On Tuesday, March 6th and Wednesday, March 7th, close to 250 front-line workers from 40 agencies in Toronto’s Violence Against Women (VAW) sector attended the 2018 Supporting Survivors by Supporting Staff (SSxSS) Training Conference. The event is a part of WomanACT’s annual End Violence Against Women Week in Toronto.
This year’s training, entitled ‘Let’s Get Into It Together’, was facilitated by Bo Yih Thom and J. McKnight. These facilitators lead us through a fully packed, 2-day workshop experience focused on four core topics: trauma-informed care and practice, trauma and the brain, self-reflection, and unpacking bias.
Each day, we were guided through several interactive practices and exercises to give front-line staff in the GTA the opportunity to network and engage with each other. Also, through these exercises, participants experienced some of the discomfort, challenges and barriers that women trying to flee violence may face on a daily basis. This was emphasised during an exercise where participants were forced to find new seating arrangements.
Our post conference survey is open until April 6th. If you were at the training, please take a moment to share your thoughts with us. Click here to fill out our short post-conference survey.
This valuable training would not be possible without the generous funding of The Ministry of Community and Social Services.
