saffron newsletter - summer 2008

8/14/2019 SAFFRON Newsletter - Summer 2008

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It has been an exciting six months since

our last newsletter was published. I cant

believe how quickly the time has gone by

as we have experienced many changes,

much growth at our Centre. We have

received an overwhelming positive re-

sponse from the community as we meetthe needs of clients affected by sexual

violence.

In February we provided the second run

of our Ctrl, Alt, Deleteplay in Fort

Saskatchewan with the cast from the

Sheeptown Players. Two daytime pres-

entations were offered to over 600

junior and high school students and in the

evening the performance was well at-

tended by many community members.

Since that time

SAFFRON has

received funding

from the Commu-

nity Incentive Fund

for our Secure

Connections pro-

gram, specifically

our new project

called Youth Lead-

ership inCommu-

nication Safety.

This funding allows

us to produce the

Ctrl, Alt, Delete

play into a DVD

video production

that will be distrib-

uted to rural com-

munities throughout

Alberta. We are

hoping to develop

youth focus groups

to address the

issues of cyber-

bullying in rural communities by working

with them online through our new Web-

site: Secure Connections.com.

SAFFRON staff and Board also hosted

our second annual Casino Latinofund

raising event at the Whitecroft Commu-

nity Hall with the exciting entertainment

of Hardly a Band. The band kept us

warm with their wit and humor although

it was probably one of the coldest nights

of the winter. We had a great turnout,

with lots of prizes, and I would like to

extend my thanks to all who participated

in this worthwhile fun event.

In March we were honored to be the

recipients of the proceeds from the

Vagina Monologues that was presented

at the Eva O. Howard Theatre on March

31st. We are very grateful to Lorraine

Krauss for making this connection for us

giving us the opportunity to work with

Amanda Omoth and her group. The

actresses did an awesome job and we

thank all of the talented and very dedi-

cated women who performed and do-

nated their time to our Centre.

In April we geared up for our second

Heal with Teal Sexual Violence

Awareness month that ran throughout

May with various events and presenta-

tions. I am very pleased and honored to

say that we have exceeded our expecta-

tions with the wonderful support that we

have received from our community. We

were at the Salisbury Greenhouses since

May 10 up to June 8, cooking up pan-

cakes for breakfast for hungry gardeners

as they purchase their treasures for the

year. We were also very fortunate to

participate in the BBQ lunches at Salis-

bury as well this year. Id like to extend a

very big thank you to Rob Sproule, Anna

Pandos and all the staff of Salisbury whohave assisted to make this a memorable

month long event in the County of

Sherwood Park.

As many of you are aware, Jocelyn Beau-

dette-Hodsman has moved onto higher

places, namely the 21st floor of the Scotia

Tower (with a window yet) as an EAP

counsellor for a large firm downtown.

We miss Jocelyn and her quiet and

caring presence and wish her all the best

in her new position.

Since February 2008, we

have received a record

number of intakes to our

Centre and we are very

fortunate to have three

contract therapists who

have been providing

excellent therapy and

treatment to our clients.

Im pleased to introduce

Karin Lord, Registered

Psychologist and her

therapy Corgi Lou to our

Centre. Karin has been a

great resource and sup-

port to our staff as we

transition our services

from supportive counsel-

ing to therapy and treat-

ment. We are also very

fortunate to have two

Clinical Social Workers

on contract with us: Joy

Peterson and Stephanie Bozzer. With

their support and hard work, our coun-

seling program has experienced an in-

crease in referrals and new clients of

over 300% during the past year(see graph

on page 2).

(continued on next page)

Message from the Executive DirectorMessage from the Executive DirectorMessage from the Executive DirectorMessage from the Executive Director-Dorthe Flauer, Executive Director

On June 26, Strathcona County Councillor Linda Osinchuk presented SAFFRON

with a cheque to assist with ongoing services. Councillor Osinchuk was

instrumental in initiating this donation from the discretionary funds of the

following Councillors: Linda Osinchuk, Vic Bidzinski, Peter Wlodarczak, Glen

Lawrence, Jason Gariepy. Executive Director Dorthe Flauer accepts this cheque

on behalf of SAFFRON with board members Jenn Elliott (Vice President), Judy

Bain (President), Alan Dunn, and Liz Pratt (from left to right).

