The critical work of responding to gender-based violence on campuses, with its many challenges and complexities, can seem heavy and daunting. For those new to this work especially, it can also feel overwhelming.
Fortunately, incredible work is happening across the country. A national network comprising thousands of student leaders, survivors, frontline workers, legal experts, union leaders, post-secondary educators, staff, and administrators have responded to the call to action in Courage to Act’s draft Framework. They have contributed to 70 cutting-edge, evidence-based tools and toolkits to help address and prevent gender-based violence at PSIs across Canada. These resources are freely available for download on the Possibility Seeds site.
To help you get started, Possibility Seeds put together this curated “starter pack” of foundational tools and toolkits to provide a basis for your continued work to build safer campuses for us all.
Courage Catalysts: Creating Consent Culture on Campus (A Toolkit by Students, for Students). This vibrant anthology with student stories and advocacy tools builds on a rich legacy of student organizing. It captures stories of advocating for safer campuses, provides concrete examples for student organizers to be inspired, and gives tools to create change on their campuses.
Education and Training Toolkit: Addressing and Preventing Gender-Based Violence at Post-Secondary Institutions. This toolkit is designed to engage and support the work of GBV prevention education at post-secondary institutions. It offers campus educators a blueprint of prevention education possibilities through in-depth tools, resources, reflection questions, and much more.
A Comprehensive Guide to Campus Gender-Based Violence Complaints: Strategies for Procedurally Fair, Trauma-Informed Processes to Reduce Harm. This guide illustrates how trauma-informed practice and harm reduction measures strengthen procedural fairness in complaint processes. It maps out strategies to ensure that PSIs incorporate all three at every complaint stage to meet their obligations to create a safe and respectful working/learning/living environment.
Developing Academic Considerations for Students Affected by Sexual and Gender-Based Violence at Canadian Post-Secondary Institutions. This tool explores promising practices to mitigate the impacts of GBV trauma on a student’s academic experience. It offers a survivor-centred framework for developing academic considerations grounded in trauma-informed practice and guidance for supporting survivors through other administrative processes.
Supporting the Whole Campus Community: A Roadmap Tool for Working with People Who Have Caused Harm. This tool includes an Accountability Framework for working with people who have caused harm on campus. It offers principles, guidelines, and models to help PSIs develop campus-specific accountability processes, support services for people who’ve caused damage, and evaluate those processes and services.
Supporting International Students Affected by GBV: A Customizable Tool for International Students, Post-Secondary Administrators, and Frontline Workers. This customizable FAQ resource guide supports international students studying in Canadian post-secondary institutions who have experienced, witnessed, or perpetrated GBV. It provides information on services and support and answers questions about immigration and legal issues that international students may face.
As you move forward in this work, remember that self-care is vital to sustaining our social change movements. You Matter Too: Self-Care Resources for Campus Gender-Based Violence Workers offers resources to support you in cultivating and strengthening your self-care practices.
These resources will be valuable to those seeking to address and prevent campus GBV. They represent the start of a meaningful conversation, and we encourage readers to also seek out training, education, and professional development opportunities in relevant areas to enhance their knowledge and sustained engagement with this work.