Nicole Pietsch is a counsellor-advocate with the Sexual Assault and Violence Intervention Services of Halton, and Coordinator of the Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres.
The Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres (OCRCC) works toward the prevention and eradication of sexual assault. OCRCC’s membership includes sexual assault centres from across Ontario, offering counselling, information and support services to survivors of sexual violence, including childhood sexual abuse and incest. In 2010 and 2011, this Coalition lead the development of Ontario’s first provincial Sexual Violence Action Plan.
Since 1998, Nicole has assisted women and youth living with violence, including immigrant and refugee women and survivors of sexual violence. Recently, she has worked with youth survivors of violence who are incarcerated, those living in an institutional setting, and Deaf youth. Nicole has a particular interest in the ways in which social constructs of sex, gender, age and race inform Canadian social policy, including law.
Previous Work Experience
• Coordinator, Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres (2009-Current)
• Counsellor/Advocate, Sexual Assault & Violence Intervention Services of Halton (2005-Current)
• Working with Marginalized Youth, Project Coordinator. Sexual Assault & Violence Intervention Services of Halton (2007-2008)
• Family Violence Worker, Thorncliffe Neighborhood Office of Toronto for Social and Multicultural Development (2002-2005)
Achievements: Written Work
• ““Born” Freaks, “Made” Freaks, and Media Circuses: Systemic Management of Race and Gender in the Virk Case”. Reena Virk: Critical Perspectives on a Canadian Murder. Collection edited by S. Batacharya and M. Rajiva. Canadian Scholars Press. Published in November 2010
• “I’m Not That Kind of Girl”: White Femininity, the Other and the Legal/Social Sanctioning of Sexual Violence Against Racialized Women. Women Resisting Rape, special issue. Canadian Woman Studies/les cahiers de la femme. Published in November 2010
• “Un/titled: the Construction and Consequence of ‘Illegitimate’ Motherhood”. Reprinted in Mothers Matter: Motherhood as Discourse and Practice, edited by A. O’Reilly. Published in 2004
• ““I grew strong/learned how to carry on’. Mother-Survivors: Reframing Mothers Identifying as Survivors of Sexual Violence”. Mothering and Psychoanalysis. Demeter Press. Publication date: 2012
Education
• Bachelor of Arts, Major in Women’s Studies, University of Toronto
• Certificate in Creative Writing, Humber School for Writers