{"id":18931,"date":"2020-02-05T09:00:24","date_gmt":"2020-02-05T17:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=18931"},"modified":"2020-02-06T09:04:09","modified_gmt":"2020-02-06T17:04:09","slug":"camosun-college-keeps-conversations-going-with-sexualized-violence-awareness-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2020\/02\/05\/camosun-college-keeps-conversations-going-with-sexualized-violence-awareness-week\/","title":{"rendered":"Camosun College keeps conversations going with Sexualized Violence Awareness Week"},"content":{"rendered":"

Camosun College\u2019s Office of Student Support and the Camosun College Student Society are holding Sexualized Violence Awareness Week from Monday, February 10 until Friday, February 14.<\/p>\n

At both campuses from February 10 to 12, there will be consent valentines and treats; there will be information booths, button making, and treats at Lansdowne on February 11 and at Interurban on February 13. There will be a workshop for students called Understanding Consent Culture happening at Interurban on February 11 and at Lansdowne on February 13.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Camosun student support manager Stephanie Pedneault says that the event is focused on sharing information and participating in conversation around the culture of creating consent on and off campus, which she says Camosun takes very seriously.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have specific supports in place to make sure [students] have a safe option to connect, to understand what their support options are, and to be believed,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Camosun College and the Camosun College Student Society are holding Sexualized Violence Week this month (photo by Adam Marsh\/Nexus<\/em>).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pedneault says that students who go to her office always have options about what to do next.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether that means reporting, or seeking other support, or it may just mean that\u2019s where it ends for them right now,\u201d she says. \u201cThey get choice in this. And that is important to us.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Keeping the momentum going now is key, says Pedneault. There have been incredible conversations, she says, that have been influenced by the Me Too Movement, but it\u2019s the responsibility of those at Camosun to make sure those conversations keep happening, which is where Sexualized Violence Awareness Week comes into play.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is, unfortunately, still a lot of fear and concern around coming forward and seeking support, and so as we invite more people into these conversations\u2014invite more people in to participate in creating safe spaces, and safe conversations\u2014I would love to see that more people could feel like they can come forward if this is part of their experience and, of course, ultimately, where less people have this experience in their life,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Pedneault says that creating an empathetic environment where people feel they can open up starts with believing those people.<\/p>\n

\u201cRecognizing that in order to come forward and even connect with me that they would have had to have overcome probably several different barriers, and so recognizing that there are certain populations of people who face even more barriers,\u201d says Pedneault. \u201cTo even just present [themselves] in an office with me takes a significant amount of courage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pednault approaches everybody she works with from the same place: one of huge respect, she says, for the courage it takes to come forward.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFirst and foremost, this is about their choice. This is not about me deciding for them or the college deciding for them what they should or shouldn\u2019t do,\u201d says Pedneault. \u201cIt\u2019s about making sure that they know what their choices are.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s zero judgment, she says, adding that beyond making sure that students are not in any immediate harm, there will never be any pressure or influence from the college when it comes to making a decision. Students have the right to change their minds, and they have the right to ongoing support, she says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe would never force somebody to talk, ever,\u201d she says. \u201cThat can have such significant levels of harm. We will always look at safety, and make sure that someone\u2019s safety is a priority, but we want them to help us understand what their needs for safety are. We will look to always listen to what the survivor\u2019s wants are, and that they are the decision maker around what happens next.\u201d<\/p>\n

See camosun.ca\/consentcamosun<\/a> for more details on Sexualized Violence Awareness Week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Camosun College\u2019s Office of Student Support and the Camosun College Student Society are holding Sexualized Violence Awareness Week from Monday, February 10 until Friday, February 14. At both campuses from February 10 to 12, there will be consent valentines and treats; there will be information booths, button making, and treats at Lansdowne on February 11 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18932,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,247],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-february-5-2020"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18931"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18931\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18933,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18931\/revisions\/18933"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}