Captioning by AI-Media TIA BAHOZHONI: Hello everyone. We will start at the top of the hour we just want to make sure everyone has some time to settle in. It is exactly 1 PM so we will get started here. Before you begin, today's webinar I would like to introduce our support team member Simone who will discuss a little bit about the housekeeping. SPEAKER: Good afternoon everyone my name is Simon and I would like to welcome you to today's webinar. For those of you love not attended one of our webinars in the past I would like to highlight a few parts of the system. On the lower part of your screen you will find a control panel which are few sections I like to highlight. The first section is the audio section. If you are experiencing audio issues at any time during today's webinar, you can open up the audio or mute section and switch between audio connection. If you are attending my computer, you can switch between audio inputs if they do not work for you. If issues persist you can join by phone. If you click on the cc, the closed caption button you can access the live transcript option. If the cc button is not visible, be sure to click on my three dots to be able to select the close captioning option. The next section I like to highlight is the chat feature. If you have questions at any time during today's webinar feel free to type those questions into the chat section we will make every attempt to answer all questions asked. Any questions that were I trust will be answered to email. Also feel free to use this chat section to interact with one another during the webinar. Lastly, if you are unable to see the presentation or the presenter there is a section on the upper right hand corner where you can change your view. Click on the three buttons and you will be presented with several options. Thank you and enjoy the presentation. TIA BAHOZHONI: Thanks Simone. We will begin. I'm so sorry. That before he began I would like you to know that this resource is made possible by grants number 90 – EV/80533 – 03. From the Administration on children youth and family youth services Bureau, US Department of Health and Human Services. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily result for official use of the US Department of Health and human resources. With that being said, I want to say a very warm welcome to everyone who chose to attend this webinar today I think it is going to be a really lovely webinar. I am looking forward to it. First I should introduce myself. Hello. My name is Tia and I am the policy specialist here at NIWRC. I use pronounce she/her/hers. Today's webinar initially was created as Ed Tilley blackberry women are secret healing Camp -- sacred They have entered into a new iteration and has become our new Webinar Series called fireside sessions. Although the name has changed, these fireside sessions continue to carry on the spirit of Tilley black bear as we acknowledge efforts against violence against native women, heal our own indigenous communities and strive to find ways to create safety among survivors and advocates. All Indian country. With that said, our very first fireside session we are happily joined by Executive Director of the Wabanaki women's coalition, Donna Brown as she shares reflections on this year's WW C Survivor retreat and discusses the process of creating such an event within your own community. I would like to take a moment to introduce Donna Brown. Donna Brown is a citizen of the Penobscot Nation from Indian Island, Maine and the Algonquin First Nation of Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg from Maniwaki, Quebec, and has lived and worked in both tribal communities. She has earned her bachelor's degree in psychology and her Masters degree in social work. Donna has extensive experience in the field of training and has provided services in the field of informative technology, customer service, corporate training, suicide prevention, youth mental health, first aid and intimate partner violence. She has worked with the WWDC since 2017 as an outreach coordinator first and now as the Executive Director. I want to warmly welcome Donna and share my gratitude for today's presentation. Donna, thank you so much for joining us. DONNA BROWN: Thank you for the introduction Tia. Thank you to yourself and to the staff that NIWRC for reaching out to me that our organization, to be in community with all of you folks today. Welcome and you for attending I look forward to the next hour and 1/2 that we have together. To talk about something that I am so passionate about as well as the advocates that I work closely with. In coordination and the implementation of our annual survivors retreat. As Tia had mentioned I am a citizen... And I have been executive director of the women's coalition since 2021. We are currently a staff of two. Myself and Elaine who is the outreach coordinator. If we can move to the next slide please? Before commencing with the logistics I just want to review the roadmap for today's fireside chat. In addition to providing an overview of the Wabanaki women's coalition we will also be talking about the reflection of this year's survival retreat. In particular an overview as well as highlights and pivots in terms of how to be flexible what plans may change within our time together. As well as providing those important logistical pieces of how to create a survivors retreat, from the purpose of such a retreat to secure its location, budgeting, going over community agreements and those --key communication pieces as well. -- Next slide please? For the Wabanaki women's coalition we are a dual, tribal, domestic violence coalition and we work closely with the five tribal communities in Maine. We have the McMullen nation which formally known as the Aroostook band of Micmac Indians. They had went on change about a year and 1/2 ago. ... Both of these communities are located in Aroostook County. We also have Penobscot nation located within Penobscot County. And the two (Name) tribe at Indiantown tribe and pleasant point located in Washington County. We will see shortly a map of where our Wabanaki communities are geographically located within the state of Maine. We were founded in 2013 with the founding director, Executive Director Jane root and its founding board members and have been in existence since then. We have now celebrated our 10 year anniversary. That is very exciting. As I mentioned earlier, staff includes me and Elaine who is also a former advocate who worked extensively for the pump stop nation because he Center. -- Penobscot -- We are fortunate that all of our tribes have advocated centres which are due will centres. They support survivors of domestic and sexual violence. As well as survivors of stocking, dating violence and sex trafficking. If we can move to the next slide