Message from the Executive

Director

2

Website Updates 3

ONYX Teen Girls 4

Presentation Statistics 4-5

Public Education 6

Events 7-8

Secure Connection 6

Inside this issue:Inside this issue:Inside this issue:Inside this issue:


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As I have shared with you before, Idont believe that sexual violence is

necessarily on the increase, but I do

believe that clients are now feeling more

secure and safe to come forward and

with the increase in awareness of what

we do, it is easier for them to access our

services. For the first year of my time

with SAFFRON, many people I met in the

community were very surprised when I

told them I worked with Strathcona

Sexual Assault Centre. A very common

response was, I didnt know there was a

sexual assault centre in Sherwood Park..

There have been changes to our Public

Education program and we are veryfortunate to have Katie Kitschke on

board as our Public Education Coordina-

tor. Katie has a great energy and passion

for working with youth in the schools

and since she arrived at SAFFRON in

February, she has tripled the number of

presentations that have been provided to

students in our schools. To date, SAF-

FRON has presented 280 presentationsto over 7520 of students and teachers.

Katie has also increased the number of

different schools that she has made

presentations with very few schools in

the County that were not able to have

her provide one of her energetic and

exciting sessions to students.

Teri Stannard who has been working at

SAFFRON since September 1, 2007 is

working in her new role as Seeds of

Healing Admin Coordinator and is pro-

viding support to clients that call the

Centre in need of our services. Teri is

responsible for all of our intakes and

makes connections with many otherorganizations as we work to meet the

needs of our clients.

Our ONYX Teen Girls program has

been very successful this year with Teri

has also worked intensely in the ONYX

Teen Girls program at the Next Step

Out Reach Broadmoor School. Many

days, Teri was called to the school toassist teens with various issues and al-

ways came back to the Centre with a

renewed energy and dedication to the

girls. It has been a very rewarding year

to have worked so closely with Youth

Workers, Christa Shelley and Tracy Zala

of the Next Step Outreach Schools in

both Sherwood Park and Fort Saskatche-

wan.

The staff of SAFFRON work endlessly

with creativity, determination and dedica-

tion to create awareness and provide

presentations to students, teachers,

parents and other community members

as well as to other professionals. Withthis awareness SAFFRON has gained a

presence as a credible, agency that pro-

vides, caring, supportive, timely and

affordable services to victims and their

families.

Page 2 SAFFRON: STRATHCONA SEXUAL ASSAULT CENTRE

Program cover from The Vagina

Monologues presented in March

Message from the Executive Director (cont)Message from the Executive Director (cont)Message from the Executive Director (cont)Message from the Executive Director (cont)-Dorthe Flauer, Executive Director


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Page 3SAFFRON: STRATHCONA SEXUAL ASSAULT CENTRE

In June, a new main directory page was

created to allow visitors to navigate to

the different pages that were being devel-

oped. With this page now complete, the

ONYX Teen Girls page was next, and

currently being developed is the page

devoted to information on sexual vio-

lence and the reporting process titled Its

Never the Victims Fault (see the sneak

peek below).

On the home page, there is also a link to

Since we are continually growing and

evolving here at SAFFRON, the webpage

has had to go through some changes as

well.

In April, we officially launched our new

SAFFRON site, that features a full flash

front end (and a first for the

site...background music). I am pleased to

say that there havent been any major

issues with the site, and it has continued

to expand.

Secure Connection. This link currently

goes to a Coming Soon page. With the

recent CIF grant that we have received,

www.yoursecureconnection.com is now

going to be the new front for our Secure

Connection Program.

Always remember to check our main

page for upcoming events and news!

