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, funded by the Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia, and is designed to support the mental health and well-being of those working tirelessly in Nova Scotia’s gender-based violence (GBV) sector.
YOU Matter is a trauma-sensitive practice community to support people working in high-impact, trauma-exposed roles across Nova Scotia’s gender-based violence (GBV) sector or with clients who have experienced GBV. This one-year initiative offers gentle, choice-based opportunities to be with yourself, but in community; practicing together to enhance your personal resilience and well-being.
More background and project summary can be found here
This work asks a lot of us — emotionally, mentally, physically, and relationally. Yet there are few spaces where that impact is named, normalized, or tended to.
The project responds to urgent and long-standing needs identified across the field, including burnout, secondary and vicarious trauma, isolation, and moral injury from organizational and 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 resilience among providers and ultimately for the sector ecosystem as a whole.
A diverse Advisory Circle of colleagues in the field will help guide the project through its design, delivery, and evaluation stages, fielding feedback and making adjustments to the programming with care geared toward the participants.
In December we offered an inaugural pre-holiday gentleness practice, virtual, free and open to all. Many participants expressed appreciation for that simple practice time in the midst of preparing for the holiday onslaughts. They affirmed how much this care is needed.
We also hosted information sessions about the project in January 2026, with a province-wide outreach and invitations to GBV staff and leadership in the sector. We held two sessions so people who are on shift work could also attend to hear more detail about what the offering is, and what it is not. These distinctions are extremely important.
This is envisioned as a protected space for service providers working in the GBV sector across Nova Scotia, who are dealing with trauma exposed workplaces and/or GBV clients in a variety of settings every day. But this project is not designed for organizational or sector problem-solving, nor is it for sharing traumatic stories or experiences, though those needs are also great. It is a focus on trauma sensitive modalities, tools and practices to support the individuals working in this field, who may, or in many cases, may not have supports available for their own well-being and care in this very challenging and activating field. It is bringing trauma-specialized approaches for being with oneself, doing one’s own inner work, learning and practicing the most current, body-based and presenced approaches to nervous system regulation and care for the whole self. While each participant will focus on their own internal awareness, we will practice together as a community in an environment of gentle support and choiceful participation and reflection. As care practices become embedded into daily routines, we may share more together, expand our relational awareness and impact, and host more interactive, in-person events.
But first, it is all about YOU. Because YOU Matter.
For specific information about the offerings, the schedule and the approach, you can read this one-pager.
We begin with virtual Learning and Practice sessions, regularly scheduled biweekly to create a pattern of dedicating time for regular practice and care for oneself. These will continue for the duration of the project, mostly facilitated by Kristina Fifield, a trauma-specialized therapist who is grounded in cultural humility and trauma-sensitive practices. These will also embody choice for each participant-- whether to attend, when to arrive, when to leave, which offerings to practice, or to just sit in silence. It assumes that YOU are the best judge of what YOU are ready for and what will feel supportive for YOU.
The learning and practice section will be recorded and accessible to all who register. We will welcome feedback after each session on an anonymous form. The Advisory Circle will review and revise the offerings according to the needs expressed. It is very much a collaborative engagement to fill a care gap for people working in the sector.
Monthly Advisory Circle meetings will continue to steward implementation, notice emerging challenges, and document lessons learned. Since they will also participate, (if they choose), their strategic guidance will help shape the project as it unfolds into in-person gatherings and potential retreats, as funding and readiness allow. Advisory members will also help ensure we are reaching the providers who are often overlooked and under-represented, (rural, BIPOC, newcomers, 2SLGBTQ+, those living with disabilities) and including cultural practices and modalities in the array of offerings.
First Virtual Learning & Practice Session: Present Moment Experience & Choice
You are invited to join the first official virtual Learning and Practice session of the You Matter project.
Facilitated by Kristina Fifield, registered social worker, clinical specialist, and trauma therapist who has spent her career working alongside those impacted by gender-based violence and is very excited to be co-creating this intentional space.
February 17th at 3:00- 4:30 pm, online.
You are invited to register for this and subsequent offerings HERE.
Please also note the Consent to Participate link on the registration form, which explains further the parameters and limitations of this offering.
Zoom link will be emailed out after registration.
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 your work and daily life, creating a little more space for YOU.
You are welcome here, exactly as you are. You Matter!
This project lays critical groundwork for embedding mental and body-based wellness 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.
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.