Teenage relational violence: A framework for recognition, assessment, and prevention

Teenage relational violence: A framework for recognition, assessment, and prevention

Presented by SickKids CCMH Learning Institute

Date: December 5 & 12, 2025
Time: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET
Facilitator: Marshall Korenblum, MD, FRCP (C).

Description: Adolescents today must navigate a world shaped by digital relationships, social pressures, and rapidly changing expectations around identity and connection. These pressures effect both boys and girls, but this workshop will focus on the impact on boys. One consequence of these changes is a rise in relational violence, leaving clinicians and educators wondering what they can do to prevent its spread.

This timely, skills-based training equips mental health professionals with evidence-informed tools to recognize and assess teens at risk of relational aggression. Through a case-based discussion anchored in the critically acclaimed Netflix series, “Adolescence”, participants will gain a deeper understanding of the interplay between trauma, peer pressures, parental confusion, and digital influences such as “the manosphere”.  Each session blends developmental theory with practical application, offering tools that can be used in clinical settings.

What does it take to push a seemingly normal teen over the edge? This course will offer a practical approach to understanding the teen male psyche. In the process, both the complexity and simplicity of an answer will become apparent. - Dr. Marshall Korenblum.

Learning objectives:

• Core drivers of teen relational violence, including distorted masculinity and the need to impose social hierarchies.
• The impact of social media, cyberbullying, and online echo chambers (including  “the manosphere”).
• Hallmarks of effective clinical assessments and red flags of the transition from ideology to action.
• Strategies for recognizing and supporting distressed/overwhelmed parents.
• Understand ways in which we can improve the safety and security of today’s teenagers.

Training format: This course uses a flipped-classroom model. Participants will independently watch two episodes of Netflix's Adolescence each week, which will serve as a springboard for moderated discussion and clinical application during the live webinar. The live webinars will include:

• A facilitator-led reflective group exercise in which clinical issues raised by each episode will be addressed by peer consultation amongst the attendees.
• An academic debrief led by Dr. Marshall Korenblum, synthesizing research, practice insights, and actionable strategies.

Overview of session topics and discussion themes:

Day 1: Pre-watch episodes 1 and 2

• The Roots of Relational Violence. How at-risk teens can appear quite “normal”; the disconnect between fathers and sons; how little parents know about their adolescents’ lives.
• Social Pressures in School and On-line (cyber-bullying). Who’s in charge? Teachers or students?; If/when adults are ineffective or unavailable, who/what fills the void?; Anonymity and speed—why cyber-bullying is so harmful; society’s over-emphasis on appearance.

Selected scenes from Episodes 1 and 2 will be used to anchor discussion and deepen reflection.

Day 2: Pre-watch episodes 3 and 4

• Assessing Mental Health in a Relational Context—Identify the effective elements of an assessment of potential relational violence.
• Family Trauma and Societal Impact—Parental guilt, shame, and confusion when their child has committed a crime; the power of denial in families; understand how a youth’s behaviour both effects and is effected by his caregivers; how to support families through a trauma journey; understand the ubiquity of societal factors (e.g., “incel” culture) and fragmented systems of care.

Selected scenes from Episodes 3 and 4 will be used to anchor discussion and deepen reflection.

This training gives practical clinical skills to better engage with teens and create meaningful change for them and their families when trying to prevent and address relational violence.  Whether you work in community settings, schools, or hospitals, this training will deepen your clinical understanding and provide new perspectives, thus empowering you to better handle the psychological needs of adolescent boys today.

Registration fee: General - $300 SAVE 20% with code FEATURE20 

For full program overview and registration details please visit: https://cvent.me/QM5qox

Facilitator Bio:
Dr. Marshall Korenblum, MD, FRCP(C), Dip. Child Psych., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto.  He has been practicing child/adolescent psychiatry in Toronto for 45 years.

He was the Chief Psychiatrist/Medical Director of the former Hincks-Dellcrest Centre, now the Garry Hurvitz/Sick Kids Centre for Community Mental Health, and a Consultant in the Division of Youth Psychiatry, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.
He is an award-winning teacher and passionate believer in public and professional education as a tool to combat stigma regarding mental illness in youth.

He contributed to knowledge translation and dissemination when he was a consultant to the World Health Organization and as a visiting scholar to the Universities of Melbourne and Sydney, Australia.
He retired from patient care in July, 2024, but continues to teach, consult, and supervise and does outreach to various schools/school boards.
He is currently a Group Facilitator for the Ontario Medical Association’s Pilot Project on Mutual Peer Support for Physicians, and his clinical interests focus on the intersection of mood and personality disorder in adolescents. 

Continuing Education (CE) information: 10 CE hours