Launched at our 2019 event entitled “Community Change Starts with Me”, the workshop series of the same name was inspired by the dynamic and dedicated women that make up the Amal Center’s team of staff and volunteers. This series took place between January and June 2020, via 8 workshops designed to engage with some of the local Montreal community’s most vulnerable, the clients of the Amal Center for Women. The workshops were designed to be accessible and inclusive to ensure that this often excluded and hard-to-reach demographic could benefit from educational, personal, and community-building content around highly demanded topics. This type of educational experience is key for our clients, who often live in precarious situations and are sometimes unable to make long-term commitments towards a more prolonged learning method. Workshops offer the advantage of being informal, community-building and participatory, while delivering on specific objectives. The specific objectives here were to supplement our free, culturally-sensitive services with topics that pertain to our clientele and the larger community.
The workshops that took place were
Healthy Habits, Healthy Life: Part 1 and Healthy Habits, Healthy Life: Part 2 by Dr. Samina Iqbal
Mindful Self-Compassion by Alpha Gumboc
Comment soutenir des victimes de violences conjugales (How to Support Victims of Domestic Violence) by Nermine Barbouch
Special Online Workshop – Guide for Moms during Covid-19 by Sinead Roy and Dr. Samina Iqbal
Navigating Your Family’s Mental Health by Dr. Salam El-Majzoub
Youth Protection and You: Navigating the DYP as a Visible Minority by Sarrah Falfoul and Zeytouna Suleiman (members of the Amal Center’s intervention team in 2020)
Narcissisme : le comprendre et son impact sur votre famille (Understanding Narcissism and its impact on your family) by Naila Ben Sabih
The workshop series reached over 5500 people, and via post-workshop questionnaires, over 90% of participants responded positively to the questions:
- “I found the content of the workshop useful and relevant to my situation”
- “I can apply what I have learned to my personal life”
- “I am interested to participate in future workshops”