Through HAND2E, MRCSSI provides:

• Guidance and advocacy to help families access the supports and services their children need.
• Culturally responsive programming that respects family values and language preferences.
• Skill-building workshops for parents to better support their children’s development and well-being.
• Connection to community resources to foster inclusion, engagement, and resilience for both children and families.

By empowering families with knowledge, tools, and connections, HAND2E ensures that children with different abilities can thrive, and that parents feel confident and supported in their caregiving journey.

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Caring Dads is an evidence-based program intended to help fathers improve their parenting skills to become more child-focused. It also helps fathers improve their relationship and their communication with their children and partners. For the first time, Caring Dads has been culturally adapted to be offered in the Arabic language. This program is being run in collaboration with Changing Ways and is funded by Islamic Relief Canada.

• Caring Dads is a group intervention program for men who are struggling with their children, at risk of being abusive, or have abused, neglected, or exposed their children to domestic violence.
• 17-week program, culturally adapted to be offered in Arabic for the first time.
• The Caring Dads curriculum works with fathers to increase their awareness and help them improve their parenting skills to become more child-focused. It also helps them improve their relationship and their communication with their children and spouses.

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Through this project, MRCSSI strives to empower collective responsibility and strengthen capacities within Muslim communities and institutions to address GBV and support the safety of girls and women.

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Grounded in a culturally integrative approach, the initiative values faith and culture as strengths. By using these assets, we promote healthy, respectful relationships and challenge harmful norms that contribute to violence.

Through education and engagement, It’s On Us brings people together to:

• Create meaningful conversations about gender-based violence
• Develop awareness materials and interactive programming
• Use Forum Theatre to spark dialogue and reflection
• Support youth and women as peer leaders and community champion

This campaign is about building knowledge, nurturing leadership, and fostering shared responsibility. Together, women and men, parents and children, community members and leaders all have a role to play.

It’s On Us to support the safety of girls and women.
It’s On Us to take action to end GBV.
It’s On Us – all of us.

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Parent Workshops
MRCSSI developed and facilitated 18 interactive workshops for newcomer adults and parents, engaging a total of 79 unique individuals. These workshops were offered in Arabic and delivered in collaboration with the Thames Valley District School Board (TVDSB) and community partners such as London Cross Cultural Learner’s Centre and LUSO Community Services. The workshops provided spaces for exploring themes like parenting in a new country, navigating integration challenges, and practicing self-care. According to parent feedback, the sessions addressed topics relevant to their lives, helped foster connections with schools, community agencies, and peers, supported their sense of wellbeing, and offered helpful information and practical strategies.

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Eagle Heights Public School has 8 JK and SK classrooms with a high number of newcomer students in each class. The Family Visit process was modelled after best practice guidelines put forth by family engagement expert Dr. Debbie Pushor. Throughout October 2018, teachers and Early Childhood Educators from each of the 8 JK and SK classrooms visited 3 students and their parents.

In total, 18 JK/SK educators visited 24 families at home together with staff of MRCSSI, who served as cultural brokers and interpreters.

The Family Visit process positively impacted everyone involved. The Family Visits opened up opportunities for parents and educators to interact with one another outside of the classroom setting in an informal manner, inviting new conversations and pathways for relationship building. The positive relationship dynamics that were seeded within the family visit strengthened educator/student and educator/parent relationships and interactions at school.

This project demonstrates how educators/schools, families and community agencies can, and need to, work together in order to support newcomer children in their resilience and success.

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The Journey Home Project is an evidence-informed initiative designed to support newcomer families in navigating settlement challenges and fostering family well-being. The project focuses on:

• Supporting newcomer families to access community resources and programs.
• Providing guidance and mentorship to parents and caregivers to help them overcome barriers related to settlement and integration.
• Facilitating family-centered workshops that promote positive parenting, resilience, and healthy family relationships.

The Journey Home Project emphasizes early intervention and culturally responsive strategies to help families thrive in their new environment. Through this program, families are better equipped to navigate the challenges of settlement while fostering strong connections within their community.

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Supporting Her Safety equips participants with the knowledge and skills to:

• Understand the difference between healthy, unhealthy, conflictual and abusive relationships
• Recognize different forms of abuse and warning signs
• Challenge harmful norms & responses
• Support a friend or loved one experiencing abuse using the 5 Alifs, a trauma and culturally informed guide

After attending the program: I became more focused on the warning signs and red flags of domestic abuse, and I became able to distinguish and extend a helping hand and support to victims of abuse.

SHS Participant

SHS Resources

We created 3 resources providing guidance on how to support a friend or loved one experiencing abuse while taking care of yourself.

• Being there: Checking in on a loved one experiencing abuse
• The 5 Alifs: Supporting a loved one who discloses abuse
• Taking care of yourself: Balancing care and self-care while supporting a loved one experiencing abuse

Amira’s Story

Amira’s Story is a graphic novel written by over 20 London Muslimahs about gender-based and family violence, which was 7+ years in the making. It follows Amira and her family over two days and highlights themes of gendered double standards, the pressure and violence some young Muslim daughters face and the struggles of immigrant and racialized families. The book is in the process of being published, and book clubs with youth, parents and community members will start soon.

Is it Abuse?

The Is it Abuse series of 6 culturally informed resources supporting Muslim women and girls to identify their experiences of abuse within intimate partner and family relationships. These resources help Muslim women & girls identify experiences of abuse, validate impacts of abuse, and provide them with information about the supports they can access. We have created:

• 6 short graphic poster versions (digital and print)
• 6 detailed booklet versions (digital and print)

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Men Leading Change is a 12-week youth leadership program that connects racialized and newcomer men (ages 15 – 25) with community leaders working to prevent gender-based violence (GBV). This project fits into MRCSSI’s community education strategy addressing gender-based violence and promoting healthy relationships by facilitating opportunities leadership and action.

This leadership program creates opportunities for young men to learn about gender-based violence and it’s impacts on girls and women, as well as develop strategies to further raise awareness with peers. This project started in the fall of 2018. Anova and MRCSSI reached out to the YMCA YMAP program to host a cohort. In October 2018, the first cohort reached 23 high-school aged newcomer male youth, with 13 participants actively attending each week.

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