About
An independent practice, built to hold up under cross-examination.
Coercive Control Canada is the practice of Elizabeth Joy Dubois, MSW, RSW — a Registered Social Worker who prepares independent expert reports on coercive control and gives evidence on them as an expert witness. The practice exists to make coercive control clear for the people who have to weigh it and the people living it: the courts, people representing themselves, lawyers on both sides, and clinicians.
She prepares independent expert reports, offers case consultations, and publishes courses and free resources.
How the work is done
Independence
Reports are prepared for either side — for the person raising coercive control and for the person answering it, whether they have a lawyer or are representing themselves, and for defence counsel in criminal matters. In every case the duty is to the court: fair, objective and impartial, as the rules for expert witnesses require (Rule 20.1 and Form 20.2).
Method
The work is about how a pattern is assessed and explained for a court: reading events in date order so the shape of things becomes clear, telling a genuine pattern apart from a difficult relationship, and giving an honest account of what a record can and cannot establish.
Mentorship & membership
Ongoing professional mentorship with Dr. Deborah Sinclair, a leading Canadian expert witness in the field. Member in good standing of the OCSWSSW (#811905), the OASW, and the AFCC; RISA-certified.
Public education
Alongside this practice, Elizabeth Joy Dubois writes and publishes public education on two other sites: betrayaltrauma.ca, for people living with a partner’s compulsive sexual behaviour, and sexaddictionhelp.ca, for people in recovery from it and the clinicians working with them. Both carry free material and paid courses, and she has a commercial interest in both. They are named here rather than left to be found.
The three sites are one body of work. Coercive control, what it does to a partner’s hold on what is real, and compulsive sexual behaviour turn on the same thing: who in a relationship gets to decide what happened — and what a culture that trains men to rank women has to do with how a man learns he is entitled to.
That is the subject of the work. It does not stand in for the material in any individual file, and no opinion given in a report is drawn from anything else.
No testimonials, outcome statistics, or case studies of matters handled appear anywhere on this site — by choice, and consistent with professional advertising standards.
Ask about your case.
Every enquiry starts with a quick conflict check, so the work stays independent. Then I’ll tell you plainly whether I can help, what it would involve and what it would cost.
Or go straight to what you need: Free workbook and guides · Expert reports & consultations · Courses for professionals
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