On this page you will find a detailed outline of our schedule for the forum and descriptions about all sessions. To learn more about the speakers for each session, you can visit our speaker profile page.

Day 1 

Opening (9:00 am – 12:00 pm)

We will begin our two days together with a welcome from a local Indigenous elder, Musqueam Knowledge Keeper Debra Sparrow. 

 
BC’s Office of the Provincial Health Officer has been working to unlearn and undo white supremacy and anti-Indigenous racism in their day to day approaches and practices. This session will share lessons learned that can be applied in other sectors, including anti-violence and healthcare, to advance truth and reconciliation.

The networking session will be an opportunity for everyone to come together to connect and share perspectives. Led by EVA BC Board of Directors

Lunch (12:00 – 1:00 pm)

Therapy dogs will be available at the Bridgeport Room during lunch time. Please note that access will be on a first come, first served basis and availability will be limited.

Workshops (1:00 – 2:30 pm)

Please note that these are concurrent workshops (will all happen simultaneously). You can select your workshop of choice during registration.

 

The BC Bad Date and Aggressor Reporting project (BC BDAR) is an integrated, peer-based, anonymous violence reporting initiative by and for sex workers in the province of BC.

Sex workers, particularly those of multiple intersecting lived experiences, consistently fall through the gaps of the formal criminal justice system. In response to these gaps, bad date and aggressor reporting (BDAR) is a community-based solution used worldwide for over 30 years.

While BC does have a number of existing BDAR systems, they don’t share information with one another and leave out much of the province and different sectors of sex work. BC BDAR will be integrating the existing systems and extending access to reporting across the province, making it one of only a handful of regionally integrated systems world-wide.

In this workshop, Project Coordinator Andrea Cupelli and Research Lead Courtney Demone will be covering a brief history of BDAR as a concept, some of the difficulties faced by sex workers in reporting violence, what the BC BDAR project has been doing so far, what we’ve learned through our extensive community consultations about violence reporting with sex workers, and how other supports and organizations can get involved as we progress with the project.

Presenter(s): Balbir Gurm & Makena Rosenberg
 

Gender based violence (GBV) is experienced by people of all ages and backgrounds. Depending on the intersectionality of multiple social identities, barriers to services experienced by survivors of GBV varies. Everyone thinks they treat everyone the same, but service providers, all of us have bias individually and systems have a colonial bias.  In this interactive workshop, we will discuss taken for granted practices of organizations/systems, the power and privilege normalized for certain groups of society and ways we can begin to transform systems to create equity in services for survivors.

 
Presenter(s): Kristen Gilbert & Hayley Rennie (Options for Sexual Health)
 

Explore and connect with some of the options and resources for reproductive justice in BC, including pregnancy options, access to contraception and sexual health information, and more.

 
The Native Courtworker and Counselling Association of BC is a Helping Hand to Justice. Kim Rumley and staff will provide an overview of The Native Courtworker and Counselling Association of B.C. The importance of the role of a Native Courtworker and how they can provide unique and culturally competent services to Indigenous people who are before the courts in the Province of British Columbia. This session will also cover off some of the programs that that NCCABC deliver across the province.
Presenter(s): Alexandra O’Donaghey & Chas Coutlee
 
To bring education and awareness to the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2 Spirit folks in Canada. This workshop is a direct call to justice from the survivors, families, friends, and loved ones of those impacted by MMIWG2S and is a great way to learn more about this important issue on the truths of the MMIWG2S+ and how you can support those who are impacted by MMIWG2S+
Wellness Sessions (3:00 – 4:00 pm)

Please note that these are concurrent wellness sessions (will all happen simultaneously). You can select your session of choice during registration.

Presenter(s): Kendra Coupland

Without any particular goals or destination, we will explore a gentle practice blending slow and intentional movement with breathwork and meditation.

Participants will have an opportunity to try self-care practices for the nervous system and cultivate well-being through calm and neutral self-observation.

What to Expect:

Participants have the option of practicing gentle mindful movement from a mat, chair, or wheelchair/mobility device and are invited to go at their own pace. Adaptions and modifications will be offered to provide a more accessible yoga experience for every body. Comfortable, loose-fitting clothing is recommended for this workshop. If you have other questions about accessibility or have a specific health concern, you can contact Kendra directly at hello[at]kendracoupland.com

Presenter(s): Tajah Olson
 

Participants (at any energy or comfort level) will explore their faces or part of their bodies by using their fingers to paint and reconnect with themselves. The state of self and-other-connection helps us tune in with our emotions, thoughts, and spiritual and physical needs, resetting our minds and listening to our intuition.

First and foremost – we want you to leave this session feeling good enough. Maybe with a sore tummy and cheeks from laughing, definitely feeling more connected to yourself, others and the world.

Without judgment, this experience and experiment is designed to help participants explore oppressive and limiting thoughts, emotions and sensations. Exploring limiting and oppressive beliefs in ourselves as  anti-violence workers is a necessary ingredient in empowering survivors of interpersonal violence.

This experience invites you to get out of your comfort zone, embrace (safe enough) vulnerability and unlearn oppressive beliefs.

Presenter(s): Krista Stogryn
 
The ending of violence begins with the self. Meditation offers a way of coming into closer relationship with ourself, bringing loving presence, acceptance and compassion to the fullness of our experience. From this place we have the power to choose a path of peace. Within the strength of our collective, take this time to come into yourself, to rest, relax and restore with mindfulness practices for the body, mind, heart and spirit.

This workshop invites participants to experience All Bodies Dance Project’s inclusive and accessible approach to dance for people of all embodiments, backgrounds, genders, sizes and ways of moving and perceiving.

