Three effective ways you can stop violence

As we are exploring throughout November, everyone has a role in building safer communities by ending gender-based violence (GBV). Service providers, advocates and others supporting women as they leave an abusive relationship can play an especially important role in ending violence against women.

Here are some examples of ways you can take action:

1. Listen and amplify the voices of survivors

• Provide opportunities for survivors to provide feedback on their experiences and needs
• Read content created by survivors  
• Take a course or workshop on how to support survivors or intervene in violence (e.g., Luke’s Place After She Leaves program or a bystander intervention training)
• Take time to listen to the voices of Indigenous survivors and familiarize yourself with the calls to action in the Truth and Reconciliation Report and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

2. Help build a community that recognizes and supports women subjected to abuse

• Participate and facilitate community gatherings (e.g., a flag raising on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, an International Women’s Day event)
• Build relationships with other service providers/advocates in your community (think of connecting with any service providers a woman may encounter after leaving an abusive relationship)
• Engage in ongoing education to understand the unique needs and challenges women face when navigating the family law system after leaving abuse

3. Engage in feminist law reform and other advocacy activities

• Join a feminist coalition like The Chanterelle Alliance to amplify your efforts as well as the efforts of others
• Take a training to learn how to engage in feminist law reform (e.g., Luke’s Place Feminist law reform for gender-based violence organizations or NAWL’s Feminist Law Reform 101 e-course)
• Write to your senator about the concerns regarding the criminalization of coercive control
• Write your MP/MPP to call for a review of mandatory charging
• If your community hasn’t already, start a campaign to have your community join nearly 100 others in declaring intimate partner violence an epidemic
• Support the feminist law reform/advocacy activities of others as they align with you/your organization

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Related blogs:
Woman Abuse Prevention Month – Together Counts!
Standing Against Violence Together: What YOU can do