We are excited to present Made in Alberta presentations as part of the IMPACT 2021 Virtual Summit. These presentations will provide an overview of exceptional work that is happening across Alberta. We ask that you fill out the form at the bottom of this page to register for the Made In Alberta Session that you will attend for each of the three breakouts. These sessions include:
March 16, 11:00 a.m.
Session A: HEART Humanity = Empathy and Respect Together
Presenter: Corrine Janzen, Lethbridge Family Services
HEART is a program for high school students that addresses the impact that societal norms for gender and sexuality have on individual mental well-being and healthy relationships. HEART aims to effect early prevention of intimate partner violence through honest conversations and practical tools.
Session B: THE POWER OF ALL: Meaningful Connections that Break Domestic Violence
Presenter(s): Humaira Falak and Rubirose (Beng) Ong, ActionDignity
ActionDignity continues to facilitate the collective voice of ethnocultural communities towards full and equitable civic participation. This presentation will focus on the work they are doing in different racialized communities , different and innovative approaches we are using to combat family violence in these communities and also will share some of our key learnings, key successes and future action plans.
Real Talk: Primary Prevention with Informal Supporters
Presenter(s): Carrie McManus and Tami Hutchinson, Sagesse
Real Talk is a primary prevention initiative focused on building capacity of all Albertans to address domestic violence before it happens in their communities. This presentation will highlight this non-programmatic primary prevention initiative across Alberta, and how it works alongside programmatic secondary and tertiary prevention interventions.
March 16, 2:30 p.m.
Session D: Overview and Impact of “Who Do You Tell?” AND Trauma-Informed Child Development Centre
Presenter(s): Alicia Teasdale, Calgary Communities Against Sexual Abuse and Aimee Bontje, Discovery House Family Violence Prevention Society
The “Who Do You Tell?” Program provides students with the skills needed to recognise abusive behaviours, promote healthy relationships, learn about body autonomy, and how to access support in order to reduce the impacts of sexual abuse. This presentation will provide an overview of important best practices and the impacts of the program.
In the last two years, the Child Development Centre has gone from a daycare model of care for children of parents living in a domestic violence shelter to a research-based, trauma-informed centre that addresses the developmental and social needs of children who have experienced significant family trauma.
Session E: Creating Equity in Collective Impact
Presenter(s): Jassim Al-Mowasi, Calgary Domestic Violence Collective and Humaira Falak, Action Dignity
In 2019 the Ethno-Culturally Diverse Communities (ECDC) Working Group of CDVC conducted a research project to understand barriers to services for ethnocultural diverse individuals. The research and recommendations led the group to understand and to address systemic inequities, the work needed to move upstream. This presentation will share the journey to shift the focus from intervention to prevention, the process of the development of an equity framework, and the learnings as a collective for the next steps.
Session F: Change Reality: Use of Portable VR Gaming Systems to Train Bystanders to Stop Street Harassment
Presenter(s): Michael Hoyt, The City of Edmonton, Lukas Kuru, NextGen Men, Jeremiah Levine, WiseGuyz
This Virtual Reality (VR) project draws on research to build an immersive bystander intervention training program in VR. This integrates social research gathered in our city to identify the location, targets, and types of street harassment occurring in the community and serves to provide participants with the opportunity to practice their bystander intervention skills in realistic situations while receiving important anti-oppressive education based off of this research. This presentation will demonstrate the VR prototype, describe the collaborative developmental approach, and discuss possible implementation options and next steps in development.
March 17, 11:00 a.m.
Session A: The WiseGuyz Program AND Advancing Primary Prevention of Domestic and Sexual
Violence: Integrating Gender- Transformative Approaches
Presenters: Prax Li, Calgary Sexual Health and Deinera Exner-Cortens, University of Calgary
This presentation will focus on an increasingly popular approach to the primary prevention of domestic and sexual violence. We will also highlight a ‘made-in-Alberta’ primary prevention approach (WiseGuyz), including its implementation and impact.
This session will also provide an overview of what is meant by the term “gender-transformative approach,” and then summarize theory and research supporting gender-transformative work in violence prevention. We will also review key findings from a “made in Alberta” gender-transformative violence prevention program for adolescent boys and share promising practices for implementing these types of approaches (including by including a focus on intersectionality).
Session B: Preventing Domestic Violence: The Latino Men’s Wellbeing group
Presenter(s): Liza Lorenzetti, MSW, RSW, PhD, Jeff Halvorsen, Tamara Humphrey, PhD
In 2015, Alberta Men’s Network conducted the Alberta Men’s Survey, which examined what were the barriers and enablers of wellbeing and healthy relationships for men. Of the 2,214 men surveyed, 132 identified as Latino. In response to these findings, Alberta Men’s Network developed an implemented a support group to provide a safe space for Latino men to get together and provide a safe space to enhance wellbeing and promote healthy relationships. This presentation will discuss the research that led to the development of the support group, the curriculum and implementation, and findings of the research.
Made in Alberta sessions are presented in partnership with Shift: The Project to End Domestic Violence (www.preventdomesticviolence.ca). Shift’s purpose is to develop, implement, and scale-up best and promising primary prevention practices, strategies, and actions in partnerships with government, systems, community leaders, and NGOs with the goal of preventing violence and advancing equality.
To choose the session you would like to attend, please fill out the form below