Home ABOUT THE OWD  Spacer Image  NEWS  Spacer Image  RESOURCES Spacer Image  CONTACT
 
 
 

Resources

 

Training Resources

Training for Professionals and Service Providers

As part of the government’s Domestic Violence Action Plan, a wide range of training programs have been funded to improve front-line workers’ skills in identifying the signs of abuse and providing effective supports to women and children.

  • With funding from the Ontario government, expert panels were established for English and French language elementary school teachers, principals and counsellors as well as for doctors and nurses who work in emergency departments.
  • Support was also provided for 10 province-wide community-led Training Projects and four Government ministry-led Training Projects to train professionals and service providers. See project descriptions here.

Training for English Language Educators

The English Language Expert Panel for educators developed training materials and an implementation plan for the province-wide training of elementary school teachers, principals and counsellors. These resources are available through the Panel’s website to help educators recognize and support children who may be witnessing or experiencing violence in their home.

www.curriculum.org/womanabuse

The following organizations were represented on the English Language Expert Panel. Each has agreed to play a role in its implementation. 

  • Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario (ETFO)
  • Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association (OECTA)
  • Ontario Principals’ Council (CPC)
  • Catholic Principals’ Council of Ontario (CPCO)
  • Ontario School Counsellors’ Association (OSCA)
  • Ontario Native Education Counsellors’ Association (ONECA)

The implementation plan includes the province-wide delivery of facilitator training sessions for teachers, principals and counsellors. These sessions will provide participants with the knowledge and skills they need to lead local training sessions with their staff and colleagues.

Some of the topics that will be addressed in the facilitator training sessions include:

  • domestic violence
  • its effect on children
  • how educators can provide support and
  • community and other resources that are available 

Upon completion of the local training, over 6,000 teachers, principals and counsellors will be better equipped to recognize and support children who are witnessing or experiencing domestic violence. 

To supplement this face-to-face training, training packages will be sent to every elementary school in Ontario. This will be followed by the distribution of an Educator’s Guide to nearly 76,000 teachers across Ontario

Springtide Resources is responsible for the coordination and management of the training program for English language educators.

 

Training for French Language Educators

The French Language Expert Panel for educators has developed training materials and an implementation plan to meet the needs of French language educators.  This includes a resource guide for school staff, five animated training scenarios, an information brochure and a promotional poster. Each of these items is available for downloading through the Panel’s website. A number of resources will also be printed for distribution to elementary school teachers, principals, vice principals, counsellors and superintendents.  

www.aide-enfants-temoins.info

Regional workshops are planned for representatives from each of Ontario’s 290 French language elementary schools in 12 different school boards. The implementation plan calls for over 700 educators to participate in these workshops.

Following the regional workshops, principals and vice principals will deliver school-based workshops to over 4,500 elementary school teachers from across Ontario.  By January 1st, 2009 over 5,000 French language educators will have been trained on how to identify and support children who have witnessed or experienced violence in their home. 

L’ Association des directions et directions adjointes des écoles franco-ontariennes (ADFO) is responsible for the rollout of the training to French language educators across Ontario.  ADFO represents all French language elementary, secondary, public and Catholic schools in Ontario.

 

Training for Emergency Department Personnel

The Health Expert Panel has developed training materials and an implementation plan for emergency department personnel. This includes:

  • Identifying core competencies that doctors and nurses need to deal with domestic violence issues in Ontario’s emergency departments.
  • Designing a curriculum incorporating these competencies in a way that is suited to their work environment.
  • Developing a scenario-based, e-learning platform to deliver the curriculum.

The Panel’s website includes 11 animated scenarios that are relevant to doctors and nurses who work in emergency departments.

www.dveducation.ca

Upon completion of the training program, over 1500 emergency department personnel will have more knowledge about domestic violence and its health impacts. They will also have experience with how to support women who may be abused.

Women’s College Hospital is responsible for overseeing the rollout of the training and management of the project. The Sunnybrook-Osler Centre for Prehospital Care will continue to play a major role in outreach to doctors and nurses who work in Emergency Departments.

 

Training Projects (Innovations Fund)

The Innovations Fund is supporting ground-breaking multi-year initiatives to prevent and address violence against women, focused on province-wide training for professionals and service providers to recognize the signs that a woman is experiencing abuse, to allow them to intervene earlier, and to offer appropriate responses, information and supports. A separate funding stream provided four Ministry-led projects.

Organization

Partners

Project Description

Action ontarienne contre la violence faite aux femmes

Tel: (613) 241-8433

 

Laurentian University

Francophonie: Training and Best Practices

  • Training for staff serving Francophone women, on topics related to violence against women: crisis intervention, legal issues, immigrant women and services available in French.
  • Collection and sharing of best practices for

 

Springtide Resources

Tel: (416) 968-3422  x  30

 

Family Service Association of Toronto

Breaking New Ground

  • Increase awareness, skills and capacity among Ontario professionals and service providers to support women with intellectual disabilities who are abused or at risk of abuse;
  • Develop and implement a training model/curriculum that will strengthen the ability of organizations to respond to women with developmental disabilities;
  • Based on feedback from these initiatives, produce a video and prepare a document that highlights the “developing practices” for supporting women who live with intellectual disabilities and have experienced abuse.

