Neighbours, Friends and Families

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Neighbours, Friends and Families

• A Grey Bruce Campaign

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The Purpose of NFF is to provide communities with
information and strategies to help prevent woman
abuse, allowing communities to
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• Recognize the warning signs of woman abuse
• Support women and other members of the community
  who are affected by woman abuse
• Locate supportive resources in the community

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The Focus of the NFF Campaign

• Community (a place, community of interest, group
  or ?)
• People closest to abused women and abusive men
  (neighbours, friends, family, employers)
• Good Information to help people identify woman
  abuse, know how best to assist her and how to
  help him make changes in his abusive behaviour.

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NFF is based on principles of community
organization

• Communities have assets and strengths
• Communities have natural leaders
• Communities have untapped talent
• Assets, leaders and talent can greatly impact
  change, growth and restoration in communities

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What assets and strengths do we have in Grey and
Bruce?

• GBDVCC
• Successful past campaigns

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Who are the natural leaders?

• Politicians and Band councilors (names?)
• Community agency leaders (names?)
• Business leaders (names?)
• Community leaders (names?)
• Others?

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What are the untapped talent or resources?

• United Way
• Business Community
• Corporate donors (i.e. OPG, Bruce Power)
• Youth
• Church communities
• Other

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Getting Ready for a NFF Campaign

• Are community services ready to provide supports
  to neighbours, friends and families?
• How can relationship between service providers
  and community members be enhanced by the
  activities of this campaign?

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Getting Ready

• What prevention and education activities would
  best suit the needs and resources of the
  community?
• What services are available for abusive men?

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Getting Ready

• How can the communities knowledge of warning
  signs of woman abuse be broadened?
• How can the community have a better understanding
  of safety planning and safety concerns of women?

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The Big Picture

• What are the specific needs in our community?
• What activities are best suited for the
  community? (public forum, video night, media
  campaign, other?)
• How will we make the campaign efforts know in the
  community? (newsletters, websites, annual
  meetings, other?)
• How do recognize the diversity in the community
  in the campaign?

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Preparing for Community Meetings What are the
Goals?

• Bring neighbours, friends and families together
  in a supportive environment
• To get to know one another
• To learn about woman abuse and what communities
  can do to prevent it
• To build a support system so when woman abuse
  touches someone directly or indirectly they have
  access to tools, resources and supports to deal
  with the situation.

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Format for a Community Meeting

• Invite
• Inform
• Act
• Repeat

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Invite

• Be as inclusive as possible
• Tap into existing groups (teachers, business
  owners, nurses, seniors, youth and womens
  groups) for assistance
• Identify and invite other community groups that
  have an interest in violence prevention
• Contact people/groups ahead of time to explain
  the NFF campaign
• Encourage participation and outline the positive
  effect that NFF can have for women and communities

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Inform

• Create a series of meeting topics and activities
• Provide ample time for discussion and networking
• Provide accurate information that allows
  community members to ask questions
• Use the question guide in the NFF guidebook for
  discussion topics

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Act

• Plan an activity at the meeting for follow up
  action
• Create opportunities for community members to
  work together to prevent woman abuse
• Use activities and supporting materials from the
  NFF kit

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Repeat

• At the end of the meeting do a summary of what
  was discussed and any decisions that were made
  for the campaign
• Develop an agenda for the next meeting topics to
  be discussed, decision making process, and
  guidelines for the work together, action items.

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Community Meeting Tips

• Have a general theme for each meeting
• Have a clear beginning and end, and an agenda for
  each meeting
• Respect all group members by using inclusive
  language and by respecting all points of view and
  opinions
• Make sure all group members are heard

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Meeting Tips Dont

• Accept shaming, blaming or disrespectful works or
  actions
• Feel required to act as a therapist or
  counsellor, but do provide information and
  referrals for support when necessary
• Be afraid to say you dont know offer to get
  and information and report back to the group

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Learning About Woman Abuse

• Womens voices and experiences need to be present
  and heard
• When communities come together there is a
  potential for misunderstanding and misinformation
  about woman abuse, and lack of inclusion about
  individual experiences of abuse

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Definition of Woman Abuse

• Woman abuse refers to violence by a woman's
  current or former spouse, intimate partner, or
  date. It clearly acknowledges women are often
  the victims of abuse and men are most often the
  perpetrators of abuse. While abuse most often
  occurs within an intimate heterosexual
  relationship, it also occurs within gay and
  lesbian relationships. Woman abuse may involve
  physical or sexual assault, emotional abuse
  and/or control of finances and access to family,
  friends and community. Woman abuse hurts,
  damages, humiliates, isolates, intimidates, traps
  and sometimes kills.

