Knowledge Hub Bulletin 31 - July 2024
PROJECT VISITS
Access Alliance
The KH team had the privilege of visiting four projects in Toronto in May 2024. At Access Alliance we met with Christen Kong, Akm Alamgir, and other team members. They outlined their strategic initiatives for 2024, and we had the opportunity to admire some breathtaking artwork created by participants in their participatory expressive arts intervention, the HEAL program. You can see glimpses of them in the photo below. Akm and Christen shared with us an interesting initiative in collaboration with the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto to produce a comprehensive policy scan, Canadian Policies & Initiatives on Gender-Based Violence. Newcomer Perspective 2010-2023 focusing on current policies, strategies, and initiatives addressing gender-based violence in Canada through the perspective of newcomers.
Cross-Sectoral Solutions
Kelsy Dundas and Nneka MacGregor from the Cross-Sectoral Solutions project lead by WomenatthecentrE, talked about their 12-week intervention which is being implemented at four sites in Ontario and Québec, including Brain Injury Society of Toronto, Ingamo Homes, The Cridge Centre for the Family, and L’Alliance MH2. A toolkit has been developed to support service providers when working with people experiencing intimate partner violence and traumatic brain injury, based on findings from their project, in ongoing consultations with the WomenatthecentrE Survivors Expert Collective (WESEC) and other key partners. Key messages have been developed to enhance understanding of GBV inflicted brain injuries and improve support strategies. Check out the promotional videos developed to promote the toolkit.
Check out the promotional videos below developed to promote the toolkit.
Supporting GBV-BI Survivors: A Resource Guide
TRANSFORMing Our Understanding & Ways of Supporting GBV-BI Survivors
Sharing the Healing Journey
Melissa Foong and Maria Palma from the YWCA introduced us to a family who participated in the Sharing the Healing Journey program. We brought our filming equipment and captured footage that we are using to create a video for the YWCA, which will aid in Knowledge Mobilization and future funding opportunities. Melissa and Maria shared a set of postcards that group participants made during the program and are being used to help educate others.
RISE Program
Dr. David Burnes and his colleagues Andria Allen, Shanell Small, and Steph Konant graciously hosted us to discuss the implementation of the RISE program. It was enlightening to talk to the facilitators, who shared situations of elder abuse that they are encountering and demonstrated how the RISE program helps to intervene through a concerted effort involving many partners, including Elder Abuse Ontario, social services, and the justice system. If you know of older people in Ontario that could use this support, do not hesitate to reach out to their team.
GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE DATABASE
The Knowledge Hub, in partnership with Capital W, and financial contribution from the Public Health Agency of Canada, has created a database that compiles information from charitable organizations in Canada that submit a T3010 form to the Canada Revenue Agency and have indicated in their organizational description that they do some work related to gender-based violence.
The database provides information for the years 2018-2022 (the years for which data was available at the time of development).
As discussed at the Knowledge Exchange, we are sharing access to the database with the Community of Practice but not to a wider audience for the time being. The information in the database may cause some concerns in a general audience without greater context. We are asking if there are projects that are interested in working with us in a series of steps including considering the collective impact of interested projects and working towards a potential plan/pitch for collective sustainability. If you are interested in exploring this further, please connect with Anna-Lee Straatman astraat2@uwo.ca We will set up a couple of meeting times in mid-July to begin the discussion. Links to the database are available in the Community of Practice portal.
INTERESTED IN HOSTING A ‘KH PRESENTS’ WEBINAR?
If you are interested in hosting a KH Presents webinar this summer or fall, please connect with us!
MID-TERM EVALUATION
As we pass the halfway point of our projects and time together, members of the KH team will be conducting a mid-term evaluation. Jenna Lopez and Ajirioghene Evi will conduct this evaluation with the aim of examining the experiences of members participating in the Trauma-Informed Community of Practice so far, as well as the effectiveness of the Knowledge Hub in implementing its activities.
This evaluation will allow us to:
- ensure accountability to our original objectives,
- provide important feedback to the Knowledge Hub about the implementation of the community of practice,
- explore the value of communities of practice for researchers and community practitioners exploring similar topics, and
- ensure we are on track or find gaps we can work to improve.
The research study involves two distinct parts, and CoP members are encouraged to participate in both. First, CoP members will be invited to participate in an online survey that will take 20 minutes and can be completed anonymously. Second, CoP members will be invited to partake in 90-minute focus group discussions that will be scheduled in July and August over zoom.