please? Here as I mentioned is a map of our state of Maine and the communities and where they are geographically located. This is important when I begin speaking about creating the logistics and the planning of securing a location because like many other, many tribal territories that experience similar situations as ours, it is important to take a look at where everyone is located in terms of logistical planning and travel times and factoring all of that. As I had also mentioned, Jane is the founding director and in 2015 was the first year that the coalition actually conducted its first survivors retreat. While serving in her role as Executive Director, Jane organized the survivors retreat each year from 2015 to 2019. We took a little break during COVID. And then resumed the retreat in 2021 when I became director. Next slide please? Now we get to transition to reflections of this year's retreat. Before going into some of the logistics that you will see here listed on our agenda for our annual retreat, I just want to talk a little bit about how it went this year. And there with you some of the highlights and the takeaways that we all encountered and experienced being together. This is from my personal viewpoints and highlights as well as the reflections and feedback from the advocates and from the survivors who attended this year's retreat. This year, we held our retreat in the month of September. I believe this was the first time we held it back early in the air. Typically we would hold the retreat in the month of October -- in the year We had some feedback asking if we could possibly move it a little closer to the summer months. And if so we decided on September. Being in that month, we did notice a difference in terms of the weather. It was a little warmer. And it allowed I think, more time for the advocates in particular for the month of October as you can imagine advocates across the nation are really busy in the month of October. Preparing and conducting their (unknown term) activities within the communities. That was an opportunity for us to be together in that month. We had this year, approximately 38 individuals attended our survivors retreat. That consisted of five survivors per advocacy Center, two advocates per Center as well as WW C staff, our traditional elder and members of our women's drum group. We had a fun filled weekend. The weekend I would say of being connected to land, to culture, to community, and a great time for rest, laughter, sharing healing, learning, and what I really cherished and we received -- positive feedback about and we do year after year is the way that we organize our agenda. Providing different opportunities, different modalities for healing. And it was Survivor choice. We had some group activities scheduled together and these activities are included in every years survivors retreat. In particular, and as you can see on Saturday's agenda we had free choice in the afternoon. Attendees could stay on property and will work on their shawls. Or they could join the larger group for an afternoon of hiking with those who decided to attend. It was an opportunity to be out in nature. Be together. Enjoy some physical exercise together and again, that important connection with nature. Great mountain, it's our sacred Mountain for Wabanaki people. For thousands of years, this is a mountain where our people would gather on an annual basis for different ceremonies, different gatherings. And so, it is just extra special being able to secure a location, a venue, to host this retreat each year. Within view of the mountain. And the opportunity to be there and explore at the base of our mountain is very powerful. As you can see on this agenda, I just wanted to give you all an overview and talk about some of the highlights of what we included on our agenda so that you could get a feel of what it is like not to need to organize this retreat, but also from an advocate's perspective as well as a survivor perspective attending this retreat. Whether for the first time or if they have attended previously. The great thing about having our survivors retreat at the same location each year, especially for WW C staff as well as the advocates from the advocacy centers is that we are so familiar with the venue. We are comfortable with the environment, we are comfortable with the staff at the venue. So it is really flexible. It really flows in terms of the timing, the scheduling of this. So as you can see, our survivors retreat begins on a Friday afternoon, and they indicated 4 PM as our time to register at the front desk and settle into our cabins. Dinner is listed at 5 PM. This is a rough outline of the timing, because we know and understand that some advocacy centers may want to and are able to arrive sooner than 4 PM. They are able to check in anytime after 3 PM. Some may arrive after. If that is the case, due to whatever reason, be they have some survivors they need to work with before leaving for this retreat, so we are very flexible in that way. They know that all they need to do is go to the front desk and checking on behalf of the group assigned to their cabin. Obtain their keys, and they know right where to go to check in with the group. If they are running late for dinner, we grab dinner to go and put it in their cabin so it is there when they arrive. We gather for dinner at the main dining hall, the restaurant at the venue. And we have dinner together in a large dining hall and it is really great. It is a time to just be together. It is very relaxed, very informal and we are well taken care of by the staff. We always received great feedback about the meals, the service, and after dinner, we have some welcoming messages to the group. We make sure that each cabin has a printed agenda that they can keep so that they know what to expect for each day. We also have a group Facebook messenger chat that we use for the WW C staff and the advocates if we need to communicate any last-minute changes on the agenda. We can do that really effectively, really quickly the group chat. After dinner, we leave free time for participants as you can see, I indicated relaxation time, or if they are really excited and want to start working on what ever cultural activity or what they want to do, we provide material, supplies, as well as the advocates, they bring supplies with them as well. We find most commonly people want to make shawls, but again, it is their choice. If they need time to rest, that is a great time to do that in the evening. A lot of times in the cabins, people just enjoy having some snacks together and some coffee and tea and putting some music on and just talking amongst the group. What it looks like in each cabin, and it varies on the size of the cabin. So some cabins are larger and can accommodate up to eight beds. And some are smaller, accommodating approximately five beds. So that is the number of people that we can hold per cabin. Depending on the size of the group. Sometimes we are able to accommodate one group in one larger carbon and sometimes we have to split up into two cabins. But we try to put them at least side-by-side in terms of where these cabins are physically located on property. Each cabin has multiple bedrooms. There are a few that have to share a bedroom, and there are multiple bathrooms, which is really great. They have a full kitchen as well as an outdoor barbecue. And commonly, a sitting sunroom as well. Very relaxed atmosphere. Some of the cabins are located right on the waterfront, and others are Cove side. So they have a view, they are just not right at the waterfront. But a very beautiful view nonetheless. Saturday, what that day looks like for us, we have our elder lead us in a sunrise ceremony. In Maine, it is about 5:50 AM, the sun rises at that time and that lasts close to an hour. We make sure as part of the planning process that we have the medicines available for our elder. We ensure that the elder has everything that they need, and after the sunrise ceremony by the water, we have breakfast together. And then we have are talking Circle. When I mentioned pivots earlier, and reflecting on this year's survivors retreat, this is definitely one pivots that we experienced because this venue had recently built a new event center and it was booked for that weekend so we did not have access to it. The former rec hall that we were able to use, they converted into another purpose area, so we had to make arrangements ahead of time and how we would approach finding a space that would work to accommodate all of us together for our talking circle. We explored a few options and decided that one of the larger cabins, trout mountain, would be the one that we would use for the talking circle. And then I contacted a local rental company to rent some folding chairs that they delivered and had on-site for us ready to use for the duration of the weekend. Ultimately, it ended up going well in terms of making the most out of the space that we had. It provided for an intimate setting for all of us to be together. During the talking Circle, our elder leads everyone in a prayer. She introduces herself and often sets the tone for setting the intention for the talking Circle, talking about why we are gathering together and just ensuring the safety of all, the mental and emotional, spiritual well-being of us all together in the circle. Because we have survivors of domestic and sexual violence attending this retreat, there are some things that are shared in that circle. Having the elder there is really grounding for us. Really helpful. She is a wonderful mentor to many in our Wabanaki communities. A spiritual leader, someone that many turn to for leading of the sermon is in our Wabanaki communities. She is also a clinical social worker and has her own private practice and has been a counselor for many many years. The talking Circle, we plan for up to three hours. By the time people get comfortable and our elder leads the first round, sometimes people don't always feel ready or comfortable to share in the first round, so we passed the Eagle feather around for a second time and often times people will share something else they would like to add. Or if it is their first time speaking. For some, this may be, as you can imagine, their first time talking about their experience of domestic and/or sexual violence. And the talking Circle is not only a time for sharing. Sometimes, for people, it is their first time identifying as a survivor. The grounding techniques, suggestions of what has helped people along their healing journey is often shared. Things that we can take away from, learn from, possibly implement in our own lives. So it is one of those times, as many of you who have participated in talking circles, I am sure. It is a very sacred space. Of course we stress the importance of confidentiality. As the saying goes, "what is shared here stays here and what is learned here, leaves here" We encourage people as I said earlier, to take those tools those things that they learned and share them with others. Our elder as part of the opening for the talking circle will often with a prayer, lead us in a smudge. We will have our women's general group, singing opening song for the group -- drum group Once our talking circle -- ends, then we have lunch. At time to be together and enjoy some food together, have a period of f rest. If they need that one-on-one time to talk or process, maybe process something they shared over a particular way they are feeling. And then as I mentioned earlier, this year anyway, we had a choice of shawl making or hiking. For those of us who did go hiking in the afternoon, I was one of them. We had about half the group. I would say close to 15 of us. 12 to 15 went hiking to the campground. Because this is a state park, Baxter State Park is where it is located it is a place where there can be quite a bit of tourists. In order to ensure that we have adequate parking space, to go hiking that day I had to contact Baxter State Park to secure our parking permits. For that day. It is a good thing that I did because when we arrived, the lot was full which means we would have been denied access. Making sure that access to the areas is very important. We hiked, it took about an hour and 1/2 I am guessing. To hike to the stream falls, they are actually waterfalls. People were able to rest and enjoy the beauty of the falls, take some nice photos. Just capture the moment, the spirit of being there. Many had mentioned they wanted to return at a later time with their family. So that they could share that experience with them. We hiked back down the trail, we made the drive which is about a 35 minute drive. Back to the venue. We made it just in time for dinner as you can imagine we had an appetite by then. And then we had more free time in the evening. I do know a few people made skirts. Like I mentioned, most of the survivors made shawls and worked on other things in their own cabins. For cultural activities, we tend to have a variety of options. Just to give you an idea of different cultural activities we have had in the past, we have had everything from - drum making, to the making of medicine pouches, tobacco ties, Sweetgrass braids. This year I have wheatgrass that was harvested in pleasant point. This summer. I am trying to think, Julie Ray, making earrings -- jewelry Ribbon skirts, mated as a large group a few years ago. That is the photo you had seen at the beginning of this presentation. As you can imagine, when we have a large activity like this, ensuring that materials are ordered in time and again, the importance of that group