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What does Woman Abuse Look Like?

• Woman abuse can affect the physical, emotional,
  spiritual, sexual, and financial wellbeing of
  women. The impact on each of these areas will be
  different for every woman and therefore the
  warning signs can sometimes seem unclear. You
  may not see any signs of abuse (i.e. physical
  injuries or marks), but that doesnt mean the
  warning signs arent present.

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The Social Context of Woman Abuse

• You should be prepared to address issues of
  inequality, social status and privilege when
  talking with communities about woman abuse.
• It is likely that discussions will include
  questions about how and why women have been
  historically oppressed and how and why men have
  historically been in positions of power (both
  literally and figuratively).

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Exploring themes of inequality and oppression

•    In what ways are men and women equal? In what
  ways are they unequal?
•     How do we value women?
•     How do we value men?
•     What messages do young girls receive about
  their gender roles?
•     What messages do young boys receive about
  their gender roles?
•     Are the similarities or differences in the
  way men and women are portrayed in the media?
•     How does the way we speak about men and
  women affect equality?

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Factors that contribute to Woman Abuse

• Gender role stereotypes
• Socialization of girls and boys
• Violence in the media
• Societal attitudes condoning woman abuse
• Women are not truly equal in our society
• Status associated with gender, race, religion,
  class, sexual orientation, age and physical
  ability

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Warning Signs of Abuse

• Increasing the communitys knowledge and
  recognition of the warning signs of abuse is one
  of the most important objectives of the
  Neighbours, Friends and Families campaign.
• Distribute NFF brochures and safety cards in
  your community.

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Brochure How You can Identify and Help Women at
Risk of Abuse

• Know the warning signs (what he does and what she
  does)
• Recognize what increases risk and danger
• There are ways to support her
• You may need to overcome your hesitation to help
• Information for women, men and the community

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Safety Planning

• The term safety planning is often used as an
  umbrella term to capture a variety of tools and
  strategies. When used together, they increase the
  safety of women who experience abuse. In
  practice, safety planning involves providing
  woman with information, access to resources and
  supportive assistance in developing a plan of
  action to prepare themselves and their children
  for being safe in advance of potentially
  dangerous situations.

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Brochure Safety Planning for Women Who are Abused

• Protecting yourself while living with an abuser
• Getting ready to leave
• Leaving the abuser
• After leaving
• More information about supports and services

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Four Strategies for community meetings

• How to talk to women
• How to talk to abusive men about their violence
• How to recognize children who have been exposed
  to woman abuse
• How to talk to a co-worker who may be abused
• (detailed Q and A in the facilitators kit p.26-39

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Brochure How to Talk to Men Who are Abusive

• Recognize warning signs of abuse
• Recognize what increases risk and danger
• What to do
• Dealing with denial
• Points of concern
• Information and Supports

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Responding to Uncertainty and Challenges
presented by the Community

• Dealing with blame (arent women just as abusive
  as men?)
• Mens victimization
• Womens use of violence (How are women who use
  violence different than men who are abusive?)
• (detailed in the kit p. 39-44)

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Educational Activities

• Contacting media (ideas on p.47)
• Adopt a business
• Help local programs (donations, fundraising,
  volunteer work)
• Book or video discussion

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Evaluating Neighbours, Friends and Families

• Pre and post evaluation forms are at
  www.neighboursfriendsandfamilies.on.ca
• Use at local NFF campaigns events
• Use with local coordinating committees and
  service providers.

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Next Steps for our Campaign

• Where?
• When?
• How?