This month, we are proud to feature Dr. Ines Yagi, Assistant Professor in the School of Counselling, Psychotherapy and Spirituality.
Her research examines trauma, resilience, and post-traumatic growth, with particular attention to how individuals and communities navigate healing, identity reconstruction, spirituality, and meaning-making following traumatic experiences. In her work, Dr. Yagi integrates research and clinical perspectives to better understand processes of survivorship, disclosure, embodiment, and relational healing.
In this feature, Dr. Yagi shares what drew her to study experiences of sexual violence, how healing is possible, and practical ways we can all help create safer spaces for survivors to heal.
What inspired you to choose this field of research?
I was inspired to focus on male experiences of sexual violence because this remains an underreported, underacknowledged, and often overlooked issue. Despite growing attention to male survivors, stigma and traditional expectations of masculinity continue to contribute to silence around these experiences, and important gaps remain in understanding not only trauma, but also how survivors heal, reconstruct their identities, make meaning of their experiences, and move forward.
What are 3 things you wish people knew about your field of research?
- Sexual violence can happen to anyone.
It could affect a brother, friend, neighbour, colleague, or someone else we love, and it occurs more often than many people realize. For male survivors in particular, stigma and traditional expectations of masculinity can make these experiences especially difficult to disclose. - Healing is possible.
Trauma can profoundly affect a person’s life, but it does not have to define their future. I often think of the Japanese art of kintsugi, where broken pottery is repaired with gold rather than concealing the places where it was broken. Similarly, healing is not about erasing what happened, but about finding ways to rebuild, make meaning, reconnect, and move forward. - Breaking the silence matters—and we all have a role to play.
Survivors should not have to suffer alone. We can help create safer spaces for disclosure and healing by listening with empathy and compassion, remaining non-judgmental, and being willing to listen even when we may not fully understand another person’s experience.
Can you recommend any resources for those who want to learn more about your field of research?
For those who want to learn more, I would first recommend resources that specifically educate people about sexual violence against men and boys, including the stigma, misconceptions, barriers to disclosure, and unique challenges that male survivors can experience. Organizations such as 1in6 provide accessible educational materials, research, survivor stories, and resources specifically focused on male sexual abuse and assault.
I also think it is important to understand trauma beyond what happens cognitively or psychologically. Trauma can have profound effects on the body and nervous system, which is why healing cannot always happen through talking alone. Peter Levine’s In an Unspoken Voice: How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness and Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma are valuable resources for understanding trauma from a body-oriented perspective and exploring how safety, stabilization, and reconnection with the body can be part of the healing process. Bessel van der Kolk’s The Body Keeps the Score is another accessible resource for understanding the relationship between traumatic experiences, the brain, the body, and recovery.
Finally, I would encourage people to become familiar with organizations that work directly with male survivors. In Ottawa, Men & Healing provides specialized individual and group psychotherapy, including trauma-recovery services for men who have experienced childhood physical and/or sexual abuse. In the United States, 1in6 provides information, survivor resources, online support groups, and education for male survivors and those who support them. There are also organizations working internationally, including within African contexts, to address sexual violence against men and boys. Exploring these community-based and culturally situated resources is important because our understanding of both sexual violence and healing needs to extend beyond a single cultural or Western perspective.
Where can people find some of your more recent research?
- Yagi, I. (2026). Sexual Violence Against Men in Canada: Relational Challenges and Pathways to Resilience—Insights on Masculine Norms with Broader Implications. Social Sciences, 15, 178. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci15030178
- Yagi, I., & Sonier, M. (2025). Beauty and Art as Pathways to Healing After Sexual Violence: A Comparative Study in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Canada. Social Sciences, 14, 686. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci14120686
Thank you, Ines, for sharing your insights and hopeful approach to this difficult topic.
