Empowerment Program Workshops
Our workshops, events, and wellness series have been developed through collaboration with elders and experts in the field and provides community leaders. Using our Community-based Lateral Kindness Curriculum, our Empowerment Facilitators are given the tools and knowledge to conduct culturally-based workshops that create a safe space to start a dialogue about gender-based promoting mental wellness, and fostering resilience through shared knowledge, culture, and community support.
Our Empowerment Program Workshops encourage participants to build confidence, share stories, and reclaim their power through activities that honour culture, spirituality, and lived experience. They focus on compassion, understanding, and bold kindness, supporting people as they grow, learn, and adapt in ways that honour future generations.
Our Program
EIWFSC has developed the Dragonfly Moons Empowerment Facilitator Training Program—a unique, two-eyed seeing, gender inclusive, trauma-informed, and culturally focused model of facilitation led by Indigenous women and gender-diverse individuals. This program, previously titled the Circle of Balance Program, was developed in response to the ongoing need for culturally relevant mental health and violence prevention support in indigenous communities. Our flagship program approaches mental health and gender-based violence from an Indigenous lens, using cultural knowledge, rituals, and practices to train community leaders to support women in their communities living in domestic violence situations or experiencing mental health challenges. Our Empowerment program developed from our mandate to prevent gender-based violence and improve mental health in Indigenous communities in Newfoundland and Labrador with the understanding that Indigenous communities need more than the Western model of medicine that often neglects to consider the effects of generational trauma on mental health and the cycle of abuse, as well as the lack of mental health and domestic violence resources within these communities.
The Dragonfly Moons: Empowerment program was developed by Empowering Indigenous Women for Stronger Communities (EIWFSC) to support adults living in Newfoundland and Labrador in building stronger connections with themselves and their peers. It creates opportunities for Indigenous people to come together, support one another, and learn together in a facilitated participatory environment.Peer facilitation is grounded in the belief that hope and support are the starting place to enhance well-being. Although everyone’s journey is unique, facilitators can inspire hope, promote a sense of inclusion and belonging, and demonstrate the possibility of well-being while relating to the challenges and stigma attached to their experiences. Our goal is to empower and support Indigenous women, girls, two-spirit, and gender-diverse individuals across Ktaqamkuk, Nitassinan, Nunatsiavut, and NunatuKavut . This program provides a safe, supportive space where participants can explore and strengthen their self-esteem, mental health, and overall well-being.
Dragonfly Moons: Empowerment Program
Facts
In 2020, 22% of female homicides in Canada were Indigenous women (The Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres).
Indigenous women are 44% more likely to experience some form of intimate partner violence (IPV) in their lifetime compared to their non-Indigenous counterparts (The Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres).
Most Indigenous women and girls were killed by someone that they knew (81%), including an intimate partner (35%), acquaintance (24%), or family member (22%) (Statistics Canada).
Indigenous 2SLGBTQQIA+ women are 86% more likely to experience IPV compared to non-LGBTQQIA+ Indigenous women (The Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres).
Indigenous 2SLGBTQQIA+ women are 5 times more likely to experience a partner revealed, or threaten, to reveal their gender/sexual identity (The Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres).