The Centre de santé communautaire Hamilton/Niagara is delighted to share the new pilot project : Coaching Boys into Men (CBIM), a province-wide gender-based violence prevention program that promises to have a significant impact in our province. Led by the Ministry of Education and supported by our valued partners, including the Ontario Association of Interval and Transition Houses (OAITH) and Futures Without Violence, this initiative is poised to transform the landscape of youth sport and community engagement.
CBIM, an evidence-based program developed by Futures Without Violence, is recognized worldwide for its innovative approach. Since sports exert a significant influence in the lives of young people, in the CBIM program, coaches and the community will be able to use this influence to teach young boys that strength never lies in violence.
Through a series of 12 sessions, CBIM challenges gendered social norms and promotes the tools needed to combat gender-based violence (GBV). By focusing on respect, healthy relationships and mental health awareness, CBIM aims to build safe communities.
CBIM’s success has been well documented, with results supported by the American Pediatric Association. Building on our experience implementing this program in Hamilton with consistently positive results, we acquired the rights to become certified trainers in Ontario. In addition, we undertook the task of translating the content into French and incorporating Canadian perspectives, with a particular focus on Indigenous voices, in collaboration with our partners.
As part of this project, VBG organizations will play an important role as advocates, responsible for training local high school teachers and coaches to offer CBIM to male athletes. We understand the importance of accessibility, especially for organizations supporting rural and remote areas, and are committed to working closely with all partners to ensure equitable access to the program.
To facilitate success and enable high school coaches to be trained in their respective communities, we are pleased to offer grants of up to $20,000 to VBG organizations. In addition, in an effort to reach up to 200 schools to cover the entire province, funds are allocated to provide teacher time.
Through our collaboration with OAITH, we aim to identify GBV organizations with existing access routes to schools and empower them to carry out this crucial work in their communities. An expression of interest will be circulated to interested GBV organizations, with detailed information available at the next OAITH meeting in June.
We are committed to supporting all trained GBV organizations throughout the implementation process, to ensure continuous improvement. Efforts are underway to establish a Community of Practice (CoP) to facilitate knowledge sharing.
We invite you to join us on this transformative journey to build safe and inclusive communities for our youth. For organizations not affiliated with OAITH, please contact me directly for more information.
Together, we can make a difference.
Loubna Moric,
Director, Sexual Assault and Violence Teams, Health Promotion, Family Services
905-528-0163 or Loubna.moric@cschn.ca
