Training the Trainers

If you’ve been following the BYTE blog lately, you may be wondering, “If Natalie is BYTE’s new Community Outreach Coordinator, what happened to Tanyss?”

 

Tanyss Knowles has been BYTE’s Community Outreach Coordinator for the past two years, and as of a few weeks ago, she left her position to work on a new project through BYTE.

 

It’s called Engaging Men and Boys in Ending Violence Against Women, and it’s a project run in partnership with White Ribbon Yukon, Les Essentielles, BYTE, and the Victoria Faulkner Women’s Centre. The goal is to get men and boys to participate in ending violence against women.

 

Alongside Project Coordinator Patrick Thompson and his predecessor Scott Carlson, Tanyss is helping to facilitate a train-the-trainers workshop, which helps teachers, youth workers, recreation programmers, social workers, and other adult allies understand how to broach the topic of ending sexualized violence with boys and men.

 

“There is a great need to address to address violence against women,” says Patrick. “This statement is particularly true in the Yukon as we see our territory-wide rates of violence against women hover around 3 to 3.5 times that on the national average—some of the highest rates of violence against women in the country.”

 

There’s no doubt that sexualized violence is a big issue in the Yukon, and this project helps to combat it. Tanyss, Scott, and Patrick have delivered three trainings: one in Whitehorse, one in Watson Lake, and one in Dawson City. How did they go?

 

“Fantastic!” Tanyss says. “We’ve had positive experiences with our trainings in all the communities—good turnout, high engagement—and overall it was a great success.”

 

The training gives participants skills to engage boys aged 10-18 in ending violence against women and girls, and allows participants to access new knowledge and resources on the topic.

 

Now that the three trainings have been delivered, Patrick will start planning the annual 12 Days To End Violence Against Women campaign, which takes place November 25 – December 6th. He’s also busy engaging with educational institutions and organizations that work with youth, men, and families.

 

As for Tanyss, she’s busy wrapping up her work. BYTE hopes to continue the Engaging Men and Boys project by developing a concise version of the training so that we can continue to offer it through our outreach program.