Over the past academic year, four of Saint Mary’s University’s spring graduates worked together as part of the Sexual Violence Prevention Initiative (SVPI), a student-led prevention and awareness program. Hailey Saunders, Krystal Lowe, Lucinda Laskey and Tala Aisheh formed the SVPI team and worked closely with the university’s Sexual Violence Advisor, Dee Dooley, to offer education on bystander intervention, harm reduction, consent and healthy relationships.
“We strive to empower and educate the community towards making change,” says Lowe, who will return to Saint Mary’s this fall as a master’s student in applied psychology while continuing in her role as Sexual Violence Prevention and Education Coordinator through Student Affairs and Services. “It is important for us to challenge the status quo and many of the misconceptions that surround sexual violence.”
Over the last year, the SVPI team delivered training and special events for the Saint Mary’s community, with more than 100 students participating in prevention and response education. Through this training, students learned how to identify and intervene in problematic situations and support those who are affected.
“We want to create a community of support, respect and safety,” says biology and forensic science graduate Laskey.
Programming offered by the SVPI is based on a sense of shared responsibility—namely, the belief that creating a safe campus and preventing sexual violence is everyone’s responsibility. Workshop topics included Bystander Intervention Training to introduce bystander intervention techniques and an Alcohol & Sex workshop to take a harm reduction approach to the issue of alcohol-facilitated sexual violence.
“By spreading awareness on campus, we are making everyone accountable for fostering a safe community,” says criminology graduate Saunders.
The SVPI members also recognize an important link between their educational efforts on campus and the broader community.
“Halifax is a close-knit community, where many people know each other,” says psychology graduate Aisheh. “Our work has helped to create safer spaces and equip students to mitigate situations that could escalate.”
Though the original SVPI facilitators have recently graduated, Student Affairs and Services is currently hiring a new team of facilitators for the next academic year. Lowe will also continue working over the summer, in her capacity as Sexual Violence Prevention and Education Coordinator, to develop a new curriculum and expand SVPI offerings for Saint Mary’s and the broader community.
