Initiative expected to begin at WDHS in the fall
By Mac Christie
Flamborough Review
Wednesday, August 4, 2021
The Healthy Youth Network (HYN) is partnering with Interval House of Hamilton and Halton Women’s Place to launch an ally program targeted toward young men in Flamborough.
The initiative was led by the HYN Youth Impact Team, in part due to increased violence against women due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but also as a result of a 2015 student survey in Flamborough which showed only 39 per cent of Grade 7-12 girls feel safe and supported at home, school and in the neighbourhood.
Youth Impact Team member Steffani Lang said they identified women and girls not feeling safe in their school environment and in their community as something they wanted to tackle. A WDHS graduate, Lang said having attended the school, she understands the impact high concentrations of toxic masculinity can have on young women.
“I understand as well, what it feels like to be a young female and not feel safe,” she said. “That hasn’t just been in Waterdown, but in a variety of settings, so it’s something that touches me personally.”
Lang, who has a degree in criminal justice public policy, said there is a misunderstanding that these sorts of programs target males negatively. The goal, she said, is actually to help men feel more comfortable with themselves and not have toxic views about masculinity.
“So they’re able to express emotions, to have healthy relationships,” she said. “That benefits men and women — it’s more about working in a partnership and helping men and women understand each other better, as well as improve men’s view of themselves and how they treat women.
“It isn’t an attack on masculinity — it’s an attack on pressures that are put on men.”
The program, which will build upon existing initiatives from the two agencies, hopes to inspire men to be part of the solution to end gender-based violence, build healthy relationships and create a culture where all students feel they belong, said HYN founder and executive director Penny Deathe. They expect to utilize Interval House’s MentorAction and Be More Than A Bystander programs, as well as Halton Women’s Place’s engageMENt program at Waterdown District High School.
Deathe said through MentorAction they plan to train male leaders who will stand up and speak out in ending gender-based violence, while Be More Than A Bystander sees local athletes from the Tiger-Cats, Bulldogs and Forge FC lead conversations with youth about what healthy masculinity looks like.
Meanwhile, the engageMENt program is an eight-week school-based program aimed at starting a dialogue among young men which encourages them to self-reflect on their role in ending gender-based violence.
Halton Women’s Place executive director Laurie Hepburn, who lives in Waterdown and whose children attend Guy B. Brown Elementary School, said implementing the program in the community is “fabulous.”
“To see youth taking a lead role is so inspiring for me and it creates a lot of hope that we will be able to address the issue of domestic violence over time when we have our young people so involved,” she said.
Meanwhile, Sue Taylor, Interval House of Hamilton’s manager of community programs, said the organization is fully supportive of the HYN initiative, adding she thinks it is “amazing” that the program is youth-led.
“Having the youth take on that leadership perspective among their peers, recognizing the strengths in the community and organizing this is fantastic,” she said. “We’re thrilled to be able to support the work that’s happening right now.”
To deliver the program, HYN recently received a $6,200 donation from 100 Women Who Care Flamborough-Waterdown. Due to COVID-19, Deathe expects the program to start slowly with a social media campaign this fall.
STORY BEHIND THE STORY: After the Healthy Youth Network received a donation from 100 Women Who Care Flamborough-Waterdown to start a male ally program, the Review reached out to the stakeholders to learn more about the plans — and the need for the initiative in the community.
Mac Christie is the Flamborough Review’s news editor. He is an award-winning journalist, who writes about anything and everything within Flamborough. Reach him at mchristie@flamboroughreview.com.
