Hi everyone, my name is Victoria and I’m the director of training at Plan to Protect®. I’ve been working for Plan to Protect® for the past 3 years and have been overseeing all of our online, LIVE webinar and onsite training.

Today, I really wanted to open up and share a little bit more about myself.  Social media gives you a window into someone’s life. You can spend so much time listening to someone, hearing about their life or seeing photos of them that you think you know them. Feel like you’re friends.

But…social networking sites are a curated glimpse at someone’s life. It’s a small piece of the puzzle that makes up the whole.

All three of my children are teachers. My son teaches grade three students. My youngest daughter graduated with her Early Childhood Education. Victoria, as many of you know, is a licensed teacher in Ontario but is applying her education to abuse prevention and protection, as our Director of Training with Plan to Protect®. 

Each month, we receive a few copies of Professionally Speaking: The magazine of Ontario College of Teachers. Each issue has inspiring articles on bullying, classroom management, and modernizing teacher education. We often try to integrate the learnings from the magazine into our training initiatives at Plan to Protect®.

A father of a 12-year-old announced in our training seminar recently that he found over 400 text messages on his son’s phone from a male that was 30 years older than his son.  He didn’t even know they were friends.  Apparently this was an occasional helper at a youth drop-in center where his son would go after school.  

Four years ago the Executive Director of a large community service agency asked me what our recommendations on the issue of transgender and gender dysphoria. This service organization had recently had boys asking to register for their all girl’s programs.  At the time, I did not have a well formulated, or well-researched response. I suggested they consult with a lawyer …  a safe answer as I didn’t have the answers to give.  

Relationships are the priority for the children and youth’s ministry at Central Baptist Church in Edmonton.

But for children and youth to build relationships with God, they need to be able to trust the church leading them.

“I want all of our volunteers to be just as convinced as I am that the church should be the safest place on earth and that the church should be a place that children can know that they are safe and that they are cared for,” said Jud Stade, the church’s emerging generations pastor, meaning he’s responsible for overseeing ministries for children to young adults in their mid-20s.

The Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre (JCCC) in Toronto has always been like a family. It educates the public about the history and contributions of Japanese-Canadians and provides a place for Japanese Canadians to meet and participate in cultural activities. The centre runs dozens of classes weekly, ranging from flower arranging to calligraphy and numerous martial arts classes.

Recent growth has brought changes to the centre. They’re small things: signs posted around the building showing a man and woman holding a child’s hands to remind people to watch for unsupervised children; some new times for classes; standardized name tags for volunteers at festivals. But these reflect a larger concern: the centre’s growing commitment to make sure everyone who comes knows how committed the organization is to abuse prevention and protection, especially for children and seniors.

We work with thousands of organizations – both large and small – to help them implement a high standard of abuse prevention and protection of the vulnerable sector to whom they serve. 

Over the next few blog entries we will share with you stories of clients we've worked with and the benefits they've gained. 

Muskoka Woods Camp – Discover how a residential and city event camp that was already committed to safety raised the bar on protection among their unique programs. 

At Muskoka Woods, ensuring children have fun safely is serious business.

Safety is the organization’s first customer service standard, said Jackie Carmichael, managing director of programs for Muskoka Woods. She would know – she first came to Muskoka Woods as a camper when she was 9.

There are some topics I wish we didn’t have to address - child abuse in faith communities is one of them.  Like many, I hate to think that those that say they follow God’s teachings and desire to live in holiness and worship are choosing to indulge in sinful, lustful desires that rob the innocence of children. However what I do appreciate hearing is how faith communities are striving to create safe places for past offenders and children. 

Twenty-five years ago my husband and I were living 20 kilometers from Vienna in a small town called Traiskirchen.  The town is well known for its wine and heurigers. The city is also known nationwide and internationally for its refugee camp the "Bundesbetreuungsstelle für Asylwerber." 

It is the refugee camp that drew us to Traiskirchen.  Here we met and assisted incredible people from Eastern Europe, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Syria as they awaited papers and word of a new home.

One young man we met was Abraham[1].  He was 19 years of age and had grown up in Syria. 

Last night I saw Spotlight.

Today I feel numb! 

Spotlight is a 2015 American drama film directed by Thomas McCarthy and written by McCarthy and Josh Singer.

The story is about The Boston Globe's "Spotlight" team, a newspaper investigative unit in the United States. The real Spotlight Team earned the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.