About Us
Denise Koster, B.A.A., P.H.Ec.
Denise Koster is the founder and Director of Koster Consulting & Associates (1994). Since 1985, Denise has been working in the areas of abuse and violence in the Workplace.
As a University Graduate, Certified Instructor in Non-Violence Crisis Intervention, Conflict Resolution Specialist and an Honours Graduate of the International School of Private Investigation and Security, Denise has provided organizations with practical education and intensive training around the identification, investigation and intervention into workplace violence. Denise has designed a unique approach to dealing with violence, which includes addressing issues that clients/residents/patients are faced with, along with exploring the day to day stress that front-line staff have when trying to meet increasing workloads and pressures within the workforce. Denise has provided training and individual consultation and mediation services pertaining to staff to staff conflicts, primarily focusing on identifying and dealing with bullying in the workplace.
Denise is a member of the International Association of Non-Violent Crisis Intervention Certified Instructors (IANCICI), was a Subject Matter Expert for the Ontario Community Care Access Centres Elder Abuse Training Project and was selected as a member of the Roundtable for Ontario’s Elder Abuse Strategy Working Group for Training of Front-line Staff. Denise was the Principle Evaluator for the Ontario Family Councils Program, and is presently the Project Evaluator for Project S.A.V (Empowering Seniors Against Victimization), a research effort addressing the need to diminish and eradicate the abuse and victimization of older adults. Project S.A.V is a collaborative partnership between the United Senior Citizens of Ontario (USCO) and the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), Seniors Assistance Team (SAT) and is being funded by the National Crime Prevention Centre of Canada.
She has published papers, was a monthly columnist for Mature Lifestyles Magazine, and wrote and directed two educational videos. Denise is the Past Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Victim Services Program of Toronto Inc.; Past Co-Chair of the Ontario Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse; and Founder and Past Chair of the Downtown Elder Abuse Network.
In addition to working with organizations she has supported over 5,000 vitims of violence, and hundreds of bullied individuals through assisting them in various ways including negotiating the social and legal systems. As the Director of Koster Consulting & Associates Denise has developed numerous resources and materials that are on the world market. In 2002, Denise travelled to Hong Kong to work extensively with the government on the development and implementation of elder abuse strategies, in addition to providing training and education to over 350 social service employees.
For nine years prior to engaging in Koster Consulting & Associates on a full-time basis, Denise was the Clinical and Program Director at a Community Health Centre, where her role was to manage a multi-disciplinary team of health and social service professionals.