Safe Choices Program
To see upcoming workshops, please go to the Calendar of Events.
Safe Choices focuses on improving the health and safety of women who are currently or have been in abusive same-sex/gender relationships by empowering women and strengthening our communities to respond to this issue.
Our use of the term “women” is inclusive of transgender/transsexual women. While the primary focus of the program is lesbian, bisexual, queer, Two-Spirit and trans women, we work to be inclusive of people with various gender identities, as well as in some circumstances gay men.
Please note: Safe Choice services are only available in the area served by Vancouver Coastal Health. All services are free of charge.
The Safe Choices Program offers:
- Workshops about healthy relationships and violence in relationships for women in same-sex/gender relationships.
- Publications about healthy relationships and violence in same-sex/gender relationships.
- Consultation and training for service providers and systems personnel who want to make their services more effective and accessible for women in same-sex/gender relationships.
- Referrals for women in same-sex/gender relationships to appropriate support services (Contact us for this service).
Safe Choices is managed by the BCASVACP and funded by the SMART Fund of Vancouver Coastal Health.
History
Act II Child and Family Services conceived the original version of Safe Choices in 1999 as a support and education program in which training workshops would be provided to service providers, and a supportive phone line and support group would be held for women who had experienced violence in their same-sex/gender relationships.
In 2002 the BCASVACP adopted the program and reconceived it as a program that would offer consultation, skill building workshops (including training for service providers and support and education workshops for lesbian, bisexual and trans women) and referrals.
The shift away from ongoing direct support work was made in order to focus on community development activities, to work within the constraints of a limited budget and to align the program further with the aims of the SMART fund. As well, experience in Vancouver and other major cities had shown that many survivors of same-sex/gender relationship abuse were not accessing relationship abuse support groups for lesbians for a variety of reasons, including shame about publicly identifying themselves as being in an abusive relationship, and/or confusion about whether their experience was abusive. More women were showing up to learn about healthy relationships, rather than to talk about their experiences of abuse. In the late 90s many queer service providers and researchers expressed an interest in focusing on healthy relationships as a new strategy to engage queer communities in dialogue about healthy relationships and relationship abuse.
