In recent years more of my work has been in applied social work scholarship in partnership with public interest law firms and the public trustee and in the service of social justice in behalf of under-served or ill-served individuals and groups. In the latter stages of my academic career, I have returned to the work in behalf of sexual minority youth that was the focus of my early work 40 years ago. Some of that work is now supported by the U.S. National Institute of Health. Other current research focuses on service strategies and decision making in public sector child welfare. As coordinator of our graduate programs I am engaged in research with national colleagues examining the nature of doctoral research in Canadian social work education.

Current Research Projects

Evaluation of code white program
Evaluation of training intervention to reduce incidence of aggression and violence in hospitals.

Sponsored By: Justice Institute of British Columbia
Principal Investigators: Richard Sullivan, Ph.D.

The development of a framework for delivery of mental health services in the context of Canadian multiculturalism.

Sponsored By: Canadian Mental health Commission.
Principal Investigators: Monica Ruiz Cesare, Lucyna Lach, Cecile Rousseau, and Richard Sullivan

Reducing stigma, Promoting resilience: Population Health Interventions for LGBTQ Youth.

Sponsored By: CIHR.
Principal Investigator: Elizabeth Saewyk

Recent Publications

M. Ruis-Casares, L. Kolyn, R. Sullivan & C. Rousseau (2015) Parenting adolescents from ethno-cultural backgrounds: A scan of community-based programs in Canada for the promotion of adolescent mental health. Child & Youth Services Review (accepted: March 2015)

Richard Sullivan, Margo Nelson & Amanda Oliver (2014)  Kinship care in an era of  cost containment.  Canadian Review of Social Policy .(Special Issue) (accepted: February, 2014)

Lisa Cowie & Richard Sullivan (2014) Grief & loss among birth mothers in open adoption. Canadian Review of Social Work. (accepted: October 2014)

Janet Douglas & Richard Sullivan (2013) The role of child protection in marijuana grow operations. International Journal of Drug Policy  http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2013.01.003  and simultaneously in the U.S. National Library of Medicine http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23453301

D’Angiulli, A. & Sullivan, R. (2010). Early specialized foster care, developmental outcomes and home salivary cortisol patterns in prenatally substance-exposed infants. Children and Youth Services Review, 32(3), 460-465.

Areas of Scholarship: Child welfare; family policy; sexual minorities; epistemology; evaluation strategies

Areas of Practice: Child and family welfare; child and adolescent well-being; service strategies in public social service systems

Grad Students

• Ruppa Baga, Doctoral co-supervision with Sunera Thobani.A study of the intersections of race, class and gender in Canadian adoptions from Korea.

• Margo Nelson, Doctoral Candidate, Social Work.A study of the role of social work practices to achieve cultural continuity for aboriginal children in foster care.

• Ally Jamieson, Doctoral Student, Social Work.Child Traumatic Stress Responses in Foster Care

• Lisa Cowie, MSW thesis supervision.Open Adoption as a Factor in Birth Mother Resolution of Grief & Loss

• Dan Ji, MSW thesis supervision.Does Differential Response Accurately Distinguish Between Levels of Need & Risk?