Website UpdatesWebsite UpdatesWebsite UpdatesWebsite Updates-Eric Atkinson, Webmaster

From Left to Right: The new SAFFRON Main Page (www.saffron-ssac.com), the new SAFFRON flash site, and Its Never The Victims Fault (preview)

SAFFRON was fortunate to have a branch of the Sherwood Park Red Hat Society come out and volunteer for one of the Pancake

Breakfasts during the 2008 Heal with Teal Campaign. Theyre youthful energy and excitement brought a smile to customers faces

and helped turn a cool spring day into an enormous success.

Were always looking

for volunteers to assist

in various ways. . We

greatly appreciate peo-

ple who can take time

out of their busy sched-

ules. If you are unable

to commit time, we also

accept donations and

can provide you with a

tax receipt.


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It has been great year for ONYX, wehave seen the program grow to new

heights. To date, the 10 week ONYX

Program has been run three times in the

Centre, twice at Next Step Outreach

School in Fort Saskatchewan, Broadmoor

Next Step Outreach School in Sherwood

Park, three sessions at Fort Saskatchewan

Boys and Girls Club and we have just

completed two summer sessions here at

our Centre with one more summer

session booked for August.

As our reputation grows so do our

referrals for participants. We have

received referrals and requests for infor-

mation about our program from PChADEdmonton, Victim Services, FCSS, Mental

Health, School Counselors, Childrens

Services and local parent groups. In

addition, SAFFRON provides support andcounseling through our outreach ser-

vices.

Some of the topics we address in the

program include: setting healthy bounda-

ries (on the internet, in relationships, at

work, sports and school), how to say no,

dealing with anger, stress and other

emotions, dating violence, dealing with

bullying, peer pressure and intimidation,

body awareness, stereotypes and media

influences as well as taking a closer look

at empowering young women and build-

ing self-esteem and a sense of identity.

The greatest achievement though, ac-

cording to the girls who participate, isgetting to know the different participants

in the group and bonding together as

friends who normally wouldnt have

anything to do with each other outsidethe group.

SAFFRON is very pleased to announce

that with the continued support of the

Canadian Women's Foundation, funding

has been provided for ONYX for 2008-

2009. We look forward to another

successful year.


ONYX in full swingONYX in full swingONYX in full swingONYX in full swing-Teri Stannard, Counselling Co-Ordinator and ONYX Facilitator

Community PresentationsCommunity PresentationsCommunity PresentationsCommunity Presentations (From September 2007 June 2008)

Presentations: 41

Attendees: 1295

Notable presentations:

Alberta Technology Leaders in Education Conference

October,2007 Red Deer, Alberta

3 Presentations to 186 Attendees

Ctrl Alt Delete Play

November, 2007 Leduc, Alberta; Sherwood Park, Alberta


Flint Energy Professional Development

January, 2008 Sherwood Park, Alberta


Elk Island Public Schools Support Staff Professional Development

February, 2008 Sherwood Park, Alberta


Edmonton and Area District Parole Professional Development

March, 2008 Edmonton, Alberta

1 Presentation to 25 Attendees

Neighborhood Empowerment Team (NET) w/ Edmonton Police Service and Crown Prose-

cutor Craig Kreiger


Strathcona Christian Academy Staff In-service

May, 2008 Sherwood Park, Alberta


Were Making ConnectionsWere Making ConnectionsWere Making ConnectionsWere Making ConnectionsPublic Education Presentation Statistics

Look for current advertising for

our upcoming ONYX groups.

Special thanks to THE BODY

SHOP (Sherwood Park Mall) for

their support of the ONYX

Program.


