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SASKATCHEWAN TOWARDS OFFERING PARTNERSHIP SOLUTIONS TO VIOLENCE

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  • 10 Aug 2022 6:33 PM | Anonymous

    By Tracy Knuston

    Meet Wilson and Alfred. This is who I spend most of my days with. Both are 'rescues' who have had the type of experiences with humans that mean they have a different take on how to operate in the world. Of our team of three, one is a Vegas street dog, one is a Saskatchewan stray and me, a stray of a whole other kind. We are all different in our own ways however there is one thing we all have in common – our nervous systems carry stories of the lived experience of trauma. These stories in our nervous systems mean that we tend to view the world as mostly not a safe place to be. While it’s not completely wrong, it sure can cause challenges when we want to make connections with others.


    This isn’t unique to our triad. Most everyone holds stories in their nervous systems because of lived experience with violence in some way or another. We’re working on shifting our views of the world. We walk a lot to practice the things we are learning about how to be out in the world of humans. Some parts are about safety and trust, which are important. Other parts are about 'manners' and interacting with people in a way that builds relationships. Our focus is to become a strong team that trusts each other and then can trust other people to join our team. Steep Hill, Steep Learning, TogetherOn one such walk, we went for a hike on the trails near our house with the intent of a short, easy 3 km stroll. Their person (yes - that's me) meandered off into imagination land and missed a turn. The easy, short walk turned into nearly 8 km of steep hills, mud and trails that we hadn't been on before. Scooby-Doo says it best... 'ruh roooooh!' I was worried. We aren't all that good at this kind of thing yet and my bones aren't as strong as I would like them to be.This two-legged human in the team did not have an easy time. And my two teammates knew that. They pulled me up hills, waited while I slid down banks and stopped to encourage me when I had to sit down, catch my breath and try to figure out where the heck we were. I was the navigator, despite my earlier mistake, and they were the muscle. They did what they knew how to do based on their natures - stick together, push, pull and pause. Look out for each other, rest when you need to and keep going because the destination could be right around the next corner. (Did I mention that these two are my best teachers?)And we did it. And we will do it again because now we know we can. Integrating Alignment for Collective Action …It reminded me a lot of collaborative work and network building. We all come from different places, with different values and ways of working. We all have different lived experiences that make us who we are. It takes some good navigation, a heap of trust building, a fair bit of stamina and lots of working together. And when our own stories of trauma show up in the room, when we end up in places we didn't expect or when the going gets a little gritty, we have a choice. Lean in, pull together, work from strength and find a way through together- or go off on our own and hope we end up in the same place somehow. Or not. The Stanford Social Innovation Review is one of the thought leaders that we follow at STOPS to support our learning on what it takes for deep collaboration for effective long term change. The Collective Impact model originated with a paper by John Kania and Mark Kramer in 2011. This framework and body of practice has evolved quite a lot in the past 11 years. Early in 2022, a paper was released called ‘Centering Equity in Collective Impact’ that offers a proposed revised definition of the concept of Collective Impact: “Collective impact is a network of community members, organizations, and institutions that advance equity by learning together, aligning, and integrating their actions to achieve population and systems-level change.”

    Centering Equity in Collective Impact (ssir.org)

    That’s a great description of the STOPS to Violence Network as well. Learning together, aligning and integrating actions for systems change is slow, steady work. Where indeed, like the efforts of my canine-and-me team, we push, pull and pause and grow stronger together. At STOPS, we’ve been busy ‘behind the scenes’ the past several months as we lay the foundation to support next steps together. Keep an eye out for upcoming meetings and opportunities like the Network Exchange, Saskatchewan Violence Prevention Week and the Virtual Community Hub - cornerstones for aligning efforts and acting together. Interested in learning more about joining the STOPS to Violence Network? Email me at tracy@stopstoviolence.com and let’s walk through what that looks like. I promise not to get too lost… but hey. At least we will be together.

  • 2 Jul 2022 6:29 PM | Anonymous

    By Tracy Knuston

    Over the last many months, I have found myself on a solo adventure managing and taking care of my home on a small acreage in rural Saskatchewan. Having grown up as a farm kid, this is just fine with me. I also love to troubleshoot and solve puzzles - of which there are many.


    One of my recent adventures involved re-spooling the trim line on the weed trimmer. Because really “how hard can it be?” (There's that's sentence that often precedes a detour on any adventure!). So I headed down to the local store that sells all things weed trimmer related, bought myself 50 feet of new line and headed home to take care of this easy, peasy task.


    I got myself settled in my garage and took my trimmer apart. I tried this, tried that and then set it down knowing full well I wasn't going to ‘just figure this out’. And so off I went to summon the Google for better instructions. Fifteen minutes later, I was back in business.

    Yard work is some great pondering time for me. It offers me the space and time to sit with the juicy, random questions that show up in my consciousness. This time it was the question of ‘Geez what did I do before Google?’ (Yes, I am older than the Internet.)

