Over 18,000 people attended the Women’s March on Washington in Vancouver with 673 marches worldwide, and at least 3.3 million people. Those are impressive numbers. It’s hard not to be inspired by that. And now it’s up to us to continue the work for change. Join BWSS to Help End Violence against Women.
Continue your involvement to work for change! Battered Women’s Support Services is part of the February 14th Women’s Memorial March organizing committee. And each year our staff and volunteers join together to participate at the March. The 27th Annual Feb 14th Women’s Memorial March taking place on Tuesday Feb 14th, 2017 beginning at 10:30 am at the Carnegie Community Centre Theatre in Vancouver, Coast Salish Territories. Attend and spread the word.
Another active step you can take is joining Battered Women’s Support Services (BWSS) Violence Prevention and Intervention Training. This training is for women who want to volunteer on the BWSS Crisis & Intake Line and has been offered for almost 40 years. The topics covered in the training are intense and require personal exploration and the impact is significant. This is a direct action step for women can take to work for change through supporting women on our Crisis & Intake Line and support groups.
The most recent training, Fall 2016, 20 women complete the training who have now started answering calls on our crisis and intake line. Through training women gain personal growth, healing, empowerment, leadership skills, and many describe the training as transformative. Women who volunteer with BWSS also support our work in the community, attending community events, tabling and marching. Volunteers from the Crisis & Intake line have shared, since the training, their leadership skills have increased and they feel more confident to take an active political stand around women’s issues.
Women who call our crisis line get the information, resources and most importantly the support they need that can ultimately help them heal. Women who access support groups are supported not only by the facilitators but they also build connections, trust and support with one another.
The Spring 2017 training begins March 24th –to receive more information about this transformational training program and volunteer work or to find out how to apply please contact Claudia at 604-687-1868 ext. 304 or email intake@bwss.org
Let’s continue to come together and take action for change.
