Pilot Fund for Gender Equality: Opening the Circle
Pilot Fund for Gender Equality: Opening the Circle
Violence that is committed against women has been called a shadow pandemic, and like COVID-19, gender-based violence is global and deadly. As reported in our latest Vital Signs report, Be the Change, local organizations conservatively estimate a 30% increase in domestic violence cases since April 2020, and many of the cases being reported are noticeably more severe than usual. In addition to fears about the virus, families are experiencing increased stressors that can elevate the risk for violence – such as unemployment, school interruptions and ongoing social isolation. For women who are isolated at home with an abusive partner, the opportunity to get help has been significantly restricted. Support services are needed now more than ever before.
Anova is one of the organizations in our community working everyday to provide safe places, shelter, and other resources to victims of domestic and sexual violence and their children. Opening the Circle (OtC) is a peer-led project that has been supported by Anova for several years. Conceived by survivors of sexual violence, OtC has been evolving as a community-based resource for people of all genders. An LCF Community Vitality grant in 2015 provided the means for OtC to build a website, develop training and tools necessary to build a skill-based support community.
“Through OtC, we create space for people to share their stories and to learn about the lived experiences of others who have also had traumatic experiences of sexual violence,” says Margaret MacPherson, one of the project managers. “In a supportive community, lived experience becomes a source of strength that can also light the way and support others.”
Early in 2020, new funding for OtC was granted by LCF from the Pilot Fund for Gender Equality to create a leadership path for women survivors. The path begins with building skill as peer supporters. The funding allows for ten women to participate in a sixteen-week Foundations training course and then to move on to a certification track with Peer Support Canada. Ongoing learning and support for the peer support group after the training is part of the innovative OtC model.
“Peer support can challenge social norms that construct victims of violence as being ‘broken’ and in need of fixing,” says Margaret. “Working toward gender-equality helps survivors re-imagine themselves as co-creators with important contributions to make.”
The OtC peer support training promotes trauma and violence informed (TVI) principles and practices while actively discussing and examining related and intersecting issues, power and privilege, social norms and oppression. Together, participants learn how to create ethical and equitable environments that value and support diverse life experiences and shared leadership.
“Opening the Circle is peer-developed and peer-led. The composition is designed to move beyond the ‘us and them’ of traditional institutional hierarchies that continue to put women at social disadvantage,” says Margaret. “We see it as both a constructive disruption and a complement to the status quo of service provision.”
With support from the Fund for Gender Equality, OtC is supporting women’s leadership on a healing journey. Find out more about the Fund for Gender Equality at lcf.on.ca/equalityfund.