My name is Katrina Pearson and I am a MSW placement student with SIRG. I had the pleasure of speaking with Jakki Buckeridge about the work her and her colleagues do at Indus Community Services in Peel Region.

 

Jakki is the Manager of the Family Services Program and has been working with the organization for 21 years. She told me that Indus Community Services, initially founded as India Rainbow Community Services of Peel in 1985, was first a drop in centre and as it evolved, began to offer three main services: Newcomer Services, Health Services and Family Services. The ACES program for women, which stands for Advocacy, Counselling, Empowerment and Safety, is the central approach used to support the women experiencing violence with whom they work. Jakki also highlighted the importance of the interconnectedness of all of their services to provide a wrap around approach to service provision with clients of all backgrounds. Indus is proud of their community partnerships and collaborations with numerous services provided to women who experience violence, for example, the Safe Centre of Peel, the HEAL Network and OASIS, among others.

 

After speaking with Jakki about the fundamentals of the organization, we spoke about

some of the projects she has worked on at Indus that she is especially proud of. Indus is

currently in the process of planning their annual event which honours and celebrates

women. This year's theme is #indUS4Justice: "Stepping In & Stepping Up!" This celebration

will also include their first Women of Distinction Awards which recognize exceptional

women within the community by honouring their journey, celebrating their commitment to

justice, and recognizing their compassion.

The event will take place on Tuesday March 6, 2018 at the Brampton Royal Banquet Hall.

Stay tuned for a formal announcement coming soon!

 

I then asked Jakki what some of the benefits are to working with women and children at Indus.

She stated that when we assist individuals in their transition to a violence free life,

it increases their resiliency and strengthens the community as a whole while also

giving young people the capacity and strength to move forward. As an agency,

this work leverages in the mission and vision of Indus to having justice for everyone.

 

While there are many benefits to this work, there are also some challenges that Jakki touched on. One of the shared challenges is regarding resources. The lack of resources impacts Indus' capacity to meet the growing needs of the Peel community which contains many underfunded services. They also experience challenges in areas of working with newcomers, language barriers and some of the presenting issues may be rooted in other communities. There are many pockets of Peel Region that remain quite rural, which impacts service provision due to issues such as transportation.

 

When asked about how they mitigate or make sense of these challenges, Jakki shared that Indus strategically has staff rotate from various offices to provide that additional support. While there is recognition that it can impact staff to move around and create feelings of not having a home base, it is client centered and meets that need, especially in the rural areas of the region.

 

Indus also engages in a significant amount of fundraising which assists in providing services they are not funded for. One initiative is the Basic Needs Closet which provides foundational items to clients, such as backpacks, clothing, and toiletries. Jakki also highlighted partnerships they have with other communities and how it "takes a whole community to end violence". One of these partnerships includes sharing their space with partners when they need it, particularly when distance is an issue.

 

I asked Jakki her thoughts on whether feminism has shifted within the VAW sector. To this, Jakki replied that it has, to a certain degree. She believes there was a lot more invested in a community approach in the past, but this has shifted over the years. There is less of a focus now on activism, with some events receiving less engagement than in previous years. Jakki stated that you cannot have a feminist approach without anti-oppressive practice or an anti-racist framework. Back 20 years ago, the sector had a more grassroots approach, for example, they used to give out flyers in laundry rooms of apartment buildings because that was a good space to engage clients. However, as the climate changes, so do the strategies used. Now it is more competitive with other services and for funding that they have much bigger marketing campaigns that don't necessarily resonate or reach the clients in the same ways.

 

When asked if she thinks VAW work is politicized, Jakki said that she believes it should be political, and is to some degree. Jakki explained how the sector used to be a one-stop shop which saw the client from the beginning of their journey until they completed their transition to a violence-free life. That case management approach is no longer a possibility, especially if the client is in the family court process. Sometimes, Indus has clients who return to the agency 18-24 months later due to these or other factors. Jakki expressed how the system is structured in a way that only allows so many hours of representation, which could leave women in a position of less justice as the need for time may be greater than what is allotted. Jakki expressed a need to have a more individual approach to service provision, as not every situation has the same needs or requires the same resources. Jakki sees that initially at the outset they do a good job providing support, but there needs to be more advocacy for long term supports to ensure changes and progress are sustainable.

 

Lastly, I asked Jakki what her hopes are for the VAW Forum and she spoke about wanting to get to know her colleagues a lot better and to collaborate differently. She spoke of the expansion of the Central Region in the past few years and through this change, she doesn't have the same knowledge of or connection with some other newly included service providers. She believes there is a lot to learn from each other from which everyone can benefit from a cohesive approach. Jakki's wish is that she, or any of her partners in the Central Region, would be able to pick up the phone and call one another, in the same way she does with her established partners in Toronto.