Conference Tracks
- Shelter Practices & Sustainability
- Building Partnerships To Sustain and Enhance Services
- Addressing Barriers and Creating Access
- International & Cross-Border Issues
- Empowering and Supporting Advocates, Activists, and Allies
- Other
Shelter Practices & Sustainability
Shelters are integral to providing safety and help for survivors, their families, and the community. To meet survivors' needs, shelters work to continually develop inclusive and effective services, policies, and practices. Shelter sustainability includes creating healthy organizations and structures that are financially sustainable and promote the program’s values, support the work, and ensure inclusive, welcoming, and supportive environments for survivors, staff and volunteers.
This track will focus on all topics related to shelters, including but not limited to starting and funding a shelter, providing safety, privacy and services for survivors in shelter, and healing or therapeutic approaches.
Topics include:
- A variety of workshops on shelter rules, survivor-centered advocacy, and trauma-informed practices
- Funding programs and shelters
- Working with abusers or perpetrators
- Determining risk and danger assessments, including strangulation.
- Much more!
Building Partnerships To Sustain and Enhance Services
Providing safety, services, and help to survivors often requires partnerships with communities, government, and civil society. This track will focus on developing relationships and sustaining partnerships with local, regional, national, and international partners from private and public sectors, including financial partnerships, to create and maintain critical services for survivors.
Sessions will present information on promising and proven practices to engage and sustain partnerships and effective strategies to develop collaborative relationships among stakeholders. Presentations may include how shelters can work together with partners to safely and effectively meet the needs of victims, how stakeholders can support the role of shelters in their communities, and how shelters and partners can work toward creating an environment of nonviolence.
Topics include:
- Working with the local, national, regional or international governments
- Working with faith-based communities
- Building coordinated community response teams and collaboration
- Innovative methods for creating economic opportunities for women
- Much more!
Addressing Barriers and Creating Access
In every community across the globe, there are populations and groups who experience increased barriers when accessing services. These barriers may arise for a variety of reasons, including poverty, geography, culture, language, discrimination, and a lack of economic resources. Shelters may be responding to additional challenges if they work in conflict zones, provide services in the aftermath of natural disasters, or address other issues such as HIV/AIDS.
It is critical to discuss both the barriers that exist for victims and the challenges that shelters face in providing effective, inclusive, and accessible services. Advocates often have to address complex issues with respect, competency, and understanding in order to provide services that meet the victim’s needs. Sessions will discuss how shelters and communities can address these challenges effectively.
Topics include:
- Working to create broader social change and end violence
- Providing services to survivors in disaster areas and conflict zones
- Working with survivors to secure employment
- Working with victims with substance abuse issues
- Working with incarcerated survivors
- Working with LGBTQ victims
- Much more!
International & Cross-Border Issues
Every day women cross nation-state lines (willingly and unwillingly) as emigrants, laborers, trafficked victims, mail-order brides, or refugees. Some victims leave to escape violence, many are subjected to violence while in transit, and others experience violence while living in countries where they have little or no legal rights. Often, advocates must work with local, national, and international governments and with advocates from other countries to provide the services victims need. Sessions will focus on the challenges and limitations experienced by both service providers and victims. Sessions may also include discussions on different remedies and options for victims to find safety and justice.
Topics include:
- Trafficking
- Working with immigrants, refugees, and displaced individuals
- Inter-state child custody issues
Empowering and Supporting Advocates, Activists, and Allies
The passion and expertise of advocates, activists, and allies are vital components for shelters to successfully meet the needs of survivors. Supporting and empowering advocates is crucial to the sustainability of shelters and the movement. In fact, providing safety and services to victims and helping to create communities of nonviolence are impossible without advocates, activists, and allies leading the movement. Sessions will explore how advocates can be supported, reducing burnout or secondary trauma, and by mentoring and encouraging a next generation of leaders, and engaging new allies, including men.
Topics include:
- Effectively engaging men as allies
- Creating a sustainable work environment
- Much more!
- Regional or continental roundtables for networking and coalition building.
