Category Archives: Speakers Bureau

Learning about Stigma


Recently, members of our Speakers Bureau had the opportunity to attend stigma training provided by Aids Vancouver Island. The members reported gaining greater self-awareness of their own experiences of stigmatization as well as learning tools to respond to stigmatizing behaviour they see in themselves and others. They highly recommend the training and would like to share some of the highlights: Continue reading

Speakers Bureau shares real experiences of homelessness

I often go out to speak on the topic of homelessness. I can speak to the types of issues that drive homelessness in our community. These include things like low vacancy rates and high rents. I can speak to the numbers of people experiencing homelessness in our community using things like our facilities count or shelter data. I can even predict how much housing we need to break the back of homelessness in Greater Victoria.  This allows me to capture people’s mind and increase the intellectual understanding of homelessness in Victoria.

The one thing I can’t do is capture their hearts. I can’t speak to the actual experience of homelessness. Continue reading