Winter/Spring 2019 Term Summary

This may be a little late (oops) but…the flowers are out, the sun is here and we are so excited to have finished another term here on campus! This past our team of staff and volunteers facilitated 8 workshops, 8 Men Circles and conducted 940 minutes of support sessions.

Here is a list of some of the things we got up to during the winter/spring semester:

• Hiring – This past semester, our wonderful outreach coordinator captain left AVP to pursue lots of exciting projects and we wish them all the best! Joining us is Kemi! Kemi is not new to the basement of the Student Union building and has been just down the hall from AVP for the past year working as the coordinator for the Students of Colour Collective. We are stoked to have Kemi joining our outreach team!
• Sexualized Violence Special Events – This team (composed of us, the UVSS, the Office of Equity and Human Rights and the Office of Student Life) met frequently throughout the semester to bring you Let’s Talk About Sex: The Pleasure Edition in collaboration with UVic Residence Services. The event consisted of two panels both on the topic of pleasure: the first panel with “experts” and the second featuring student community leaders from residence.
• Graduate Student Referendum – This March, graduate students at UVic voted and, with a 61.6% majority, will be increasing our funding. We are humbled by this show of support, and so grateful to be able to continue supporting grad students! To read more about what we hope to do with this funding check out this blog post.
• Community Events – We were able to connect with many community members at several events, including an LGBTQ2S pride fair for students in residences, a storytelling event organized by the Student Open Forum Against Racism, and a Trans Day of Visibility gathering. Stay tuned to our Facebook page for more upcoming events we’ll be at!
• Volunteer Training – We were hard at work over the past couple months preparing the 2019 Volunteer Training program that started in mid-May and will be finishing up at the end of June. You’ll see our new volunteers running workshops, tabling around campus and hanging out in our support room starting in September.

Here’s a break down of some of our monthly stats:

• January:
  • 9 Support sessions
  • 1 Consent workshop
  • 2 Men’s Circles
• February:
  • 4 Support sessions
  • 1 Consent workshop (two were scheduled but one had to be canceled due to the snowpocalypse of 2019)
  • 1 Supporting a Survivor workshop
  • 2 Men’s Circles
  • Event: Let’s Talk About Sex- The Pleasure Edition
• March:
  • 7 Support sessions
  • 1 Consent workshop
  • 2 Supporting a Survivor workshops (one on campus and the other with Together Against Poverty Society volunteers and staff)
  • 2 Men’s Circles
• April:
  • 6 Support sessions
  • 1 Consent workshop
  • 1 Supporting a Survivor workshop
  • 2 Men’s Circles

We are still here all summer! Support hours will continue throughout the summer so keep checking our website and Facebook page for updates. You can also call 250-472-4388 or email if you’d like to make an appointment or have questions about our support services.