Presenter(s): St. John Ambulance
 
St. John Ambulance Therapy Dog Program was established in 1992.  Along with their handlers, Therapy Dogs do just what pets have been doing for centuries – offering companionship to those in need of comfort or emotional and physical support. Dogs are non-judgmental. They are undeterred by human frailties. Dogs will be accepting of those with physical or mental illness, or those presenting with confusion or tears. Dogs calm the distressed, distract those in discomfort, and comfort the lonely. Our mission statement is “To Spread Moments of Joy”
 
The Therapy Dog program provides opportunities for individuals to:
  • Talk with the volunteer and the dog
  • Feel, touch, pet, and cuddle the dog
  • Receive unconditional love from the dog
  • Carry-out or practice an activity in the presence of the dog
  •  
 
 
Evening Reception (5:00 – 7:00 pm)

Make sure you join us for the evening reception where we will be Celebrating Together, recognizing the work we do as a sector with hot food, a cash bar, networking, a photo booth and fun activities (you needed to signup to attend when you registered).

Day 2

Early session (7:30 am – 8:30 am)
Presenter(s): Krista Stogryn
 
The ending of violence begins with the self. Meditation offers a way of coming into closer relationship with ourself, bringing loving presence, acceptance and compassion to the fullness of our experience. From this place we have the power to choose a path of peace. Inviting in intention and gratitude we will collectively connect in mindfulness practices and fill up our cups for the day ahead.
Workshops (9:00 am – 12:00 pm)

Please note that these are concurrent workshops (will all happen simultaneously). You can select your workshop of choice during registration.

Presenter(s): Colleen Varcoe

This session will offer practical strategies to strengthen attention to structural violence in antiviolence work. Participants will be invited to evaluate their organizations with respect to cultural safety/antiracism; trauma- and violence-informed care, and harm reduction/substance use health. These three key dimensions are equity-oriented approaches that are the basis for strategies for strengthening attention to structural violence. Participants will be offered a range of tools including discussion, action and measurement tools for use at an organizational level, and tools for use with survivors that strengthen attention to health, including a woman-led app intended to complement anti-violence services.

Objectives

Through this workshop, participants will be able to:

  1. Draw on three key dimensions of equity-oriented approaches (Cultural safety/antiracism; trauma- and violence-informed care, and harm reduction/substance use health) to evaluate their organizations’ approaches to addressing structural violence and structural inequities
  2. Identify key areas for strengthening their organizations’ and own practices to support the health and wellbeing of survivors
  3. Use the concept of trauma- and violence-informed care (TVIC) to strengthen attention to structural violence in their work
  4. Evaluate diverse equity oriented and TVIC tools for applicability to their work
  5. Use selected tools to strengthen organizational support for equity-oriented and TVIC approaches

Presenter(s): Nancy Poole

This workshop will offer the opportunity to

  • Discuss recommended approaches to providing integrated support on trauma, violence and substance use that have been identified in recent literature and practice manuals
  • Practice helpful provider skills such as communicating accurate empathy and hope, and promoting critical thinking
  • Consider how we support women who have experienced these interconnected issues to both get healthy and enhance their safety, and increase understanding of the aspects of gendered roles, relations and misogynistic attitudes that are foundational to gender based violence and need collective systemic action.

This workshop builds on the work of the Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health to research, develop, pilot and evaluate the Strong Women virtual support group for women who have experienced IPV and used alcohol and tobacco. It will also draw upon the ideas of women who have experienced chronic pain and used prescription opioids, as to how service providers can be supportive. 

Presenter(s): Jennifer Hollinshead

Participants of this interactive session will be reminded of the basics of motivational interviewing and the five stages of change, in addition to the core goals of harm reduction. We will use these two modalities within a feminist reality to address a variety of client “presentations”. We will outline how the ideas below can apply to humans of all genders and sexualities in a variety of relationship structures. Jennifer will also speak from their personal lived and professional experience working with cisgender, heterosexual women who speak English and have social services available to them. Types of gender based violence discussed will range from covert emotional abuse to intergenerational family controlled sex tracking.

Participants will be invited to explore your own stage of change and views on harm reduction. Then, we’ll explore how our personal experiences of gender based violence impact how we support ourselves and our clients. There’s no right or wrong way to move towards safety!

Presenter(s): Karen Mason

This workshop will address the intersection of brain injury and intimate partner violence, and explore ways to add a brain injury informed lens to our work supporting survivors.

Recommended prerequisite: Participants who registered for Karen Mason’s workshop are encouraged to take this free virtual training, Concussion Awareness Training Tool for Women’s Support Worker,  as a prerequisite, as it provides you with a baseline of knowledge on this subject matter. Estimated time to complete: 30 to 40 minutes

Presenter(s): Karen Martin
 

This workshop will enable participants to build the capacity of their programs to enhance the supports and service outcomes for people with disabilities experiencing gender-based violence. Through a combination of presentation and small group exercises, the workshop will provide a historical context of violence against people with disabilities in BC and Canada, how gender-based violence and disability-related violence intersect, and provide practical steps for understanding access and inclusion needs and helping people with disabilities.

 

Lunch (12:00 – 1:00 pm)

Therapy dogs will be available at the Bridgeport Room during lunch time. Please note that access will be on a first come, first served basis and availability will be limited.

Closing (1:00 – 4:00 pm)

This session will feature anti-violence workers from diverse communities across the province. Panelists will discuss their experiences supporting survivors to access healthcare. Panelists will discuss a wide range of challenges faced, as well as stories of improvement.  This session will be interactive with opportunities to connect with the presenters.

We will wrap up our two days together with final door prize draws, final words from our board and staff and a closing from Debra Sparrow, Knowledge Keeper from Musqueam Nation.