You Matter: Care for Service Providers in the GBV Sector
October 15th, 2025 - September 30th, 2026
The You Matter project is a partnership between Be the Peace Institute and Kristina Fifield Trauma Therapy & Consulting and is designed to support the mental health and well-being of those working tirelessly in Nova Scotia’s gender-based violence (GBV) sector. The purpose is to create intentional opportunities to support the service providers with life-nurturing connections, peer and professional support, in safe, non-judgemental spaces, where trust can be re-established for learning and healing together, and to mobilize collective voice and action.
The project responds to urgent and long-standing needs identified across the field, including burnout, secondary and vicarious trauma, isolation, and moral injury from systemic barriers and chronic under-resourcing. The goal is to strengthen the capacity of caring service providers —both frontline, leadership and administrative—by offering trauma-informed, culturally responsive wellness programming that fosters connection, care, and fostering resilience among providers and for the sector ecosystem as a whole.
The project launched in October 2025 with internal planning and coordination, hiring or assigning a project lead and establishing a sector Advisory/Working Group. This group, made up of diverse representatives from GBV organizations across the province, will guide the project through its design, delivery, and evaluation stages.
Through November and December 2025, the Advisory/Working Group will co-develop the model for service provider support, which may include wellness circles, peer pods, in-person retreats, trauma specialized healing practices, and online workshops. This planning phase will ensure the project addresses the needs of those who are often overlooked, including rural, BIPOC, and 2SLGBTQIA+ staff.
In December we are offering an inaugural offering - a pre-holiday gentleness practice, open to all, virtual and free. In January 2026, a province-wide outreach and registration campaign will invite GBV staff and volunteers to participate in information sessions. The first round of learning sessions will be launched in February 2026, starting in selected regions. These sessions will offer safe, supportive spaces for reflection, rest, connection, and healing, with facilitation grounded in cultural humility and trauma-informed practices.
By March 2026, evaluation tools will capture data- using surveys, focus groups, and feedback sessions to assess the effectiveness and impact of the supports. The Advisory/Working Group will begin to synthesize this input to refine the model and offerings, and expand the program into the remaining Nova Scotia locales between April and September 2026.
Monthly Advisory/Working Group meetings will continue to oversee implementation, troubleshoot emerging challenges, and document lessons learned. The project will conclude with a comprehensive report to the Mental Health Foundation and sector partners, including participant testimonials and recommendations for sustainability.
This project lays critical groundwork for embedding mental health supports into the long-term fabric of Nova Scotia’s GBV sector, acknowledging the emotional labour of those who provide support and care to others traumatized by GBV, and ensuring they too are cared for in return.
Advisory Circle
The Advisory Circle will provide strategic guidance, troubleshoot challenges, and help shape the project as it unfolds. Members will also participate in training and reflection, ensuring feedback loops inform each stage.
Early Offering: Pre-Holiday Gentleness Practice
You are invited to join the inaugural offering of the new You Matter project.
A pre-holiday gentle grounding practice as we move toward the holiday season— a time that can hold many seemingly opposite things at once.
December 11th at 3:00- 4:30 pm, online
For many of us doing gender-based violence work, this time of year can be tender and fraught. Moments of joy, connection and meaning may converge with feelings of exhaustion and strain and being stretched thin.
It can feel overwhelming, full of expectations to “be” a certain way, and make joy harder to access.
You are invited to slow down and take a gentle pause. Maybe reconnect with your body, your breath and your heartbeat. Choose how you’d like to engage as we explore grounding strategies and nurturing practices that may feel supportive as you move through the holiday season, creating a little more space for YOU.
You are welcome here, exactly as you are. You Matter!
Please RSVP by registering here: Eventbrite
Zoom link will be emailed out after registration
You Matter, funded by the Mental Health Foundation of NS is in partnership with Be the Peace Institute and Kristina Fifield Trauma Therapy, with an Advisory Circle of valued colleagues.