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A Partners Against Violence conference at Grant Hall on Saturday was a wonderful event, participants said, attended mostly by professionals working for organizations like the Moose Jaw Police Service’s Victim Services office, Moose Jaw Family Services, and Moose Jaw Transition House.
“The Partners Against Violence Committee is comprised of about 15 different interagency groups, so, different non-profits and frontline organizations that all work together to address the themes and root causes of violence in our community,” explained Jenn Angus, executive director of Moose Jaw Transition House, a domestic violence shelter and outreach centre.
“In Moose Jaw, Partners Against Violence has been around for a long time. I’ve had the pleasure of being able to chair it in my role as Transition House executive director for the last six years. It’s a fantastic committee comprised of education, justice, addictions, mental health, multicultural, Métis Local — a lot of groups that serve our community.”
The event was sponsored by Victim Services and Casinos Regina and Moose Jaw, and featured Roger Ross, a local Indigenous artist and Knowledge Keeper; Karen Closs, director of Victim Services at the Saskatchewan Ministry of Justice; and Dr. Jody Carrington, a clinical psychologist and professional speaker.
Fox Klein attended the conference with a large group from Moose Jaw Family Services, where he works as a junior Family Support Worker.
“I tend to work with a lot of young men who really need a positive male role model in their life, and I work through trauma with them,” Klein explained. He noted Dr. Carrington’s keynote address had been about the importance of self-care for support workers like him, and about forming close ties to co-workers to fight loneliness and exhaustion.
“I honestly thought the conference was amazing — just the fact that us feeling good and being in the right mental space means so much more for the kids and for the people that we work with. It was fascinating to know, as she said, if you’re not doing well, there’s no way they stand a chance to do well, and that was something that changed my mind on a lot of things.”
Klein noted how important it is to gather with other professionals in their field and see that everyone struggles, but everyone is also working together at improving.
“It was incredible, with Jody’s ability just to bring a crowd together and make everybody feel things that they wouldn’t have thought about before,” said Chelsey Driedger, the Youth and Parent Program Co-ordinator at Moose Jaw Family Services.
“I definitely laughed and cried at moments throughout. It gives me a new perspective to think about the way I approach the work that I do and even just the way that I approach my own kids at home.”