Dr Sandra Engstrom

Sandra grew up on the traditional territories of the Niitsitapi (Blackfoot) and the people of the Treaty 7 region in Southern Alberta, which includes the Siksika, the Piikani, the Kainai, the Tsuu T’ina and the Stoney Nakoda First Nations. The City of Calgary is also home to the Metis Nation of Alberta, Region III. She is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Stirling in Scotland.

Sandra’s research centres on community resilience as well as the role of social work in combating the climate crisis such as the emotionality of climate change. This often takes the form of looking at community mental health, trauma and eco-grief. She has experience working with vulnerable populations as well as community groups within a research and teaching capacity. She primarily works within interdisciplinary settings and regularly works with ecologists, health psychologists, public health academics/practitioners, geographers, sociologists, anthropologists, journalists and archaeologists. She is a co-director of the Climate Disaster Project and the community and canopy officer for the Forth Climate Forest project. She is also a Research Culture Champion and the co-lead of the Extremes in Science and Society research group. Her lived experience of having an eating disorder has shaped her views on the need for nuanced and intersectional mental health support and recovery, trauma informed care and her belief in the power of connection and community.

Outside of work she volunteers her time with Urban Uprising and the Give Back Yoga Foundation, and you can usually find her out in the hills, learning to surf, dancing around her flat, or in a yoga studio.

• FORTH2O Policy Innovation Partnership
  
• Home – Climate Disaster Project

Not necessarily a complete list

• • Engstrom, S., Reece, K., and Katisi, M. (2024).Nature-based Therapy in Botswana and Scotland: Re-imagining social work and environmental justice for ‘the green shift’. Nordic Journal of Wellbeing and Sustainable Welfare Development. 3(2), 116-130.
  • Choate, P, W., and Engstrom, S. (2023). Decolonization has thus far mostly failed – drawing from Canadian lessons. The Palgrave Handbook of Global Social Problems.
  • Choate, P., and Engstrom, S (2023). Social Work, Climate Change, and Colonialism. The Palgrave Handbook of Global Social Change.
  • Engstrom, S. (2022). Can we keep the environment in mind while we adjust to renewed freedoms? In: Turner, D and Fanner, M., ed., Digital Connection in Health and Social Work: Perspectives from Covid19. Critical Publishing.
  • Robertson, T., Docherty, P., Millar, F., Ruck, A., and Engstrom, S. (2021). Theory and practice of building community resilience to extreme events. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. 59.
  • Engstrom, S. and Powers, M. (2021). Embracing an ecosocial worldview for climate justice and collective healing. Journal of Transdisciplinary Peace Praxis. 3(1), 120-145.
  • Powers, M. and Engstrom, S. (2020). Radical self-care for social workers in the global climate crisis. Journal of Social Work. 65 (1), 29-37
  • Engstrom, S. (2019). Recognising the role Eco-Grief Plays in Responding to Environmental Degradation. Journal of Transdisciplinary Peace Praxis. 1(1), 181-199
  • Engstrom, S. (2018). Reconnecting With the Earth. Promoting Community and Environmental Sustainability: A Workbook for Global Social Workers and Educators. IFSW.
  • Engstrom, S. (2018). PhD: Pivotal Heart Development. In Black, A, L and Garvis, S. ed. Women activating agency in academia: Metaphors, manifestos and memoir:
  • Engstrom, S. (2017) Interpersonal Justice: The Importance of relationships for child and family social workers. Journal of Social Work Practice. Doi: 10.1080/02650533.2017.1400957.
  • Rigby, P., Engstrom, S.(2017) Improving the Protection and Wellbeing of Children in Europe: Enhancing the Curriculum. Social Work Review. 16(3) 29-37.
  • Engstrom, S. (2014). Organisational Justice and Child and Protection Social Work. Journal of Workplace Rights. 17(3-4) 347-367
  • Choate, P., Engstrom, S. (2014). The ‘Good Enough’ Parent: Implications for Child Protection. Child Care in Practice. 20:4, 368-382
  • Shier, M, L., Engstrom, S. and Graham, J, R. (2011). International Migration and Social Work: A Review of the Literature. Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, 9:1, 38-56

Not necessarily a complete list