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Page 5SAFFRON: STRATHCONA SEXUAL ASSAULT CENTRE


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congratulated SAFFRON on this project

as they are very impressed with the pro-

vincial focus of this grant. SAFFRONhas now contracted with Bill Roberts of

With the great success and positive re-

sponse for ourCtrl Alt DeletePlay,

SAFFRON applied for funding to pro-duce the play into a DVD movie that will

be distributed to rural communi-

ties to address the issues of

cyber-bullying. SAFFRON will

assist schools and other organi-

zations to present the play to

their local community and the

goal is also to set up youth focus

groups to address bullying in

their own community.

SAFFRON is in the process of

setting up a new website:

yoursecureconnection.com

for information about the cyber-

bullying issues that often spininto sexual violence against

youth. This website will be

developed to set up a forum for

youth in the province to share

their experiences and to create a

dialogue about what they can do

to make a difference in their

area.

In June, SAFFRON was granted

funding from the Community

Incentives Fund (CIF) through

the Provincial Government. CIF staff

Celtic Raine Productions to produce the

video for distribution in January 2009.

Celtic Raine has been very busy withauditions for the cast during the past

month. Dwight Denton and Stu

McGowan from the Fort Sas-

katchewan Sheeptown Players

have been involved in recruiting

young teens and assisting Bill

with the auditions. SAFFRON

will be producing a teacher's

guide to be provided with the

DVD. With requests coming in

from many places including as far

off as Seattle Washington for the

DVD, Dorthe Flauer is confident

that this will be an excellent

opportunity for our local actors to

gain recognition for their talent ,but also that it is also an excellent

way to get the issues of cyber-

bullying 'out there' and talked

about in all of Alberta.

Funding for DVD ProductionFunding for DVD ProductionFunding for DVD ProductionFunding for DVD Production

Executive Director Dorthe Flauer with the Director of

SAFFRONs Ctrl Alt DeletePlay, Dwight Denton of the

Sheeptown Players Drama Society pictured at the February

production in Fort Saskatchewan.

to tell me what they are dealing with and

to ask me for advice. We need to realize

that the youth in our community are

exposed to many dangers, whether it is

on the internet, at school, at work, at

parties, or even at home. We have a

responsibility to be proactive in educating

them about how to protect themselves

and what to do if they are a victim of

sexual assault, harassment or bullying.

We need to show them that someone is

here to help them and to listen. We

never want to turn someone away that

has the courage to speak up about the

violence that they have endured. We

need our community to support SAF-

FRON, so that no one has to deal with

their pain alone.

After giving a presentation on Sexual

Assault, I was approached by a student

that was hurting. She told me that she

had never even heard of SAFFRON. She

also told me, I want you to know that

you touched me and changed my life

Sexual assault is a reality and it is happen-

ing in our community. Our centre is

making it a priority to let the community

know that we are here and we are able

to help. We are speaking to concerned

parents and educators and most impor-

tantly we are speaking to the children.

We need them to know we are here.

We need them to understand that we

can help them to heal from the pain of

sexual assault and lead a productive life.

Over the past 3 months I have given

more than 100 presentations to thou-

sands of students in our community, and

at one point I began to ask myself if what

I was doing was really making a differ-

ence. Within days of wondering that, the

answer was made very obvious to me. In

doing 6 presentations at various high

schools in our community, I was ap-

proached by at least one student at each

presentation with a story to tell me.

Sometimes, I would have 4 or 5 of them

waiting to talk to me after a presentation

today. Thank you for your presentation.

I know that SAFFRON is making a differ-

ence. I know that these youth that are

feeling alone and afraid are finally learning

that they can be healed. It fills my heart

with so much hope to know that we are

able to make a difference and that we can

offer such a vital program and service in

Strathcona County.

The statistics are alarmlying high for

victims of sexual assault. Everyone in our

community is at risk; Men, Women,

Children, Seniors. We need to do as

much as we can to protect and heal the

victims as well as educate others about

the dangers they may be exposed to.

We need the victims to know that it is

not their fault. We need them to realize

that we will be here to support them and

hold them up when they need us. We

need to keep talking so that everyone

can hear our message.

