Trans Inclusion Workshops

The Trans Inclusion Workshop project will be led by a working group of local trans people who will collaborate in the development and facilitation of workshops about trans inclusion for various service providers and partners in Victoria. This project is directly related to feedback we have received from community and will include paying trans facilitators for their participation and skill sharing.

FAQ About the Workshops

Q: Where did the idea to provide these workshops come from?

A: Trans communities. Through feedback and discussion with trans communities there is a clear desire for more education to be done with service providers, and that this education be led by trans people who are paid for sharing their skills and knowledge. It has also been clear through requests from service providers over the last two years that there is a demand for these kinds of workshops. This desire from community motivated VSAC to apply for funding to provide honorarium to trans people to develop and facilitate trans inclusion workshops for service providers.

Q: How are these workshops being developed?

A: These workshops are being created by a group of about 10 trans people with varying levels of: experience with facilitation; working at and accessing local services; participating in curriculum development; and doing community-based work. We are excited to be working with a team of people who bring many perspectives, gender identities, and skills to the group.

The goals, basic framework, and ideas for activities will be created by this working group over the course of 3-5 meetings and any work between these meetings will be done by the Trans Inclusion Coordinator. This work will be overseen and edited by the working group at meetings. The final curriculum will be based on local grassroots and organizational workshops and resources the working group brings in to share and consider. The group will also explore varying ways of delivering content to create an innovative and engaging workshop.

As the workshop is delivered, the group may decide that it is appropriate to make changes to the overall curriculum, or to create a variety of modules depending on the background and interests of workshop participants.

Q: What training will facilitators receive? How is the training for the workshop facilitators developed?

A: Facilitator training will largely be dependent on the experience and facilitation styles working group participants offer to share during the training. Currently training is expected to be about 3-4 hours long, but this can be flexible depending on what the group decides it wants in terms of training. Training will be developed using a popular education model and through a mixture of facilitator training tools that have been used in Project Respect’s auxiliary facilitator and youth facilitator training, and skills individuals in the workshop group wish to offer.

Q: Is knowledge for the workshop and facilitator training locally sourced? Are the materials locally produced?

A: Absolutely. These workshops will be developed by people currently living in the Victoria area, and will include resources and information that is specific to the Southern Vancouver Island regions. Workshops will primarily be delivered in these areas. Original materials will also be produced by the working group, and may include resources from local groups should those groups feel it appropriate to have their materials included in this workshop. Throughout this process it is possible that the working group will also consider, with permission, the workshops, curriculum, and resources created by other trans community organizers and trans-centered organizations. This will largely depend on the information, some of which may have come from previous experience living in other communities, the working group wishes to share with the group.

Q: Where will facilitator training and curriculum take place?

A: Training and curriculum development will take place either at the Victoria Sexual Assault Centre or elsewhere in Victoria depending on what logistically makes the most sense for working group participants.

Q: What will happen with these workshops once funding is over?

A: There are two intentions for what will happen with the workshop that is created. The first intention is to make the workshop, materials, and resources available publicly and online. This is so that facilitators who were involved in the development of the workshop and other community members who are interested in independently delivering workshops to service providers can have a workshop to work from. The wish is for this workshop to be ‘owned’ and available to community.

The second intention is for VSAC to consider how to continue financially supporting trans community to provide these needed workshops. We have relationships with many service providers and community partners who have expressed the desire to be better at supporting the trans community. We see these kinds of workshops as not only knowledge building opportunities but integral to supporting trans survivors. The more services that are providing safe and accessible services to trans people, the more trans survivors are getting the support they need.

Q: Will VSAC make referrals to other trans people who are already providing trans training workshops?

A: Yes. As we mention above, one of our priorities is to financially support trans community through the delivery of workshops. Though we have not yet referred to other trans people providing training we recognize that there are both limitations to our ability to meet the high demand for these workshops, and that there will be some services whose work will fall outside of the expertise of our facilitation team. In fact, it would be a great outcome of this project to generate a list of trans related workshops, facilitators, and contact information to make available to service providers to support generating more income for trans folks who independently provide community education, including those who are a part of this workshop program. If you, or anyone you know, provides trans related workshops and would be interested in being on this list we invite them to contact our Trans Inclusion Coordinator [] with information about the content of the workshops you are able to cover.