Knowledge Hub Bulletin 27 - June 2023
An Overview of the Knowledge Exchange Held on June 6 and 7, 2023 in London, ON.
The objectives of the knowledge exchange were to:
• Share information about trauma- and violence informed practice in the gender-based violence field
• Share and explore ways of measuring change at individual and organizational levels
• Create sense of belonging among CoP members and a sense of identity of our CoP
• Gather information for creating resources, linking projects, and disseminating knowledge
• Brainstorm how to measure the effectiveness of our CoP and the collective impact of the investment
The Knowledge Exchange featured two guest speakers:
Colleen Varcoe of the University of British Columbia School of Nursing lead participants in a workshop “Trauma-and Violence-informed Care – from individual to organizational approaches.
David Gallant of the University of Melbourne did some “yarning” on the topic of “Building strong relations between community organizations and evaluators lead to better client outcomes.”
Throughout the two days, CoP members got to know each other better by engaging in conversations involving various topics such as recruitment and retention of research participants and staff members, implications of applying trauma and violence-informed principles to ethics applications and research protocols, program implementation challenges and best practices, and data collection in online environments. Participants enjoyed working with other members associated with their projects through art-based opportunities to describe their research and services, and the outcomes and value created from that work, as well as take time to view other projects’ creations and learn more about all sorts of research and services happening in the lives of CoP members. CoP members are invited to complete knowledge translation templates or share their knowledge translation plans with the Knowledge Hub (templates are available in the CoP portal).
The Knowledge Hub team challenged CoP members to think critically about evaluating both individual projects and the collective impact of the investment (24 projects funded through the Public Health Agency of Canada’s Preventing and addressing Family Violence: The Public Health Perspective (2022-2026). It became clear that although it is challenging to thematically understand the accumulative value created across projects, the CoP agreed that our work is significantly important and we need to try to make an effort to highlight our collective impact in some way.
What was the most valuable part of the Knowledge Exchange for our CoP members?
"Sharing updates, challenges, and best practices from our projects"
"The two keynote speakers were very helpful for anchoring the day"
"The moments of exchanges between projects with similar challenges, and the times of teamwork of
project (with my colleague)"
"Making connections in the research community"
Upcoming Virtual Meetings 
Community of Practice members are invited to participate in future virtual meetings held via Zoom.
Dates and topics include:
September 20, 2023 – Presentation by PHAC sharing information from annual reports submitted in April 2023; small group discussions
October 11, 2023 – Creating safe spaces for facilitating interventions and conducting research
November 22, 2023 – Evaluation and needs assessments
January 17, 2024 – Building and maintaining relationships across practice and research
March 6, 2024 – Facilitator training
Online Learning
Trauma and Violence-Informed Care Foundations Curriculum
This online course developed by Equip Health Care, is for anyone who wants to increase their knowledge and skills when working with people seeking care in health, social services and beyond. It also supports leaders in developing policies and protocols to support TVIC practice. The course takes 5-7 hours to complete and is FREE.
Resource Sharing
Resources about Trauma (and Violence) Informed Practice
This resource compiled by the Strong Women project at the Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health provides information and links to resources developed by the organization that focus on trauma-informed practice.
Using TVI language in our work
The TVIPA project through the Health and Wellness Equity Research Group has created a brief video about
how to use trauma and violence-informed language in our work. This video uses the example of physical activity but is applicable to other disciplines as well.
Evaluation
Mary Motz and Margaret Leslie of the Connections for Breaking the Cycle project have shared
evaluation reports from the Building Connections project which was funded in the previous PHAC
investment: “Supporting the health of victims of domestic violence and child abuse through community programs” (2015-2022). The What We Learned report provides a plain language summary of how trauma-informed principles were integrated into all aspects of program implementation and evaluation. The Evaluation Report provides in-depth description of the evaluation methodology and results.
Research papers
The following research papers shared by the Connections for Breaking the Cycle team are also
available in the CoP portal:
• Research and Evaluation with community-based projects: Approaches, Considerations, and Strategies
• Community-Based Research: Perspectives of Psychology Researchers and Community Partners
• Developing and testing a readiness tool for interpersonal violence prevention partnerships with community-based projects
Project Spotlight
Acknowledging and Responding to Mistreatment in CARegiving (ARMCAR)
This multi-component online program (in French and English) focuses on the secondary prevention of mistreatment of older adults in a caregiving context by emphasizing early detection and support for community organizations and caregivers. It aims to increase the knowledge and capacity of its participants
to identify and respond (e.g., by reporting) to situations of mistreatment in the context of family caregiving. It also seeks to reduce the level of stress perceived by caregivers, to encourage help-seeking behaviors and to increase their sense of well-being and their access to social support. This project is led by Dr. Melanie Couture of the Universite de Sherbrooke. Kevin St- Martin is the project coordinator.
Knowledge Hub Team Changes
Welcome Jade Vajna
Jade joined the Knowledge Hub team in May 2023 as a Media Technician. Her role will support our webinar programming, multimedia production, website maintenance, and other knowledge mobilization initiatives. “My name is Jade Vajna and I'm a technology and media professional with a focus on live streaming, video conferencing, and production. I've worked for a variety of organizations, both in the public and private sector. During my spare time, I enjoy storm chasing, playing chess, going for bike rides, and hanging out with my kitty, Peanut."
Farewell to Lillian Smallboy
Lillian has accepted a full-time position at Metropolitan University with the Yellowhead Institute in the role of Indigenous Education Programming Coordinator. Lillian is near completion of her doctoral thesis which focuses on this area. We wish her the best in her new role and know that she will be a great addition to that team. Moving forward, Sabry Adel Saadi and Anna-Lee Straatman will be your connection to the Knowledge Hub and will reach out regarding knowledge mobilization activities.
Profiling Resources Related to Trauma and Violence Informed Practice and Research
This year, the Knowledge Hub will be hosting brief 15-minute online events to profile resources related to trauma-and violenceinformed research or practice. These events will be recorded and made available on the KH website. If you have a resource that you would like to share with the larger community, please connect with Sabry ssaadi2@uwo.ca or Anna- Lee astraat2@uwo.ca
Knowledge Hub Team
- Allison Gray, Research Coordinator, agray28@uwo.ca
- Anna-Lee Straatman, Project Manager, astraat2@uwo.ca
- Jade Vajna, Media Technician, jvajna@uwo.ca
- Katreena Scott, Academic Director, kscot47@uwo.ca
- Sabry Adel Saadi, Implementation Coordinator, Francophone, ssaadi2@uwo.ca
Check Us Out on Social Media
Facebook: facebook.com/LNandKH
Twitter: twitter.com/lnandkh
Website: http://kh-cdc.com/
