Sexual Assault Awareness Month

SAAM takes place every January to take action against sexualized violence. Each year, Sexualized Violence Prevention and Response (SVPR) collaborates with the Wellness Centre, the Writing Centre, the Office of TRU Student Life and other campus partners to engage faculty, staff, and students in educational opportunities.

Bystander Intervention

This year’s campaign will focus on the importance of bystander intervention. Throughout the month of January, we’ll focus our attention on building community, building skills and (re)building norms and values that uphold a safer campus culture.

We know that when people experience harm and ask for help, our responses matter. Victims/survivors who receive positive social responses are more likely to ask for help in the future, more likely to report in the future and recover more quickly from violence. TRU community members always ask how they can support our work, and this month we are asking folks to step up and learn how to intervene thoughtfully and safely. Other benefits of bystander intervention include:

• Reshaping our shared sense of what’s okay or appropriate on campus
• Strengthening our shared responsibility for creating and maintaining safety on campus
• Elevating our expectations of each other—what we do, what we say and how we do it
• Increasing our personal skills sets for responding to adversity and conflict
• Growing our awareness about how many great people exist on this campus who also want to create change and address harm

Follow @trustudentlife for posts about resources, events and bystander intervention skills. Don’t forget, TRU’s EDI office also offers excellent Active Bystander training. More information on their offerings can be found here.

SAAM 2025 Events

Throughout January, the TRU community is invited to participate in events designed to help them explore and celebrate their own acts of resistance—to adversity, oppression, injustice or gender-based violence. SVPR will also join the Wellness Centre in celebrating ten incredible years of the Consent Tea on Jan. 29. See below for more information on this month's events.