The Victim Services Committee of Leeds & Grenville is a group of local service providers collaborating to enhance our community response to violence.  They come together voluntarily to discuss a variety of issues around victim services and victimization.  Together they applied for and were successful in obtaining a grant from the Ministry of the Attorney General of Ontario.  The project -Enhancing our Community Response to Violence, was set in motion.  I was hired to operationalize the vision of the committee.  It continues to be a great pleasure to work with these dedicated professionals.  Below are details on each stage of our work together.

One part of the grant included the development of a workshop.  After a thorough needs assessement the tone and direction became clear.  "Taking the time to build a shared understanding of each agency's role and responsiblities towards victims of crime in our community will help us to identify areas for collaboration, coordination and support.  The result is a more coordinated approach to helping victims and each other." This was accomplished through the development of an interactive, hands-on collaborative learning environment.   Service providers from all agencies interacted on case studies, q & a, building understanding and networking.  We will be offering more workshops in the early spring of 2006.

Reliable, easy to access and understand information on victim specific issues was another gap the Victim Services Commitee identified.   After a thorough scan of current materials, we settled on a 'quick guide' format.  A series of six quick guides were created, one on each of the following topics:  children in need of protection, developmental disabilities, domestic violence, elder abuse, mental illness and sexual assault.  The quick guides are bright colours, laminated with info on front and who to call on the back.   We have distributed them to law enforcement, service providers, libraries, schools, community groups, churches, doctors and victim service workers.

Combining concerns from different areas we created a resource card that is both useful and discrete.  The resource card itself, folds up to be the size of a business card.  It can be handed out alone, or it a convenient vinyl holder (like the ones auto insurance liablity cards come in).  The holder allows the service provider to insert their own business card and provides a place to keep all important numbers handy.   The resource card itself was redesigned to add a descriptive element - like this:  Assault Response and Care Centre:  Free counselling services provided to victims of sexual assault and domestic violence.  1-800-567-7415 We used only 1-800's where possible and add any web links if available.  These are available to anyone who makes referrals.

The final piece is an interactive website that I highly encourage everyone to check out.  Great information, links, quizzes, and resources presented in an easy to read format. Help us spread the news about this great resource - visit the site and share the links with people you know.