    You know what I did? I got on the phone. I started calling people asking my questions - sometimes because I was trying to figure something out and other times just because I had a burning question that I wanted to know other people’s thoughts on. These phone calls most often transformed into a little visit, a check in and a way to reach out to people to say ‘hey I'm thinking about you’.

    The Google gave me my answer but it didn't give me connection. Didn't give me a ‘hey… I have a question…’ opportunity for conversation. Sometimes I will post my curious questions on Facebook or send a text here and there. There's a little more interaction but it's still not the same. It’s a transactional exchange. There's no depth. There's no heart. There’s no presence. I still have plenty of questions but very seldom have the deep conversations I used to.


    Part of this solo journey I'm on also includes rebuilding relationships and re establishing a circle of support for myself. As I work to build my own natural supports, I think a lot about our shared work focusing on strengthening natural supports to assist survivors of gender based violence and their families. Building deep relationship these days is much different than it was 25 years ago. It challenges me and my introvert nature and I find it difficult at times. I think about people who are in situations where they are experiencing violence, likely isolated and mentally and emotionally exhausted. All of this is further impacted by the past several years of COVID isolation. ‘Get out there and meet people.’ It’s not as easy as it sounds.


    And so the string on my weed trimmer has opened up an exploration into what building natural supports really looks like these days. In the busy-busy of day to day life, made more intense by the zip, zip, zip of transactional exchanges, are we really hearing each other? Are we really seeing each other? What does it take to build deep, caring relationships in our current times? When we become isolated, how do we reach out to others? Who do we even reach to?

    These are all questions that we're looking to explore with our Network Partners in the coming months as we dig into what it means to strengthen natural supports for people who experience violence and people who use violence. A UK Study released in June 2022 called ‘Protocol, Informal social support interventions for improving outcomes for victim-survivors of domestic violence and abuse: An evidence and gap map offers insight into the critical roles and high level of influence that natural supports provide. Check it out at this link.


  • 18 May 2022 6:03 PM | Anonymous

    By Nofa Slaeman



    At STOPS to Violence one of our key roles is to bring people together and coordinate efforts to create greater impact as a provincial network. The Moose Hide Campaign held May 12, 2022 provided an opportunity to gather together. It is a great example of a well stewarded, well held and coordinated campaign that all can host and/or participate in taking a stand against violence.
    The Moose Hide Campaign is an Indigenous-led grassroots movement of men, boys and all Canadians - standing up to end violence against women and children.

    It started with a simple invitation to attend an information session provided by Moose Hide Campaign co-founder, Raven Lacerte, and CEO, David Stevenson, hosted by STOPS to Violence. This event was held on January 6, 2022 and drew many interested network partners and others from across the province. Not surprisingly, with the word out to many, and as ‘somebody told body else’, many efforts were put into organizing varying ways of participation in the campaign.


    To create space for a shared experience, reflection, and discussion on the day of Moose Hide Campaign, STOPS To Violence held a live stream session. Approximately 60 people from across the province joined to watch the live stream of the national opening ceremonies, which included messages from the co-founders and keynote speakers. During the session participants also had an opportunity to reflect and share their insights in small group discussions.


    This opportunity to gather provided a chance to meaningfully reflect and renew our commitment to taking a stand against violence towards women and children. It gave those in attendance an opportunity to speak what they felt and heard from the speakers and the founders of the Moose Hide Campaign. For me it was to really reflect on who I stand for and renew my commitment to continue to stand for the things that matter most even when the conversations and actions are difficult to do.


    We were not alone in gathering and participating - individuals, organizations and communities across Saskatchewan raised awareness and participated in the Moose Hide Campaign. Some of the efforts that we have heard about, to date, include:

    • Hundreds of students from the community of Indian Head joined for a walk to end violence against Indigenous women and girls. See article here.

    • Flying Dust in Northern Saskatchewan organized a father-daughter dance as well as an evening held for men to spend with Elders.

    • The Regina Sexual Assault Centre and Regina Transition House coordinated and partnered with Regina Public Library to spread awareness about the Moose Hide campaign by setting up a display with education materials and Moose Hide Campaign pins.

    • In Saskatoon, students from10 different grade 8 classes raised their voices for change by gathering for speeches, music and dance followed by a march to Saskatoon City Hall. See the article here.

    • The First Nations University held an Indigenous Fatherhood Panel and offered Moose Hide Campaign pins on the day of the campaign.

    Thank you to all those who wore a pin, participated in the STOPS to Violence live stream session, and to all who held walks, events, and conversations. Our collective efforts create greater possibilities for change.

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 We are on treaty territories, the traditional lands of First Nations people and homeland to the Métis.  We are committed to moving forward in a respectful way in the spirit of reconciliation.

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Phone: 306-565-3199

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