chat. I will say, between the WW C staff and our advocates sometimes we do not bring all of the necessary supplies. A good example and that would be one of our pivotal moments, survivors were ready to start working on their shelves on Friday evening. We had quickly discovered that while we all brought our sewing machines and our thread and our needles and fabric and shawl fringe we were missing bobbins (Laughs) In the group -- chat we all were messaging if anyone has any bobbins. One of the advocates who was scheduled to arrive a little bit later that evening, was the one who had bobbins. We were happy that she had them but fortunately for us, where our survivors retreat is located it is approximately 1/2 hour drive from the nearest town. If we absolutely needed a particular supply, we could most likely get it in the town. Leading into the final day on Sunday, again we had our sunrise ceremony. Followed by and this was the first time we had organized this we had for one hour pontoon boat rides scheduled from seven to 11 o'clock The venue has a pontoon boat that they can rent by the hour. Based on the number of participants that we had, we figured everyone would be able to enjoy at least one hour boat ride being on the Millinocket Lake. This is where the venue is located. Reflecting on that and feedback, from participants we received was just the gratitude of being able to be on the water. Being able to have a closer view of Katahdin. The wildlife both on the water and on the land. Sometimes we have had pontoon boat rides for other gatherings and sometimes participants are fortunate enough to be able to see -- moose, eagles and all kinds of other wildlife. Another pivotal moment occurred on that Sunday morning. I received a message from one of the groups that had gathered there at 7 o'clock and discovered the main guide who is a registered that with the state of Maine, was not there to provide that first tour. I asked them to contact the folks at the front desk and they looked in the system and unfortunately there was miscommunication on their part. They had him scheduled to arrive at 8 AM. So we had to make some last-minute adjustments, some communication on messenger. Basically we agreed to shorten the amount of rides. So instead of having four, we had three. We still were able to accommodate everybody on those three rats -- rides They want from eight until 11 AM. After the boat rides, or during the full rights as you can see some of them were having breakfast. -- Boat rides We communicated with the event planner so we could have a more flexible time for breakfast, not exactly knowing who would be at sunrise ceremony and on the boat. That went really well. Actually all the meals breakfast lunch and dinner all consist of a buffet format. People can serve themselves. At 9 AM, we dedicated time for individuals to be able to clean out their cabinets, pack up their belongings and check out of their cabins by 10 AM. This venue allows us to do late checkouts if the cabin is available for late checkout. While we were able to secure is that same cabin that we had the talking Circle at Trout Mountain. We secured a late check out in advance so that we could schedule our 11 o'clock closing circle. Our closing circle started at 11. It opened with our elder providing a prayer, a smudge and she led the group asking us all to reflect and share something that they were grateful for for the weekend. Expressions of gratitude. As you can imagine, there was a wide variety of responses while many were grateful for many of the things that we experienced that weekend. It's interesting to hear some responses in terms of what they really connected with or found healing. After our expressions of gratitude, we had evaluations. Our giveaway and for our giveaway, people had their choice of what they would like to bring. Advocacy centres often bring some promotional items things like T-shirts and tote bags, medicine, jewelry. All sorts of beautiful gifts to share. That way if the survivor forgets to bring something or does not have something to Brian, the advocates always ensure that there is plenty available -- to bring And so we have the giveaway, elders first. Our -- elderly gets first choice and then we go around the circle until everyone gets an opportunity. If there are gifts remaining on the table we asked the Elder to go second round. It is nice to see what people offer. A lot of times we have people and make their gifts. And a lot of thought goes into them. It is very beautiful, time to share. And then we have our drummers close us out with a song or two and then we have our group photo. This is something that we have been doing for several years now. You will see the photo shortly that we took from last year's retreat. It is by the water's edge. In order to maintain confidentiality, it is back to. It is their point of -- choice if they would like to participate. We let them know that it is their choice, and if they decide to participate in the photo that it is something that the coalition and the advocacy centers plan to share for promotional reasons, and social media, and our website, possibly in pamphlets and newsletters. That sort of thing. Everybody enjoys taking the photo together and it is just a really beautiful reminder of all that we shared for the duration of the weekend. After lunch, we leave at 1 PM. It takes, for the various communities, it takes anywhere from 1 to 2 hours to drive to this venue. Most people return home by approximately three or 4 PM, which is a good time to end the day. We have found that having this retreat works best on a Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon. On the evaluation forms that we ask all participants to complete, we have a variety of responses. We ask them to evaluate not only the duration of the retreat, but also the venue so asking them to comment on the cabins, the staff at the venue, the meals, the activities that we provide. The W WC staff. Things that they would suggest could be improved upon. Suggestions for any type of activities they would like to see in the future. For the most part, between the advocates and the survivors, this 2.5 day retreat is enough time. While we feel it is enough time in terms of being away from our families, and of course, we love the feeling of being together, that feeling of peacefulness and the beauty of the space, we find that that is enough time. We sometimes have the occasional feedback where a survivor may indicate that they feel like it is a little too short. But like I said, for the most part, this is the group consensus of the time, so we really held true to this format, this particular schedule. For the majority of survivors, for whatever reason, it seems to work out better for them logistically to be away from their families Friday to Sunday