Education Sessions
The Sexual Harassment Office offers the following education sessions to all members of the university community. If you are interested in booking one of these sessions for you and/or your unit(s), please contact us by phone at (709) 864-8199 or email at shoffice@mun.ca. If you are on Grenfell Campus, please call (709) 637-7195 or email shoffice@grenfell.mun.ca.
All of these education sessions have the potential to be disturbing to some participants since we discuss topics which may be difficult or sensitive for some people. We believe that having this education is valuable to everyone and contributes to a safer univeristy community. Supports are available and will be addressed at the beginning of each session. Support information is available in the Brightspace module.
Sexual Violence Awareness and Prevention Course (SVM0204)
Sexual Harassment Office provides a mandatory online self-directed module on sexual violence awareness and prevention to all new undergraduate and graduate students at Memorial University as well as new certificate and diploma students at the Marine Institute.
There are six required modules, designed to educate students on sexual violence, consent, Memorial's policy and procedures on sexual violence, intervention and prevention strategies, and the role of the Sexual Harassment Office.
- Introduction
- Memorial's Policy
- Sexual Violence
- Consent
- A Shared Responsibility
- Sexual Harassment Office
- Additional information (optional)
- Guide for international students (optional)
This course contains vital information for all students and is freely available to every student at Memorial. We encourage returning students to consider registering via self-serve. The course can be completed in about 30 minutes for those who have a solid understanding of sexual violence as they can just do the quiz and obtain the certificate. It will take students who are relatively new to the material about 2 hours to review the required modules and complete the quiz.
Students are required to pass this course before they can register for another semester at Memorial and you cannot drop the course.
You can download a certificate within the course.
There are three sections of SVM 0204
- 001 for all Undergrad students
- 002 for all Graduate students and
- 003 for all students at Marine Institute
Students are encouraged to register based on the category they fit in. Please contact the SHO if you have questions or concerns. email svprevention@mun.ca or call 709 864 8199. For technical assistance please contact the CITL Support Centre.
Sexual Harassment Office and Key Concepts
This session provides a comprehensive overview of the role of the Sexual Harassment Office, Memorial's policy and procedures, resources available, consent and bystander concepts. It is designed to increase awareness and support the prevention of sexual violence.
The material in this session is similar to the Sexual Harassment and Sexual Assault online module that is part of the Workplace Violence Prevention course for new faculty and staff and the recently launched SVM 0204: Sexual Violence Awareness and Prevention course which is mandatory for all new students at Memorial University effective fall 2022.
Time required: 1 hour
Delivery: Virtual or in-person
Active Bystander Intervention
This session is designed to create a community of shared responsibility to prevent sexual violence and guidance on how to safely intervene. This session is designed to introduce participants to the notion of bystander responsibility and help them recognize inappropriate behaviour that requires intervention. Objectives include:
- Define sexual violence and bystander intervention
- Establish the need for all to be involved in creating a safer campus
- Identify barriers and safety concerns with intervening
- Describe the 5 Ds model of bystander intervention
- Review and apply scenarios (in the 2 hour session)
This session is available in two lengths: 60 minutes and 120 minutes. The longer session includes material on how to intervene, scenarios and skill building activities.
This program covers topics that are very sensitive and can be disturbing for some.
Time required: 1 hour (introduction) or 2 hours (includes skills building and scenarios)
Delivery: Virtual or in-person
Consent
The session defines consent and explores its role in preventing sexual violence and changing culture. Objectives include defining sexual violence and consent, exploring the concept of boundaries and the nuances of consent, introducing power and consent and recognizing that everyone has a role to play in creating a safe and healthy campus community.
This program covers topics that are very sensitive and can be disturbing for some.
Time required: 1 to 1.5 hours
Delivery: Virtual or in-person
Going Abroad
This session is designed to inform university members of the considerations related to sexual violence prevention and intervention when in work or study placements abroad or off-campus.
Time required: 1 to 1.5 hours
Delivery: Virtual or in-person
Healthy Relationships
This session provides an overview of what constitutes a healthy relationship and awareness of unhealthy relationship indicators. Objectives include identifying different types of relationships, understanding the characteristics of a healthy relationship, learning how to foster healthy relationships and knowing your relationship rights and responsibilities.
Time required: 1 hour
Delivery: Virtual or in-person
Responding to Disclosures of Sexual Violence
This session provides an understanding of a trauma-informed response and clarity of your role when someone tells you about an experience of sexual violence. Responding to sexual violence disclosures can be challenging and anyone can be in the position of being a the first person someone discloses to.
The sensitive material in this session requires participants to reflect on their own attitudes and values in relation to sexual violence.
Time required: 1.5 to 2 hours
Delivery: In-person
Requests for education specific to a unit’s needs can be designed and provided. An example of this might be a skill development workshop in follow-up to the responding to disclosures session.