Sexual Violence Prevention Initiative
The Sexual Violence Prevention Initiative (SVPI) is a team of students who are passionate about the education and prevention of sexual violence at Saint Mary’s and beyond. The SVPI works with the Sexual Violence Advisor and is committed to raising awareness about sexual and gender-based violence; providing peer education on consent, healthy relationships, and bystander intervention and; fostering a culture of safety and respect.
Contact svpi@smu.ca to learn more or book a workshop, and check out the Events Calendar to see what’s on the go.
The SVPI offers the following Programs:
The Waves of Change program is Nova Scotia resource made up of five separate training modules that take a prevention approach to sexualized violence on campus. The goal of the program is to teach participants to recognize Sexual Violence and to use various techniques to intervene either as bystanders or community to interrupt or stop sexual violence, support survivors, and transform the culture that allows violence to happen. This program draws on participants existing skills, knowledge, and creativity to facilitate broader strategies for social change.
The Waves of Change program includes the following 5 modules:
- Basic Bystander Intervention
- Alcohol & Sex
- Advanced Bystander Intervention
- Creating Communities of Accountability
- Creating Social Change
This workshop provides participants with the education, skills, and opportunity to learn about consent in the context of our daily lives, including but not limited to consent intimate relationships. During this interactive session, participants will learn about the foundations of consent and the barriers to achieving a consent culture. Additionally, they will learn about the ways in which consent applies to a variety of situations while learning to interpret and communicate consent in real-world scenarios.
This workshop series includes two sessions that have been designed to provide participants with knowledge of what constitutes healthy dynamics within relationships and how to prevent relationship violence, beginning with Foundations and Ethics of Healthy Relationships and concluding with Preventing and Responding to Relationship Violence. This series draws on best practices in prevention education and focuses on awareness, skills building, communication development, and self regulation.
This workshop, from the Courage to Act: Framework to Address and Prevent Gender-Based Violence at Post-Secondary Institutions in Canada project, is a peer-facilitated workshop for Graduate Students that will support them in developing practical skills around navigating power dynamics in academia and setting boundaries for healthy relationships. The workshop is designed to reflect the lived realities of diverse graduate student populations.
Sexual Violence Prevention Week is offered during the third week of September and the third week of January, and includes a range of events, workshops, trainings, and campaigns designed to raise awareness about sexual and gender-based violence on campus and in the community.