Interview with Heather Blackburn, Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Advocate
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On February 1, 2020, StFX will launch a new Sexual Violence Policy. The policy follows years of activism on the part of students, staff, faculty, and community members, and is the result of an external review and much consultation. Part of the new policy is the creation of a new role on campus: the Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Advocate. As of October 2019, this role has been filled by Heather Blackburn.
Heather Blackburn is a 2007 graduate of the Rankin School of Nursing, and has focused on primary health, population health, and working with vulnerable populations. She began her career in Alberta as a Public Health nurse, and for the last seven years, managed the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) program in Antigonish.
I sat down with Heather Blackburn early last week to talk about her new role on campus, and the launch of the new StFX Sexual Violence Policy.
AS: Can you explain what your new role is at StFX?
HB: The Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Advocate portfolio includes direct support for anyone—student faculty or staff person—who has experienced violence either on campus or off-campus, currently or in previous experience. When I say provide support, that's very much a person-centered approach. Whatever support looks like for the individual coming to meet with me is how I like to respond—keeping the person at the centre of all decision-making, of next steps, and of the types of ways that I connect them. So for that direct-response I consider myself a bit of a case manager, or a patient manager, in other fields, where people can come, build safety and trust between us, and then talk about what services, supports, or what things we can do to make thriving at StFX easier.
The prevention side of my portfolio is working on coordinating, developing, and facilitating prevention education. I work closely with the Visible @ X coordinators to help them with Waves of Change training, facilitator training, and we’re working with Johannah Black at the Antigonish Women’s Resource Centre to build a sustainable model for facilitation of Waves of Change on our campus. We're also partnering with the Women's Center on consent education in residences and for other targeted groups, and that will also include prevention education initiatives for staff and faculty. Of course, currently, because of the new policy coming into effect on February 1st, a lot of the work happening has been around developing and designing, in collaboration with others, the new processes, and providing resources and education for the people involved in those processes.
I think it's really important that if you're going to be part of the response, it's very important to be involved in prevention work. It's what makes the work sustainable for myself. It can be really hard to see harm without being part of prevention, because we'd like to live in a world where we are preventing as much harm as possible. For me, I love that my portfolio has those two main focuses, because that's what makes it sustainable for me in the long run.
AS: Now, I’d like to talk a bit about the new Sexual Violence Policy. You are probably one of the people who knows this document best, and I’m wondering what you think some of the key things StFX students should know are, if they haven’t read the full policy?
HB: Policies are the types of things that you tend to not read until you really need to read them—until it's impacted you in some kind of way or you’re supporting someone who needs to know that information. And then, we tend to be very selective about how much of a large document we read. I think what's really important for all campus folks, but in particular for students, is first recognizing what this new stand alone sexual violence policy is for all members of the campus community. It's not just student focused, but includes staff and faculty. One of the other changes in this policy is that it clearly describes both the process for disclosure and the process for reporting, and that immediate measures and supports are available whether or not you choose to disclose or report a sexual assault or any form of sexual violence. Immediate measures mean what needs to change in your immediate environment to help you feel safer and better equipped to carry on your normal activities. For folks that live in residence that could mean a premises ban of the person who subjected you to violence, a residence relocation if they live in the same building as you, staggered meal hall schedules, and academic advocacy. Reporting is where you want to engage in the investigation process, in an attempt to hold someone accountable for their actions. Disclosure is wanting to let someone know your experience and access supports for yourself. The language in the new policy is survivor centered, while maintaining procedural fairness. Lots of language in there to support survivors making their own decisions on what happens next.
Another big change from a process perspective is moving from an adjudicative model to an investigative model. What that means is that there will be fewer people involved in the investigation of reports of sexual assault and sexual violence. Because there are fewer people involved, there are fewer chances of retraumatizing or having the process cause harm to folks, and in a small, tight-knit campus like this, the fewer people privy to information like this, the more we can ensure that our processes remain confidential.
In the new policy, for students in particular, disclosures can happen in my office. We hope eventually that all disclosures on campus will be directed to my office so we can ensure that we’re not just asking about reporting processes, but that we’re surrounding folks with support so that the whole person can be seen and so that all the ways that person’s life is being impacted by violence can be addressed with services and supports, or whatever makes sense for the individual. With some time, and the development of a relationship and some trust, we can talk about reporting options. Some folks know right away they want to report, and other folks take some time, because it can be a little bit scary to think about sharing sensitive information with other people and not knowing what's going to happen, or maybe having some preconceived notions of how it works. It is new, so I think it's great to have this little touchpoint who can really help and support someone in making those kinds of decisions, and knowing that they don't have to happen right away.
A person can disclose violence what has happened to them at any point. It doesn't have to be recent, there's no timeline associated with it, there's no wrong time, but it has to make sense for the student. For the folks that choose the reporting route and want to start the investigative process, I share a little bit of information with the VP Students. To do an investigation we need to know who the folks involved are, so that information would be shared with the VP students Elizabeth Yeo, along with a brief summary of violence. Elizabeth Yeo would then assign the investigator. The investigator can be an internal investigator who has been trained to do trauma-informed interviews and really understands sexualized violence, or an external investigator. Each case is assessed on a case-by-case basis.
Once the investigator is appointed, they interview both the reporter and the respondent, and collect any other evidence that was identified through that interview process. The investigator then summarizes the findings and decides, based on all of the facts, all of the interviews, and all of the evidence, how probable is it that the responded is in violation of the Sexual Violence Policy. They make that finding, and then that goes back to the VP students to make that final decision on outcomes.
AS: Is there anything else you’d like people to know?
HB: I’d like folks to know that there's no wrong way to access services and supports. It has to be meaningful and it has to make sense for the individual and that's what we want to see. We know that sexual violence occurs on campuses, including this one, and we really want to support anyone who is subjected to sexual violence, and really work to make that change. That cultural shift, that's the longer game, but what we can do and what we're starting to do already is to make sure that anyone subjected to sexual violence is taken very seriously, that they’re respected, that their choices are honoured, and that we have a range of options for them. There's no wrong way to get support.
Heather is leading an information session on the new Sexual Violence Policy on January 30 at 5:15pm in Schwartz 215. Students, staff, and faculty are encouraged to attend this session to learn more about the new policy.
Heather’s office is located behind the 3rd floor study lounge in Bloomfield, number 313D. She can also be contacted by email at hblackbu@stfx.ca, or by phone at 902-867-5601.