versus if they were to attempt to have this retreat during the week. In preparation for the retreat, for the survivors themselves, especially if this is the first time that they have attended one of our retreats, we have the advocates explained to them in advance what they can anticipate from the retreat. Going over some of the items that are listed on the agenda, preparing them for the talking Circle, especially for those who have never been in attendance of a talking Circle. Letting them know what they can anticipate and that drive, you know, anywhere from 1-2 hours that I had mentioned. I always mentioned that is a great time to go over these logistical pieces with survivors before actually arriving on property. TIA BAHOZHONI: Donna, we have a question asking, "What was budgeted for this retreat?" DONNA BROWN: I will actually get into that in the next slide, so thank you for your question. If we can switch to the next slide, please. Like I had mentioned, a group photo we had taken in 2022. Last year, our retreat was held in October and, as you can see, all the women are lined up with their shawls. Many of these shawls were made to this weekend. We are facing the mountain in the background. We just put a nice artistic filter to make it look more like a painting and to help to identify -- de-identify people. Here is a photo of the waterfalls that we had hiked to this year. And, if you can go to the next slide. Ok. Thank you. Moving into the logistics of creating a survivors retreat, the important thing, you know, if this is something that you plan on implementing in the near future, I would highly encourage you to begin with what is your purpose for the retreat? Have a conversation with your staff, with advocates, really determining what is the need out there and what do they feel is important to include in regards to its purpose. Russ, -- for us, and these are things we have discovered throughout the years, of course, at the very heart is the healing for survivors for domestic violence. That importance to land. The opportunities to be on the land together. You know, to express gratitude for the day with our sunrise ceremony each morning. Greeting the sun, being at the waters edge. Many advocates, survivors, have gone swimming in the water, boating, paddling, by canoe or kayak on the water. Connecting to land in terms of hiking, which we have done a couple of times now. We actually had our first excursion to some of the trails in the park last year. So for some advocates and survivors, this is actually the second time hiking to the falls. Connection to community and culture. That is something we have received some input and expressions of gratitude from survivors talking about how beautiful it is to have our Wabanaki communities gather together. The fact that we have advocates and survivors from each of the five tribal Wabanaki communities is very powerful. Connection to culture. Culture is woven throughout everything that we do on this retreat. And the opportunity to share and learn is something that we hold dear in our hearts and look forward to. The importance of rest, taking care of oneself. We are very mindful of just how everybody is on their own healing journey and how different it can be for individuals participating in a retreat like this. Especially for people who this is their first time attending. Thinking about a survivor who may be sharing their story, their experience for the very first time in more of a public type setting, community setting. How that can impact them. Sometimes they just need to rest afterwards. That is the really great thing. I talked earlier about the cabins themselves. Sometimes they just may be relaxing on the couch in the living room with everybody and others might be working on shawls or other projects but they are still together. So they are participating at a level that feels good for them. The opportunity to be nurtured, this is a really great thing that I have really become more aware of, especially now that I am the executive director and I am the one in charge along with our outreach coordinator to organize this retreat and it is our time to help nurture others to ensure that all of the logistical things are in place. Everything is as well organized as it can be. So that when we are there as well, we feel nurtured also. Nurtured by the staff at the New England outdoor center, nurtured by others if there is support or help that we feel comfortable to ask for that help as well. That was another pivotal moment. We had a fringed Wabanaki coalition woman's shall to give our elder this year and our drum group members. So one of the shawls, I still had a little bit left to fringe on it so I asked two advocates if they could help me to finish it early Sunday morning. They just jump right in. There were three of us on a shawl. The last shawl we had to complete. And we were just talking in a cabin while others were going on the pontoon rides, we were fringing the shawl. It was a special moment for us to talk and share and be together. So just the importance that no matter what our role is, that we all need to be nurtured and sometimes we are not always reminded of that, so it is a good time for that. Sharing with others and showing support and especially that reminder we are not alone. Many of us are survivors of domestic or sexual violence. A lot of times it is one of the reasons why we feel so passionate about the work we do. Being in community and sharing experiences is a very empowering time for all. Of course creating memories. Laughter, having fun, enjoying each other, enjoying the beauty. As you can imagine there are some heavy moments sometimes throughout the weekend. For healing and processing, perhaps for some it is making next steps. Maybe they have shared and learned things that they feel more ready to do in their life. Having that time, that lighthearted fun and a reminder for us to know that it is alright and actually healthy and a part of healing. We can move to the next slide please. In securing a location, some important things to take into consideration; the driving distance what feels comfortable and feasible for advocates and survivors. Each advocacy Center is responsible for transporting the survivors from their community. Does the venue have adequate lodging space as I had mentioned earlier. We ensure that there is one survivor per bed but there are some that may need to share a bedroom. There may be two beds per bedroom. As the environment comfortable on all levels in terms of the cabinets? The large meeting spaces? The outdoor spaces? And what on-site amenities are available? For this venue they have depending on the time of year, access to the lake. I believe it is up until October 1. Individuals can use the canoes, kayaks and paddle boards. They have outdoor fire