Lethbridge College students now have access to a secure, 24-hour on-line reporting called REES (Respect, Educate, Empower Survivors) that can be accessed through the College’s web site.
A new reporting platform is giving those who have experienced gender-based or sexual violence a new way to share their story.
Students now have access to a secure, 24-hour online reporting service that lets survivors share their story anonymously. The platform called REES, which stands for Respect, Educate, Empower Survivors, was adopted by Lethbridge College and the University of Lethbridge this fall.
Jason Lawrence, Lethbridge College conduct officer, said REES allows survivors to have complete control of what happens to the information they share.
“They (REES) have put together a platform which is very survivor-centric. It allows people to choose their timing, the information they want to share, even whether they want to share it or not,” he said.
According to Carmen Guenther, wellness services manager, those using REES can choose to forward the information they share to staff at the college, to the Lethbridge Police Service or to simply store it on the password-protected platform.
“REES is trauma-informed. It lets you take the lead in how you want to tell your story. And once you’ve completed your record, you have options,” she said.
Guenther said one option survivors can choose will connect them to the college’s new gender- based and sexual violence support advisor who can help them access resources and support.
“For some, that’s really supportive, to actually have a human involved,” she said.
According to a 2019 survey from Statistics Canada on Individual Safety in the Post-secondary Student Population, 71 per cent of students at Canadian post-secondary schools witnessed or experienced unwanted sexualized behaviours during a one-year period.
However, the survey also found most students chose to take no action because they felt uncomfortable, were worried about negative consequences or feared for their safety.
Lawrence says adopting the REES platform is an attempt to make the reporting process at the college more responsive to those who have experienced an assault.
“If we can provide the widest amount of opportunity for them to share or store that story that they’ve had, that incident that’s taken place in their lives, we hope that will provide them with as many opportunities as possible to begin the healing process,” he said.
Guenther says the college realized it needs to do a better job of dealing with gender-based and sexual violence. Improving the reporting process was an important step.
“Before reporting was pretty complicated. I mean, we really didn’t have a clear system in place at the college and we’re the first to own that,” she said.
Along with adopting REES and hiring a gender-based and sexual violence support advisor, the college is working on a three-year strategic plan to improve its education, support and response to the issue on campus.
“We’re hearing from students nationally that this is a concern for them and we know rates are really high, so we want students to know that it’s our priority to help them advocate for the needs that they have,” said Guenther.
REES can be accessed through the Gender Based and Sexual Violence page on the Lethbridge College website. https://lethbridgecollege.ca/departments/wellness-services/gbsv