in the Department of Sociology at UNB, click here. To view her recent publications, click here. To see her recent speaking engagements, click here. To view a list of workshops or seminars presented, click here.   

Dr. Barbara Fisher Townsend works full-time with the RAVE project. After years of teaching university courses in deviance and social control, she decided to return to graduate study and pursue doctoral work. Her dissertation is a study of how faith-based services, batterer intervention programs and criminal justice systems interface. She refers to it as pieces of the puzzle, fitting together in ways that have the potential to make a difference in individual lives and the communities where they live. To find out more about Barb’s activities with RAVE, click here.

Rev. Steve McMullin has served for many years as a Baptist pastor and recently returned to university to pursue a Ph.D. in sociology at UNB.  His interest in the relationships between religious groups and the wider society and his ministry experiences in both rural and urban contexts have instilled in him an interest in finding effective ways for churches and religious leaders to partner with other resources in their communities to provide compassionate, practical help to those who are victims of domestic violence.

Cathy Holtmann is a Catholic feminist and has worked in a variety of lay ministries, including music, campus and youth ministry, religious education, ecumenism and social justice.  She has taught part-time for the departments of Religious Studies and Education at St. Thomas University.  To find out more about Cathy’s teaching click here. Her MA in sociology from UNB was an exploration of the relationship between faith and social action in the lives of Catholic women.  Currently in the doctoral program, she intends to do research on immigrant women in Atlantic Canada, looking at the role that religion plays in the migration process, particularly as it pertains to situations of domestic violence. Cathy brings her passion for justice and women’s equality to the work of the RAVE project.

Kendra Yoder, MSW/LCSW, is an activist, educator and scholar in the fields of domestic and sexual violence.  Her Mennonite background deeply informs her commitment to ending violence against women through social justice and feminist frameworks.  Over the past six years, her professional experiences have included working as a Coordinator of the University of Missouri Relationship and Sexual ViolencePrevention Center; as the Primary Residential Counselor and Sexual Assault Outreach Coordinator at the Shelter for Victims of Domestic and Sexual Violence; and as an MSW intern for the Boone County Prosecutor’s Victim Response Team.  Currently, she is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology and Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Missouri.  Her dissertation research is an institutional study exploring local church initiatives to address domestic and sexual violence.   Along with Dr. Mary Jo Neitz, she serves as one of the RAVE research site coordinators for the Columbia Team.  Additionally, she was recently named the project coordinator for the TREE (Teen Relationship Education and Empowerment) initiative, a Missouri Department of Health grant funded project working with local congregations to develop youth group curriculum to support healthy relationships and educate youth about teen dating violence.

Leah Cunjak has been working with the RAVE Project team since September 2008 and is an undergraduate student majoring in Sociology and minoring in International Development at the University of New Brunswick.  Once she completes her BA she would like to continue her studies with a degree in Social Work.  Leah has travelled extensively and recently did volunteer work in Vietnam and then travelled throughout Southeast Asia.  She also enjoys running and being outdoors.