 

Equay-wuk (Women’s Group)

Tel: (807) 737-2214

 

 

Healthy Families Healthy Nations

  • Research and development of a sustainable, culturally sensitive, holistic family violence prevention model and training for service providers in 30 Northwestern Ontario First Nations communities in Equay-wuk’s catchment area.
  • Includes needs assessments, community outreach, and the development and delivery of train-the-trainer curriculum and resources.

 

Legal Aid Ontario

Tel: (416) 979-2352 x 5201

Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic

Domestic Violence Training for Legal Aid Service Providers

  • Training for service staff in Legal Aid offices and clinics across the province – as well as lawyers who work in courtrooms, family law lawyers and refugee lawyers – on identifying women who have experienced violence, and protocols and best-practice guidelines to more effectively assist them.
  • Includes development and delivery of training sessions as well as materials (background information on domestic violence, guidelines for the effective use of domestic violence tools, referral procedures and templates, and community resource/referral information).

Offord Centre for Child Studies, McMaster University

Tel: (905) 521-2100 x 74287

Interval House of Hamilton (co-lead)

Professional Education for Responding to Violence Against Women (Research Project)

  • Research: an Ontario-wide environmental scan of violence-against-women education in the health sector.
  • Includes in addition an overview of specific education provided by violence-against-women social and community service organizations.

 

National Judicial Institute

Tel: (613) 237-1118 x 242

Ontario Court of Justice

Enhancing Judicial Skills in Cases of Violence and Abuse in Intimate Relationships

  • Skills-based education on domestic violence and practical tools to enhance the skill of judges from all levels of courts in Ontario who hear violence against women cases;
  • Curriculum modules will be delivered at annual and regional judicial conferences.

 

Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI)

Tel: (416) 322-4950 x  285

METRAC
(Metropolitan Action Committee on Violence Against Women and Children)

Prevention Through Intervention

  • Training for settlement service providers and any workers who frequently provide services to immigrant, refugee and undocumented victims in front-line and management.
  • Focus is on empowering service providers with awareness and knowledge to identify women at risk of violence and make effective referrals, and to streamline inter-agency coordination.

 

Perinatal Partnership Program of Eastern and Southeastern Ontario (PPPESO)

Tel: (613) 737-2660 x 3245

Best Start: Ontario’s Maternal, Newborn and Early Child Development Resource Centre

Woman Abuse in the Perinatal Period

  • Training for health care providers including hospital and health unit staff, community service agencies and members of the professional perinatal care associations, to implement best practice guidelines on the detection and appropriate response to woman abuse in the perinatal period
  • Outreach includes training resources, community forums, conference presentations, website information, liaison with academic centres and professional perinatal care associations in Ontario

 

Shelternet for Abused Women

The Learning Enrichment Foundation

Connecting the Dots Through the Courage to Click

  • Technology-focused training workshops and regional conferences throughout Ontario to enhance the overall service delivery of shelters and second-stage housing agencies for abused women and their children
  • Focus on enhancing e-services, business planning and leadership knowledge and skills to build ongoing capacity in the sector

 

Sunnybrook-Osler Centre for Prehospital Care

Tel: (416) 849-2450

Toronto Emergency Medical Services

The Paramedic Response to Domestic Violence

  • Development and implementation of training for paramedics to increase awareness, skills and capacity for supporting women who are abused or at risk of abuse.
  • Training to be delivered through introductory session and completion of up to eight e-learning scenarios.

 

Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services
& Ministry of the Attorney General

Tel: (519) 521-5154

 

Partner Abuse Response Program
and Corrections Conference

  • Conference brought together Partner Abuse Response service providers and Corrections staff from across Ontario.
  • Content was developed and delivered by MCSCS and the Ontario Victim Services Secretariat to promote a consistent approach and continuation of services and to share best practices, logic models, performance measures, evaluations and training needs.

 

Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services

Tel: (905-548-5012)

 

Mandatory VAW Prevention Training

  • Training for all MCSCS staff across Ontario who have significant contact with women who have/have been abused or are at risk of abuse, and participation will be mandatory.
  • The goal is to build upon current training and deliver consistent training to improve staff ability to identify and respond to violence against women. This training will be sustained and included in new probation officer education.

 

Ministry of Community and Social Services

Tel: (416) 325-5353

 

Training of VAW Front-Line Workers

Training for front-line workers throughout the province working in emergency shelters, counselling agencies and regional crisis lines to better support abused women and their children.

Ministry of Community and Social Services

Tel: (416) 325-7166

 

Ontario Works Training on Woman Abuse Issues

  • Training for Ontario Works sites serving First Nations communities using adapted “Woman Abuse and Related Community Supports” training package to suit specific needs of Aboriginal populations.
  • Training delivered to First Nations sites across the province.

 
Back to Top


Advanced Search
 
Covering Your Tracks - How to hide your Internet Activities Getting Help - Crisis Info