Please click here to access the online survey, or scan the QR code below:
Results of the evaluation will be shared back with CoP members as well as with the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) in the fall of 2024. The evaluation report will provide a comprehensive analysis of our findings, detailing the implementation progress, the effectiveness of the CoP, and the value of member participation. It will also include anonymized feedback from the focus groups and surveys, offering insights and recommendations for future improvements.
Please contact Jenna Lopez (jlopez45@uwo.ca) or Ajirioghene Evi (aevi@uwo.ca) with any questions or information regarding the evaluation.
Your contributions are invaluable in shaping this report and our remaining time together, and we really look forward to hearing from you and sharing the results with you!
KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE MONTREAL
Our knowledge exchange on June 4th & 5th in Montreal was an exciting and successful event!
We were deeply honored to welcome Alice Echaquan, Debby Flamand, and Melissa Coutu, esteemed partners in the Kaskinomatasowin project. Their presence and contributions were invaluable as they lead an opening ceremony and shared insights on the Atikamekw approach to healing.
Dr Nancy Poole, Director of the Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health facilitated an insightful two-day workshop on Integrating Trauma Informed Approaches in community practice. Excellent examples of projects implementing trauma informed practices were highlighted and shared, including many of the projects within the investment. It was a pleasure to have Dr. Poole, who is also a member of the CoP, and who has decades of research and community experience, share her insights with us.
Kathryn Babcock, CEO of Capital W – a multidisciplinary team collaborating to build a thriving social sector in Toronto, and our own Dr. Katreena Scott, Academic Director of CREVAWC, shared the newly developed GBV Database. It was interesting hearing different perspectives about how this information may be useful to the GBV sector and understanding the funding of various organizations.
A detailed report of the Knowledge Exchange, along with more photos, will be available later this summer, providing further reflection on the knowledge shared and the connections made. Until then check out some great photos, here and here.
Knowledge Exchange 2024 Highlight Video
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE AIM PROJECT
Lori Weeks and Kathleen Allen participated in a webinar on June 6, 2024 entitled Aligning Health Needs and Evidence for Transformative Change (AH-NET-C) JBI g-LOCAL Solution Room: Intimate Partner Violence Interventions. Lori Weeks presented the results of a scoping review related to inform the AIM study and provided an overview of the AIM study. Kathleen Allen described the training that is provided to deliver the AIM intervention. Jennifer Fraser-Furrow spoke about delivering the AIM intervention and Jennifer Parlee spoke about how the intervention has been adapted for adult protection workers.
Intimate Partner Violence Interventions
WELCOME BACK JENNA LOPEZ!
We are pleased to welcome Jenna Lopez (Research Coordinator) back to the Knowledge Hub team and extend our congratulations to her on her second child! Río Lopez was born in November 2022, just recently turning 1½! Jenna has been with the Centre for Research and Education on Violence Against Women and Children since 2020, joining the Knowledge Hub team in 2022. She returned from parental leave in time to join us in Montréal for our most recent knowledge exchange. Jenna is looking forward to connecting with CoP members this summer as she conducts the mid-term evaluation along with Ajirioghene Evi.
Here is a recent photo of Río & Mama enjoying the warm weather!
NEW RESOURCE FROM THE KNOWLEDGE HUB
Resources for Evaluating Trauma-and Violence- Informed Practice provides an overview of over 20 qualitative and quantitative evaluation tools designed to measure trauma-and violence-informed practices of individuals and/or organizations. These tools were selected through a comprehensive search of academic literature, grey literature and websites, spanning from 2010 to 2023. The resource provides information about each tool's purpose, intended audience, availability, brief description, and references for further exploration. To enhance accessibility, the tools are also included when possible. With permission from original authors, some tools have also been translated into French.
Learn more about the uses of the resource by checking out this comic!
Community of Practice meetings 2024-2025
Save the Date! 
Please mark these dates in your calendars. All meetings take place from 1:00- 2:30 ET on Zoom and offer opportunities for CoP members to share information about their projects, including challenges, successes and outcomes.
• September 25, 2024
• November 6, 2024
• January 22, 2025
• March 5, 2025
Knowledge Hub Team
- Ajirioghene Evi, Research Associate, aevi@uwo.ca
- Anna-Lee Straatman, Project Manager, astraat2@uwo.ca
- Jenna Lopez, Research Coordinator, jlopez45@uwo.ca
- Jade Vajna, Media Technician, jvajna@uwo.ca
- Jessica Webb, Implementation Coordinator, jwebb63@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/
