What we got up to Jan – April 2017

Another semester is done and we want to con-grad-ulate everyone for all their accomplishments whether you graduated or not, whether you remained in classes, dropped out, or took some time off. We know how much it work it can take to get through a semester especially if you dealing with things like violence and/or mental health. Whatever you did to make it through – great job! We’re also interested in letting you know what we got up to this past semester, mostly highlighting our accomplishments including taking some time off to take care of our mental health.

On-going over the semester

• Practicum students – 2. We had students complete practicums from both Social Justice Studies (50 hours) and Social Work (300 hours). Thanks so much to Brydon and Desiree for being part of our team for the semester.
• Sexualized Violence Policy – consultations, policy writing, community feedback, hiring Sexualized Violence Education and Prevention Coordinator. Mostly Kenya Rogers did this work for us, but other staff contributed to policy consultation and supporting Kenya and her hard work. The policy was approved by the Board of Governors in March and went into effect May 19.
• Accountability Process – over the course of several months we worked with a student who caused harm in the form of sexualized violence. This student engaged in a process to examine their behaviour and learn about how these harms are normalized and upheld in our society, and how to start unlearning them.

January

• 2 Consent workshops
• 1 Supporting a Survivor workshop
• 7 support sessions
• 1 Men’s Circle
• 1 Unlearning White Supremacy discussion group. For more info check out our blog posts “New discussion group” and “Reflections on First Group”
• 1 trip to Okanagan College to give our consent and support workshops to students and administrators, and to share the Let’s Get Consensual Campaign and h0w we run it
• 1 LeanneBetasamosake Simpson! Leanne was in town and we hosted an intimate visit/discussion/question session/conversation for Indigenous women, 2spirit folks, and genderqueer/genderfabulous/gender non-conforming Indigenous folks https://www.facebook.com/events/1823343991250199

February

• 3 Consent workshops
• 1 Supporting A Survivor workshop
• 13 support sessions
• 2 Men’s Circle
• 1 Unlearning White Supremacy Discussion Group (2 were planned, 1 got cancelled), blog post “Free Tibet Syndrome“
• Many volunteers to Memorial March for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, 2Spirits, and Girls
• Facilitator training for AVP volunteers by mia susan amir 
• 2 Harm Reduction and Naloxone Workshops – one public and one for volunteers

March

• 3 consent workshops
• 2 Supporting A Survivor workshops
• 6 support sessions
• 3 Men’s Circle
• 1 Unlearning White Supremacy Discussion Group
• 1 trip to Thompson River University to run 2 support and 2 consent workshops with students
• The report “Taking Action to End Violence Against Young Women and Girls is Canada” was released by the Status of Women, which was part of the result of Paloma and Kenya’s work in Ottawa

April

• 3 consent workshops
• 1 Supporting A Survivor workshop
• 2 support sessions
• 1 Men’s Circle
• 1 break for staff for mental wellness