July 2015
The Government of Canada is supporting the health of victims of domestic violence and child abuse through the following projects:
Safe and Understood: Helping children who experience domestic violence
$1,523,173 over five years
This project will deliver and test two programs that will promote the social, emotional, and developmental health of young children. Mothers in Mind is a group-based, trauma-informed, mother-child program that will help improve the health of young children who have been exposed to intimate partner violence. A trauma-informed approach acknowledges the impact of violence and trauma on people's lives, and focuses on client safety, respect, and empowerment. Caring Dads will engage fathers in group settings to develop positive parenting skills, in an effort to break cycles of violence and to support children’s healing and development. The programs, led by the Child Development Institute, are expected to reach over 300 families in Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick.
Reaching out with Yoga: Trauma-informed Yoga for Women and Children in Shelters
$1,288,921 over five years
This project will deliver and test trauma-informed yoga programs in 24 women’s shelters and transition houses across British Columbia. The programs support the physical and mental health of women and children recovering from family violence by offering free, trauma-informed yoga programs in shelters, and training shelter workers to apply simple trauma-informed yoga techniques in their daily work with victims. In trauma-informed yoga, teachers are taught to adapt their practice so that it's safe for clients. For example, teachers don't touch clients to adjust their poses because this could re-trigger experiences of uninvited touch, and they use specific language that helps clients feel more control over their bodies. This project, led the BC Society of Transition Houses in partnership with Yoga Outreach, is expected to reach approximately 500 women, 250 children, and 240 shelter workers.
Mentoring Healthy Futures: Peer and Community Support for Sexually Exploited Youth
$1,260,526 over five years
This project will deliver and test a peer support program for youth who have experienced sexual exploitation and homelessness. The project is expected to reach approximately 200 highly vulnerable female youth. Working in peer-led support groups, youth aged 16-24 will work together to identify and implement activities and supports that will improve their mental, physical, and social health needs as they transition from sexual exploitation to independence. Covenant House Toronto will lead this project in collaboration with a range of partners.
Building Connections: A Group Intervention for Mothers and Children Experiencing Violence in Relationships
$2,292,636 over five years
This project will help mothers experiencing family violence to learn about healthy relationships and the impacts of violence on their parenting and on their children’s development, while building self-esteem and positive parenting strategies. The project will expand the reach of the existing Connections program to an additional 30 sites across Canada. It will also deliver training and resources to equip staff in all Public Health Agency of Canada funded Community Action Program for Children, Canada Prenatal Nutrition Program, and Aboriginal Head Start in Urban and Northern Communities sites across Canada to identify and safely work with families experiencing violence.
Knowledge Hub: Maximizing Impact by Connecting Research and Practice in Trauma-Informed Health Promotion
$1,039,542 over five years
The Knowledge Hub project will connect and enhance the work of all the community-based projects funded though the Public Health Agency of Canada investment to support victims of violence from a health perspective. It will help to maximize and consolidate the learning across projects, and build further capacity in communities to deliver and test trauma-informed health promotion to families impacted by violence. The Knowledge Hub will facilitate collaboration among practitioners, host a web platform to share knowledge publicly, and identify common ways to measure the effects of projects. The project will be led by the Centre for Research and Education on Violence Against Women, which has extensive expertise and leadership in community-level initiatives to address violence.
Global Violence Prevention Information System: A World Health Organization Database
$100,000 for one year
The funding, provided through a grant from the Public Health Agency of Canada to the WHO, will support the first phase of work to develop this information system. It will be the first comprehensive database created for all available information on violence and its prevention at the international level. Information will be compiled from a variety of existing sources to provide a global picture of the extent, nature and effects of interpersonal violence. The database will also provide details such as prevalence, risk factors, and effective prevention strategies for all the main forms of interpersonal violence, including child maltreatment and intimate partner violence. This information will be accessible on a user-friendly website which is expected to launch in 2016.
