Knowledge Hub Bulletin 25 - January 2023

View PDF Bulletin

From a generic model to our community of practice

The Knowledge Hub is pleased to be facilitating a new Community of Practice (CoP) focusing on trauma and violence-informed health promotion for people who have experienced family violence or been abusive in their relationships.

The Community of Practice is comprised of two representatives from each project funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) through the Preventing and Addressing Family Violence: The Health Perspective investment and will remain active during the project funding period from 2022 –2026.

Why this CoP is unique

  1. CoPs are intentional gatherings of individuals who share interest in a defined area.

This CoP celebrates a diverse membership of participants who are working to provide trauma and violence-informed health promotion services for people who have experienced gender-based violence across the life course. Its members are formally obligated through PHAC funding for their respective projects.

  1. CoPs are spaces where people connect in meaningful ways to learn and share with one another to build knowledge about the area and influence their research and practice.

This CoP uses a trauma and violence-informed approach to focus on health promotion research and services through collaborative sharing and learning across diverse forms of engagement, including in-person meetings, virtual discussions, and using online platforms.

  1. CoPs pursue learning in a way that the group can collectively achieve a much greater impact on the area than individuals could achieve.

This CoP, through the role of the Knowledge Hub, not only facilitates internal learning and knowledge creation, but also provides diverse knowledge translation and mobilization opportunities to help bridge the outcomes from the CoP with the broader public.  

Circle A Community ~ Informal

  • Collaboration
  • Cooperation
  • Social learning
  • Tactic knowledge
  • Support

Circle B Practice ~ Formal

  • Peer-to-peer learning
  • Skill-building
  • Explicit knowledge
  • Implementation
  • Evaluation

In the Middle - Our Community of Practice 

  • Knowledge transfer & mobilization
  • Problem solving
  • Discussions & feedback
  • Sharing resources & expertise

TVI Influence (box above with arrow into overlap)

  • A trauma- and violence-informed (TVI) approach acknowledges the impact of cultural, historical, and gender-based trauma on creating diverse experiences and identities. This means conducting activities and discussions in a safe environment, spending time building relationships among members to build trust, respect, and acceptance, facilitating transparency about members roles and expectations, and intentionally creating opportunities for members to provide input, share power, and make decisions.

Gender-Based Violence Health Promotion (box below with arrow into overlap)

  • Arts-based and physical activity programs, mental health supports, parenting programs, violence-prevention for survivors/perpetrators
  • Programming created/implemented by and for survivors

Community of Practice member project activities

The Community of Practice met for the first time in person in Toronto on November 8-9, 2022. There are many activities involved in implementing a project. Participants identified activities that they were currently involved with. This diagram offers a representation of the focus of activities at that time.

  • Ethics approval 
  • Establishing partnerships 
  • Participant recruitment 
  • Training staff/facilitators 
  • Delivering intervention 
  • Hiring 
  • Establishing partner protocols (eg. Communication, conflict resolution) 
  • Collecting data 

Project Spotlight

Trauma and violence-informed movement

Using activities such as yoga and hiking this project aims to create opportunities for social connection, community cohesion, and improve the overall health and well-being of women and children who have experienced, or are currently experiencing, family violence. Francine Darroch of Carleton University is the Principal Investigator for the project. Find out more: https://carleton.ca/tvimovement/.

people walking over suspension bridge     woman in plank position with child on her back

We would like to hear from you!
Please share project updates and photos for the Bulletin and website

Coming Events

Community of Practice meetings:

February 1, 2023 1:00 – 2:15 p.m.  Topic – Ethics applications and protocols: Adopting trauma and violence-informed approaches. How can they be applied?

March 1, 2023 1:00 – 2:15 p.m.  Evaluating trauma-informed care and practice. Strategies for evaluating service delivery.

Webinars

Check out the recordings of recent webinars

Recorded Webinars | Webinaires enregistrés - Learning Network - Western University (vawlearningnetwork.ca)