We work with organizations and practitioners to strengthen responses to violence through training, supervision, research, and collaboration grounded in dignity, accountability, and social justice.
Training and Supervision
Our collective aim is to increase community safety and connection.
Practice and research show that the quality of institutional responses to reports of violence profoundly impact outcomes for all concerned, in the short and long term. Over time, we have worked to find common cause with colleagues working in the institutions that respond to violence, to decrease isolation and foster connection, and to promote ethical and effective responses to victims and survivors and all those involved in cases of violence.
The following is a partial list of our domestic and international work with diverse groups of colleagues who share the goal of improving institutional responses. Please contact us directly for more information or to book training.
“If you violate the spirit of a family, you violate civilization.”
Louis Riel, 1885
Watch a short video from our Family & Child Services (FACS) Practice Conference.
Practice Areas
Child Protection Agencies
For more than 30 years, we have worked closely with child protection organizations locally, nationally, and internationally to implement key aspects of Response-Based Practice to replace or supplement existing practice.
We develop and implement Response-Based Practices with child protection agencies, resulting in innovative programs such as Islands of Safety, which successfully reunited Indigenous families and received formal recognition for service excellence.
Victim Assistance
We provide ongoing consultation and training to police and victim assistance programs, supporting improved legal participation by using more accurate language and recalling victims’ resistance, including non-consent to the violence. This work has had international impact, including work in Sweden.
Community Coordination
Since the early 1990s, we have participated in the work of local Community Coordination Committees in several locations. These committees are designed to improve prevention and intervention efforts in cases of violence by bringing professionals together.
Shelters and Transition Houses
We host online and live conferences in Response-Based Practice and speak as invited guests at a wide variety of events hosted by colleagues across diverse practice settings.
Law Enforcement
We provide specialized training and consultation to police forces in Canada and abroad, focusing on interviewing techniques, language use, and improving responses to violence against Indigenous people.
Of special note is the Together for Justice project in Yukon, led by the Liard Aboriginal Women’s Society and the Yukon RCMP. We facilitated joint gatherings of RCMP and Indigenous women once monthly for two years to improve responses to Indigenous women in cases of sexualized assault and other forms of violence.
Supervision of Therapy
We provide individual and group supervision across a diverse network of organizations, domestically and internationally.
Policy and system Work
Legal Practice and Law Reform
Our team has contributed to legislative reforms and judicial training in Sweden and Canada, focusing on victim resistance, accurate language, and critical analysis of expert reports in family law.
We provided training to the Judges of British Columbia on responding to cases of interpersonal violence, with a focus on R. v. Friesen (2020), the Supreme Court of Canada decision concerning sexual assault on a child.
On a case-by-case basis, we have submitted to court and testified in person with critical analysis of expert reports in family law cases.
Institutional Violence
We participated in New Zealand’s Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry, contributing to findings and recommendations on systemic abuse and redress.
Restorative Justice
We have provided training and consultation to colleagues engaged in restorative justice, promoting approaches that acknowledge victims’ resistance, the deliberate nature of violent actions, and methods of working with perpetrators who wish to take responsibility and desist from violence.
Indigenous Partnerships
Allies with Indigenous People
For more than 30 years, we have worked as family therapists and allies with and for Indigenous people in Canada and abroad who have sought assistance for a wide variety of concerns.
This has included extensive work with individuals, families, and communities addressing the suffering caused by colonial violence, promoting socially just practices, and supporting cultural resurgence and organization aimed at reclamation of human rights and lands.
This has included testimony at the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and LGBTQ2S+ people in Winnipeg addressing past and present colonial injustice carried out through child protection practices.
Education and Knowledge Sharing
The Dignity Conferences
Since 2013, we have organized international conferences to advance Response-Based Practice, fostering collaboration and influencing research, policy, and community responses to violence.
The conferences bring together local and international colleagues to present key aspects of Response-Based Practice related to their work and research. They grew out of direct service with victims and perpetrators of violence and their families and have supported strong working relationships across numerous countries among colleagues and community members with a shared commitment to social justice.
University Training and Research
For three decades, we have developed and delivered academic programs in social work, psychology, and related fields, conducting original research and influencing curriculum development.
Youth Prevention and Education
In consultation with the Liard Aboriginal Women’s Society, we supported the development of Youth for Dignity, a prevention and education project for youth in Watson Lake, Yukon, which has been recognized with a North American award for engagement of Indigenous youth.
Publications and Public Education
Our publications and public education efforts critically analyze concepts such as Stockholm Syndrome and inform both professional and public audiences. Our work is featured in award-winning documentaries and forthcoming books.
Start the Conversation
Whether you are seeking training, supervision, consultation, or a deeper understanding of Response-Based Practice, we welcome the conversation.