pits, extensive walking trails, a newly built spa. An event Center and there is also a floral and vegetable gardens on site. I remember this year, picking some raspberries from one of the raspberry bushes and I always enjoy some of the blueberries as well. They have apple trees and all kinds of beautiful, beautiful flowers and gardens. There is a basketball court, there is all kinds of outdoor equipment. There is a beach, as I mentioned if people want to go swimming. A pontoon that is available for rent. Inside this lodge is the restaurant as well as a gift shop. Where you can also purchase some basic supplies if necessary. And clothing. Another thing to take into consideration is the availability and the rates. Depending on the time of year, that will impact the rate that is offered. Being in the month of September, it was considered a more peak season, time of year. It was a little bit more expensive, but not too much more than holding in October. Taking a tour of the venue, if one is not familiar with the venue, I would suggest taking a tour of the Events, the meeting spaces, -- meeting one-on-one with the event planners as well as getting a feel, -- of what the vibe is like at this venue. Is this a peaceful environment you feel is conducive to the type of restraint you would like to hold? -- Retreat ... If you decide to include meals, having that quote for both lodging and meals is important. Next slide please? We are budgeting, thank you for your question earlier. This is very important. I mentioned earlier though we have cut the time of the retreat from Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon. That is the length that we budget for each year. Also, how many people will you be budgeting for to attend the retreat? For our budget, we include 25 survivors. That is a maximum of five survivors per advocacy Center because we have five centres. We budget for two advocates per Center. For a total of 10 advocates. We budget for Elaine and myself, the two WW C staff, are one elder and two tremors. One of our advocates is a member of this strong group and we also have a couple of advocates who are members of other --dru groups in their communities --drum We do invite two additional drummers and they have been a part of our survivors retreat from the very beginning. As well, and the budget we include travel expenses. That includes mileage for personally owned vehicles, for staff, our elder, our drummers. These two carpool so we pay for the one vehicle. And up to two personally owned vehicles presenter. We highly encourage our centres to bring their programs vehicle. Most of them do if they are able to. Sometimes they have to leave their vehicle behind because their staff at the shelter may need it for the weekend. If that is the case, we reimburse up to two vehicles. If the survivor wants to bring their own vehicle, that is their choice but that is not something that we reimburse for. We also include in our budget supplies for our cultural activities, if we were making shawls, that would be at work Aberdeen or other type of fabric to sell the shawls, our thread, our needles taking all of those things into consideration -- our fringe If there is anything else we need depending on the activity. And we also include payment for our elder and our drummers. We include for that payment, a set hourly rate. For the portions in the agenda that they have agreed to participate in. For the drummers that would be the opening and the closing. For the elder, it would be for anything that she leads us and such as the sunrise ceremonies, the opening and closing circles as well. Once you have secured your venue, and your grant has been awarded and your budget has been approved so your grant has actually been opened and you can start spending funds. I would suggest you make that deposit to secure your venue as soon as possible. I have actually ran into that situation in the past where I was not able to make the deposit as quickly as I would have liked to. We did not have as many options available by the time I was ready to make the deposit. Depending on the venue, you may have a different way of making payments. Because we have been holding our retreat at this particular venue for several years now, what they require of us is just that initial deposit and that will typically be a few thousand dollars to secure. They are fine with receiving payment, I pay by check, the balance once the retreat has ended on Sunday. I pay the balance right then and there. They are perfectly fine with that. I do not know if anybody has any other questions about budgeting? TIA BAHOZHONI: We have someone who has their hands up. I will allow you to unmute Brittany. DONNA BROWN: Brittany is a muted but I cannot hear her. -- Unmuted Sometimes that happens. Maybe if she can type your question in the chat? I'm glad we had a pause there because it reminds me of something as well. Obviously for something that is not in the approved budget for this survivors -- retreat anything that may be added in addition to we would be using unrestricted funding for. A good example was our pontoon boat rides. We had a small fee if I remember correctly, the fee to rents the pontoon boat was approximately $450 or something like that. We just used unrestricted funding to cover that cost. We can move onto the next screen please. I just wanted to go over some logistics about the requirements, the guidelines, community agreements, when organizing and implementing the survivors retreat. For our retreat, it is specifically for self identified survivors of domestic violence and/or sexual assault. That is for a couple of reasons because we have actually had in the past a few individuals asked if they could bring a support person with them. This support person was not necessarily a survivor of domestic or sexual violence. We had to remind them of who this retreat is intended for, it is for survivors. For two main reasons, one is of course the limitation of space. If we were to accommodate say, an -- extra support person that would take away the space from an actual survivor for attending. Another reason is keeping in mind the circle, the space. Knowing that the survivors or the attendees in that circle are survivors. Often times just like any other support group, it really fosters a sense of safety. That they are not alone and that everyone in the space is there for the same reason, for healing of this trauma. Another requirement is that the attendee is 18 years of age or older. Each attendee completes a registration form in which they acknowledge that this is a time for healing and thus it is a drug and alcohol free gathering. And also, to remain on property. That is to ensure the safety of all. This is kind of a remote location so we just want to ensure that we are together, that we are safe. The