Free Training to Reduce Gender-Based Violence for Women Experiencing Homelessness.
Women experiencing homelessness in our community have a 44% chance of experiencing gender-based violence at least once daily and a 92% chance of experiencing violence weekly. Project Willow explored these experiences with women and found that there is a layered experience of gender-based violence for women experiencing homelessness, in that violence is likely to come daily or at least weekly and it comes from a variety of different perpetrators in all sorts of community settings. Project Willow also revealed that part of the safety rituals women experiencing homelessness use to keep safe is engaging bystanders to help them. But knowing how to be a good bystander and ally for someone who is marginalized, vulnerable, and lives a life that is complicated and vastly different than our own is difficult. It’s easy to feel like we can’t help.
But we've had it all wrong.
WE CAN be great allies to women experiencing homelessness.
WE CAN support those in abusive situations WHILE respecting their right to lead.
WE CAN help connect women to social services that can help them.
Network of Neighbours can help.
Our free online training program designed for caring community members who want to help. This training helps you gain important knowledge on the experience of women’s homelessness and gender-based violence. Leaving this training you will know more about women’s homelessness, strategies to reduce the harm gender-based violence causes and how to be an ally to vulnerable women in our community.
See our next session dates!
This training is provided online, is free and open to everyone. Accessibility supports, such as closed captioning, are available (please share your needs).
We all have the ability to empower survivors and build a safer community. Network of Neighbours training teaches you how to break the cycle of violence through practical knowledge, so you can develop your own signature approach to providing support.
Feel ready to help someone in need.
Know you can confidently and comfortably support women experiencing homelessness in your community who may need help.
Understand and recognize violence.
Learn the basics of gender-based violence, how to recognize it, and how power plays a role through different cycles of abuse.
Become a better ally.
Deepen your understanding of biases, intersectionality, reflexivity, and other factors to better support women experiencing homelessness.
Join a supportive community.
Build connections and be a part of a growing network across our Region dedicated to making our public settings safer.
Learn strategies to reduce harm.
Find ways to intervene, learn bystander training, and identify the resources available to help. Because these strategies help people flee violence.
Our Survivor-Led Approach
The Network of Neighbours approach focuses on strategies where the survivor of violence leads us in our efforts to help them. Survivors have had their choices taken away through the cycle of violence. We can help them while prioritizing autonomy and respect, and supporting the path they choose. Even if we would choose differently.
Our instructors tackle every topic and scenario in our training with this approach in mind! You learn from trained advocates in gender-based violence who have experience in a variety of non-profit roles. So you learn from first-hand experiences of those in one-on-one support to systems-level advocacy.
This training is facilitated by expert instructors who actively research, develop, and design systemic interventions for survivors. Our team has extensive experience in this field through their direct service for and their advocacy on behalf of survivors of gender-based violence.
Giving space for survivors to lead their own journey is integral to reducing the harm of gender-based violence.
Ready to get started?
If you are ready to step up to support someone experiencing gender-based violence, we have upcoming training dates available.