Making Connections in Public EducationMaking Connections in Public EducationMaking Connections in Public EducationMaking Connections in Public Education-Katie Kitschke, Public Educator

To find out more aboutTo find out more aboutTo find out more aboutTo find out more about

ourourourour

Making ConnectionsMaking ConnectionsMaking ConnectionsMaking ConnectionsPublic EducationPublic EducationPublic EducationPublic Education

Program...Program...Program...Program...

Check out the website

at www.saffron-ssac.com

or email

[email protected]

Call us at

780-449-0900

Or pick up some info at

the Centre!

Program cover from the

performances of CTRL ALTDELETE at the Dow Centennial

Centre in Fort Saskatchewan in

February. The performances

were a great success and very well

received by the numerous schools

and community members who

were present.



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May was again proclaimed as Sexual Violence Awareness Month in both Strathcona County and Fort Saskatchewan.

The Heal with Teal Campaign included the Proclamation Ceremonies in Sherwood Park and Fort Saskatchewan, a

Lunch And Learn as well as pancake breakfasts and BBQ lunches in support of the Centre (pictured above). Along

with SAFFRON, the following organizations were recipients of proceeds from the fundraising: Parents Place, Hearts

& Hooves Edmonton, and the Fort Saskatchewan & Sherwood Park Boys & Girls Clubs were also participated. We

also appreciate the tireless efforts of our many volunteers who helped make these events a success.

Our 2nd Annual Casino Latino was the hottest thing going on during the coldest night of the year (-33C). Entertainment was provided by Hardly a

Band (Alex Russo and Jeff Fillion) and we were overwhelmed by the support from the community for not only sponsoring silent auction items, but

setting a record in attendance. The fun casino was staffed by the Big Idea Company and we look forward to putting on the next casino February 28 ,

2009!


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SAFFRON: STRATHCONA SEXUAL ASSAULT CENTRE LTD.

#44 48 BRENTWOOD BOULEVARD

SHERWOOD PARK, AB T8A 2H5

P: 780-449-0900

F: 780-416-2393

E: [email protected]

W: www.saffron-ssac.com

HOURS: 9:00AM - 5:00PM (MONDAY TO FRIDAY)

SAFFRON BOARD OF DIRECTORS

JUDY BAIN - PRESIDENT

JENNIFER ELLIOTT - VICE PRESIDENT

DAN TABASHNIUK - SECRETARY

RAHAT ABDULLA

EVA BUSKAS

ALAN DUNN

LINDA OSINCHUK

LIZ PRATT

JIM PRATT (Honorary)

SAFFRON STAFF

DORTHE FLAUER, BA, RSW

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

TERI STANNARD, BSc, BEd

COUNSELLING CO-ORDINATOR

KATIE KITSCHKE

PUBLIC EDUCATOR

ERIC ATKINSON

WEBMASTER / GRAPHIC DESIGNER

CONTRACTORS

JOY PETERSON, MSW, RSW

STEPHANIE BOZZER, MSW, RSW

KARIN LORD, R Psych.

MEMBERS AT LARGE

ALLAN ALCOCK

ED ANDREWS

MARY ANDREWS

ALLEN BAIN

CEDAR BEAUDETTE-HODSMAN

CHRIS BEAUDETTE-HODSMAN

KAI BEAUDETTE-HODSMAN

DOROTHY HARRIS

GAIL KRAUSS

JACK KRAUSS

LORRAIN KRAUSS

GERRY LEE

JO MCAULEY

JOAN RICHARDSON

SUZANNE RUSSELL

BILLIE THOMPSON

ANNE VIMTRUP

Sign-A-Rama Sherwood Park Owner Ian Proctor with Alberta

Premier Ed Stelmach at their official grand opening. SAFFRON

was on hand to provide hamburger and hot dog lunch that was a

part of the grand opening festivities.

Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach congratulated Executive Director

Dorthe Flauer for the Centres work and for collaborating with

Sign-A-Rama to mutually benefit in the grand opening festivities.

saffron newsletter - summer 2008

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