exceptions to leaving is, of course, if there is a medical emergency, if we have a predetermined activity on the agenda like hiking. As I mentioned, that was about a 35 minute drive to get to the campground. Or, if advocates need to make a quick trip to the local town to purchase any necessary supplies. Other than that, we are in agreement that we are to remain on property. The registration forms for the advocates, they complete their forms and give them to me to hold onto, which I store for recording purposes, of course. And then the registration forms for the survivors, the advocates and the directors of the programs hold onto those forms throughout the weekend. And those registration forms include not only their full name, but also their address, there -- their emergency contact person. Actually, it doesn't have their address, but has there emergency contact name and phone number. That way, we know who to contact if the need should arise. So that is kept safely with the advocates. Next slide please. In regards to confidentiality, this is important that we remind advocates prior to the retreat each year, as well as the advocates reminding the survivors about the importance of maintaining confidentiality. We create save the date flyers and agendas and we ask that the advocates share them only for internal purposes, meaning amongst ourselves. Not to shared electronically with others. Whether it is shared via email or on social media. And we ask that so that one, it is not posted publicly, and then we end up in a situation where there are many individuals wanting to sign up than what we can accommodate. And obviously for safety reasons, we do not want people knowing ahead of time exactly where we are going to be. Especially if someone is newly fleeing. A former partner due to violence. It is the advocates who make that decision of who they would like to invite to participate in the retreat. Typically, the advocacy centers invite survivors that they have been working with more recently. So generally, within the past year. And there is often a blend of survivors that are newer to the program as well as survivors that have attended in years prior. What I have noticed is having a blend of survivors who are new and to have attended previously, it works really well because those survivors who have attended before feel more comfortable returning the next year. They are familiar with the schedule, they are familiar with the venue and they can kind of help assist others who are newer to the space. We ask all attendees to not post on social media prior to or during the receipt -- retreat, again for safety reasons. And we also agree that consent is necessary before posting a picture of another person. We at the WW C do not post any public photos that show an individual's actual face. We tend to, as I had shared previously, a group photo with our backs turned. We do share that shortly after returning home from the retreat, and everybody is welcome to share that photo. Some individuals may share individual photos and their social media after, or if they happen to take a photo with another survivor. It is their choice, but they are not taking group photos or photos without people's permission or consent. As I mentioned earlier, what is shared and learned here leaves here. Just the importance of reminding us all that we are from small communities as well. So sometimes doing our best when it is necessary, anyway, to de-identify. Just be mindful of what we do share, especially if it is something that we might not be ready or feel comfortable for other people to know some of those details and to keep privacy of others that we are from cash -- small communities. Next slide please. Communication. Very important. We start planning for this retreat a few months in advance and that typically starts with once we have secured the location and have the actual dates, we will create a save the date flyer. We will communicate any updates through email to the advocates. We hold weekly advocate meetings via Zoom, so we will provide any updates for them during that time as well. As I mentioned earlier, we have the registration forms to fill out and in the task of the cabin assignments. What I do once I receive the list of the advocates and how many survivors they plan on bringing with them, I go through each cabin and determine how to make the most of the space that we have. To ensure that all beds are filled or nearly all beds are filled. And what would be the most comfortable arrangement for those? As I have mentioned, we have some larger cabins, medium-size and then smaller covenants -- cabins located close to the water's edge. Once cabin assignments have been completed, I informed the advocates of which cabin they will be staying in. As well as the venue staff. I will send them an email, I will let them know which advocacy center is in each cabin as well as how many survivors are in each cabin. So, upon arrival, the applicant or advocates from each center will check in at the front desk. The front desk does not have the names to ensure confidentiality. They do not have the names of the survivors. They only have the names of the advocates. The advocate goes in, they check in for their group, obtain their key and go right to their assigned cabin to check in there and make themselves comfortable for the weekend. As well as cabin assignments, as I mentioned earlier, the advocates prepare the survivors for what to expect prior to arriving at the retreat. I provide printed copies of the agenda for each cabin. I also upload a copy of the agenda to our group messenger chat so people can quickly reference that if they need to. Four messenger group chat, that is for staff for advocates only. We do not invite survivors to be part of this messenger group. That is all of our communication. Looks like I might have a question, Tia. Somebody asked a question about the venue. TIA BAHOZHONI: Do you rotate venues for every retreat or do you keep it the same location? DONNA BROWN: We had a different venue the first year, in 2015. Since then, we have been at this venue and everybody enjoys this venue. Unfortunately, we do not have a large selection of venues in this area that can accommodate the type of space that we are looking for in terms of the environment, the peacefulness. This venue is located along the lake, a row that is used to access this venue as well as private camps and the lakes. So it is not a road that people access to go somewhere else. It is not a commonly accessed road, which is really nice because not a lot of access traffic on this road, which allows for the quiet space that it provides. We have not changed our venue since then. We continue to hold it here every year. I suppose if that is something that you folks don't have many options to pick from, might be