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Safety Starts Here - The Mulberry Platform

This Live was presented and recorded on May 25, 2023.

Learn more about mulberryfinder.ca – a new online platform created by The Ontario Association of Interval and Transition Houses (OAITH). In this Facebook Live, Lauren provides an introduction to this platform including how gender-based violence (GBV) organizations and services can be listed on mulberry!
 
Mulberry functions as an online hub that includes information regarding a wide range of gender-based violence services in Ontario, encompassing both survivor- and aggressor-based services. This may include: GBV organizations and programs, GBV public awareness and education, Indigenous-focused organizations and supports, child and youth programming, services working with those who cause harm as well as survivor-led community programs. Mulberry was designed to reduce existing silos of information and bridge the gap between community members and GBV services in Ontario.

Live Recording

Speaker: Lauren Hancock

From a young age, Lauren has been engaged in advocacy work, continuing into her post-secondary education, where she assisted the Sexual Violence Education and Awareness Sub Committee and the Sexual Assault Free Environment (SAFE) Team to support the implementation of ongoing education surrounding healthy relationships, consent and sexual assault on campus. Lauren has always had a strong interest in law and continued her education following her Honors BA in Criminal Justice and Public Policy in a Post Graduate Paralegal program and became a licensed paralegal, which allowed her to gain a greater understanding of the criminal justice system. 

With the hope of affecting greater systemic change, Lauren returned to her early passion for advocacy and currently works as the Policy and Research Coordinator for The Ontario Association of Interval and Transition Houses, a provincial association representing emergency women’s shelters, second stage housing and other community-based GBV organizations. Lauren’s areas of research include femicide and GBV prevention, housing, and harm reduction. Lauren currently oversees the monthly and annual femicide reporting in Ontario and has worked within this role to inform a number of legislative areas including the National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence.