Healing-Centered Organizing

In this episode, Casandra Fullwood, Bronte Ibbotson, and Pamela Cross join us to talk about the importance of centering healing, joy, and self-care in the movement against gender-based violence.

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CONTENT NOTE

Although there are no descriptions of sexual violence on this podcast, any conversation about sexual or gender-based violence can be hard to hear. Listen in a way that feels safe for you. If you need support, there are resources like sexual assault support centres in your community that you can reach out to. See our list here of supports available by province.

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FURTHER LEARNING

For a great resource on student organizing that includes tools on self-care and healing, check out Courage to Act’s toolkit, Courage Catalysts: Creating Consent Cultures on Campus.

You Matter Too by Farrah Khan is a helpful list of self-care apps, books, talks, podcasts, and more.

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ABOUT OUR GUESTS

Casandra Fullwood (she/her) is a Scarborough-born, Afro-Caribbean woman residing in Tkaronto. Her feminist politics are largely focused within the socio-economic realities of Black women, navigating feelings of bodily unsafety, collective grief, and creating spaces for community healing. Casandra is a harm reduction worker and the founder of We Heal Together, a Black survivor space that focuses on collective community care. She is in her fourth year of Arts and Contemporary studies at Toronto Metropolitan University. In her free time, Casandra likes to create art that centers Black intimacy, matrilineal lineage, Black spirituality and Zami love.

Bronte Ibbotson (she/her) is a first year U of T student from Niagara, Ontario. After witnessing gender-based violence and cultures of disrespect in her community and highschool, she helped found Project Breakaway in 2021: a feminist Instagram account aimed at educating, empowering, and providing a safe space for women and youth. She is now involved in organizing with the High School Too movement, using her voice at the national level to speak up against gender-based violence and create necessary change.

Pamela Cross (she/her) is a feminist lawyer and well-known and respected expert on violence against women and the law for her work as a researcher, writer, educator and trainer. She works with women’s equality and violence against women organizations across Ontario. As the Legal Director of Luke’s Place Support and Resource Centre in Durham Region, she leads the organization’s provincial projects including research, training and advocacy. With Luke’s Place, Pamela has written a number of papers on the topic of violence against women and family law. With funding from the federal Department of Justice, she led a team that conducted research into the use of family violence screening tools for family law practitioners. The final report, entitled “What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You: The importance of family violence screening tools for family law practitioners”, includes a draft screening tool.

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CONNECT WITH POSSIBILITY SEEDS

Want to follow our gender justice work? Connect with us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, and visit our website at possibilityseeds.ca.

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TRANSCRIPT

Read the episode transcript here.

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CREDITS

Created by Possibility Seeds. Project team: Farrah Khan, Emily Allan, Anoodth Naushan, Laura Murray, and Chenthoori Malankov-Milton. Produced by Vocal Fry Studios. Graphic design by Kitty Rodé with elements from Arzu Haider.