Fourteen teachers and local leaders who work with youth recently received training to help youth challenge sexism and inappropriate sexual and relationship behaviour, thanks to the Sunshine Coast Community Services Society (SCCSS).
Attendees at the secondary-school-based Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) program, held at Rockwood Lodge in Sechelt, learned the damaging impact of gender stereotyping, which can lead to bullying, violence and other forms of abuse.
Co-facilitators Keely Halward, SCCSS’s director of Together Against Violence services, and Wayne Spychka, SCCSS’s police-based victim services coordinator, helped participants lead hypothetical scenarios of unwanted conduct, from sexual harassment to abusive texting. They discussed safe, empowering ways to confront, interrupt, and prevent gender violence such as challenging a would-be perpetrator or reporting an incident.
“Rather than focus on young men and women as potential perpetrators or victims, we want them to see themselves as empowered bystanders who can confront peers who are acting abusively and support the young women subjected to these actions,” Halward said.
Spychka added: “The program helps us to broaden our view of relationship violence to include sexist language or controlling behaviour and to really examine our attitudes about what gender violence really means.”
Using a peer leadership model, these adults will train youth MVP mentors in grades 11 and 12, who will, in turn, facilitate discussions based on gender violence scenarios with Grade 8 students. It is hoped that within three years, this model will become an ongoing, sustainable part of regular curriculum, incorporating all grades from 8 to 12.
So far, 34 adult mentors and 40 youth mentors have received MVP training in five main school programs through the Lower Sunshine Coast.
The Dec. 6 event was held on the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, established by Canada’s Parliament in 1991. This day marks the anniversary of the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre in Montreal, where 14 women were murdered and 10 others injured because they were women.
For those seeking more information or wishing to further support this work through donating, please go to www.sccss.ca
– Submitted by Sunshine Coast Community Services Society
