Published on 2020 12 21 | by Carissa Ropponen | in Counselling, News
Metta VanderVliet, Victoria Sexual Assault Centre counsellor, discusses the launch of our new virtual counselling groups. What is your role at VSAC? I’m a Stopping the Violence Counsellor and my role is to support survivors through our long term one-to-one counselling program (we offer up to 9 months of weekly sessions) as well as running […]
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Published on 2020 07 20 | by Carissa Ropponen | in News, Project Respect, Social Action
Girls and Femmes with Afro-Textured Hair and Project Respect invite you to help us create workshops for Black youth! Project Respect is collaborating with Nichola Watson, Counsellor, and Dr. Lisa Gunderson’s Girls and Femmes with Afro-textured Hair Group to develop workshops for Black youth. We are working together to build workshops about consent, gender, and […]
Read morePublished on 2020 06 17 | by VSAC | in News
CN: Grief, death, police brutality, racism Much of our work at VSAC centering the healing of survivors is also about grief. We understand that BIPOC communities face gender-based and sexualized violence at higher rates, and how our work to end sexualized and gender-based violence is intimately bound up with the fight against racial injustice There […]
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Published on 2020 06 06 | by VSAC | in News, Social Action
At the beginning of June, the Inclusive Services Team at VSAC wrote a post about how to begin (Un)learning White Supremacy in Anti Violence Work. We received feedback about how this post centered white folks and erased the experiences of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour) in our organization by using a collective “we” when […]
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Published on 2020 05 21 | by Carissa Ropponen | in Healing
Sexual assault is a power-based crime where a survivor’s autonomy and control over their body is violated. Here at the Victoria Sexual Assault Centre, we work to equip survivors with tools to reconnect with themselves, rebuild their sense of bodily autonomy, and heal from sexualized violence. In this video, Shadi, a counsellor at the Victoria […]
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Published on 2020 05 05 | by Carissa Ropponen | in News
Learning how to care for ourselves and each other during the COVID-19 pandemic in ways that are safe is a challenge that all of us are experiencing. For those of us on healing paths or experiencing new hardship, this self and community care is crucial. Watch our video with VSAC counsellor Shadi and Inclusion Coordinator […]
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Published on | by Carissa Ropponen | in News
GivingTuesdayNow, a global day of giving in response to the need caused by COVID-19, is a chance for us to come together to demonstrate the power of community care. Today we invite you to connect survivors to healing through your generosity. Sexual assault is an isolating experience that disconnects survivors from a sense of stability […]
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Published on 2020 05 04 | by Carissa Ropponen | in News
Over the last two weeks, we’ve shared a series of fireside chat videos about our work and how we are addressing the challenges of COVID-19. This week we share the third and last part of a conversation with staff members Elijah, Shannon, and Karen. In this video, we explore how people can provide support to […]
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Published on 2020 04 27 | by Carissa Ropponen | in News
Last week we shared our first in a series of fireside chat videos about our work and how we are addressing the challenges of COVID-19. This week we share video two. The pandemic affects us all but has additional impacts on the health and safety of survivors. Watch Part Two of our Fireside Chat Series with […]
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Published on 2020 04 20 | by Carissa Ropponen | in News
Sexual assault is an isolating experience that disconnects survivors from a sense of stability and wellness. At VSAC we know that healing is about connection: to ourselves, our inner-strength and resiliency, and to each other. During the last month of isolation and physical distancing, the importance of social connection has been amplified for us all. […]
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