Change brings new ideas, writes Penny Deathe
OPINION
By Sabrina Hunter
Flamborough Review
Thursday, May 4, 2023
As the newest team member of the Ally Program at Healthy Youth Network, I am excited to share plans for our ongoing research project regarding gender-based violence in youth populations.
This project aims to develop a better understanding of youth gender-based violence prevalence, prevention, and intervention, and to explore avenues for improvement.
Prevention and intervention are key components often used in approaches to any issue that causes harm. There are many issues in our youth populations that have well-established prevention and intervention approaches, such as bullying awareness and mental health support. However, Healthy Youth Network and I want to investigate what this looks like for gender-based violence.
With this in mind, we want to know: What kind of dialogue, education, and/or awareness is available to youth to help prevent gender-based violence from occurring? And, when it does occur, how is it responded to? How do youth understand gender-based violence, and how do they feel that these practices could be better suited to support them? These are just a few questions we aim to investigate through literature review, policy analysis, and community collaboration.
Throughout my social work education at McMaster University and work experience in social service settings, I have come to understand first-hand how the impacts of gender-based violence go far beyond the moment it occurs. This is especially important to consider in the context of youth, as this is a pivotal life stage in developing an understanding of positive, healthy relationships.
Our hope for this project is that we can contribute to meaningful change in how youth are impacted by the prevalence, prevention, and intervention of gender-based violence, while holding space for the voices of those who are directly impacted by it.
Sabrina Hunter is the co-ordinator for Healthy Youth Network’s Ally Program. She can be reached at sabrina@healthyouthnetwork.ca.
