PCTOI conducted a community healing workshops for the Somali-Canadian community to address the roots of youth violence at an early age.
The project which has been funded by the City of Toronto encompasses two components:
The first component of the workshop was about start healing for those who have lost their loved ones to gun violence. In this part PCTI brought
licensed psychotherapist and social worker with extensive background in facilitating trauma-informed sessions for the community to start their healing journey. The purpose of this particular part was to stop the Somali community from suffering in silence, and start healing from their traumatic experiences. The workshop consisted of 5 sessions, each one is 90 minutes in length. We categorized the participating folks into age group, where we allocated one time for the young Somali men, one for Somali women, another for Somali fathers, and lastly one separate session for Somali mothers.
The second component of the project was the “Stop the Bleeding” workshop. Hodo Samater, the owner of Begin to Heal Counseling and
Consulting Services facilitated these workshops. The facilitator in these sessions focused on preventative measures, by
disrupting the pipeline from school to prison, to grave. The workshop was particularly interested in working with parents who have children in grades K-12. Positive Change TO was building the capacity of parents and legal guardians to better equip them with the knowledge in preventing young children and youth from joining gangs or being involved with the street life. This workshop helped parents and guardians access the tools they need to better raise their children in Canada.