something worth considering. But like I mentioned earlier, it is really beneficial if you have a great venue that people are really comfortable and enjoy spending time at. It is beneficial for the logistical reasons as well because I find that the more comfortable the staff are, the advocates are, it just really helps for the weekend's events to flow. Next slide please. We are on the questions slide. Before that, you may have seen on a previous slide the venue and it had a beautiful winter setting. It had some snow. That venue, I had mentioned, is the restaurant and the gift shop in there. I shared that photo because we had our first ever winter survivors retreat in January of this year. So the middle of winter. Winter had a late start, so we didn't have as much snow this year. Typically, this venue is booked way in advance to accommodate the slope -- snowmobile and snow skiing season. There are trails to go skiing in the winter. Because winter had a late start, they could accommodate us to have a second survivor's retreat. So we actually had to. I did a grand adjustment modification to allow us to have a second survivor is retreat, so that was the photo you saw there. That retreat was the first ever time that we had empowerment self-defense training for attendees. It was a three hour training and it went so well, we decided to invite the trainers to each of our five Wabanaki communities and hold individual trainings. We just had our fifth and final one at the Penobscot nation a week and 1/2 ago. So not only have we had self-defense training at our retreat, but also in our communities. TIA BAHOZHONI: We have a question from Francis. Have you ever allowed children, like a whole family healing. If not, why? And another part of the question is, have you found space for addressing intergenerational trauma? DONNA BROWN: That's a really great question. I think maybe it was in the first retreat in 2015? There may have been a survivor that did bring their infant. I was not with the WW -- I was not with the WW C then What we found it was more opportunity for survivors to focus on their healing. At the retreat we have not had a request to have a different type of retreat. Safer intergenerational. I know that other organizations, coalitions have had other types of retreats. I think in particular for teens or specifically for men. We definitely have talked about that and we are basically in agreement that if the need were to arise, we would definitely be open to that and plan for that is the need should arise. So far, we have not. We have not been requested or asked for that. Sometimes though, at our annual survivors retreat often times I should say, because we are a small community there have been several times where we have had a mother and daughter at the retreat. Polities, siblings, cousins -- aunts At every retreat there is someone we are related to. In that sense it is generational. TIA BAHOZHONI: we had a question from earlier on. Do use or plan to use any of the feedback, lessons learned or topics of discussion from the retreat in your future work as a coalition? DONNA BROWN: Absolutely. That is the main reason for obtaining feedback on those evaluation forms. We are always looking to improve upon what we can do to make things more inclusive, to make things run more smoothly. Opportunities for learning and sharing and opportunities for stepping outside of one's comfort zone and exploration. Like I mentioned, the hiking. There were some advocates, survivors who said they were coming here for several years and they never ventured, once we turn right to head to the venue, I never ventured and continued driving straight into the park and exploring some of the actual state park and some of the trails. For many that was their first time going to Khatami. Creating opportunities to do something different yet have that familiarity, that people feel comfortable and they can explore at their comfort level. TIA BAHOZHONI: I know we are out of time. If you want to answer any more questions but I know time is up. DONNA BROWN: I am open for as long as you are able to. TIA BAHOZHONI: Someone brought up the budget again for this retreat. What is the budget for this retreat? DONNA BROWN: The total budget? SPEAKER: (indiscernible) DONNA BROWN: I do not know that off the top of my head but what it does basically equate to, once you secure and you find that location and obtain the quote from them, it is very in alignment with what old VW allows for taking into consideration the nightly rate for a hotel. Per diem. Your meals, your breakfast, lunch and dinner. But what we do, is because we are combining it and if so we are renting the cabins we receive a nightly rate for the cabin but if you were to divide that by the number of people staying in the cabin, that is why it is very comparable as if you are staying in a hotel somewhere in a group setting. Of course, it is also dependent on what do you have for options in your area? If you are more rural like us you may not have very many options of places that you can seek out that can accommodate what it is that you are looking for. SPEAKER: If there aren't any more questions I think we will close out. If we could go to the next slide just so that people have the information. I will say, as we were planning this presentation Donna and I spoke quite a bit about the focus of this retreat and what I took away gratefully from it was that, there are organizations out there, coalitions, programs that are indigenous lead but do have survivors healing in mind. In a way that gives them a little bit of agency. I know in our discussions, the consistent theme of offering options for allowing the survivors to choose for themselves, was very important for you all in this retreat. I really appreciate that. I feel that emphasis on choice and agency is greatly appreciated by me at least. I just want to thank you again Donna. This was a really informative and wonderful presentation. Thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge and experience with us. DONNA BROWN: You are so welcome. I would like to close because I did have intentions of mentioned this earlier, we are funded 100% by OVW. This annual survivors retreat is funded by OVW. I know this is one of the questions we had in the chat. I appreciate you Tia and I'm so thankful for the meetings we are part discussing and talking about what this fireside chat could look like. I am so thankful for those that were in attendance and may view this at a later time to share some of our experiences and knowledge with our annual survivors retreat. If you have any questions please feel free to reach out to me at a later time. SPEAKER: Feel free to reach out to me too if you have any questions. This recording will be on our website NIR WC.org. Thank you so much Donna. With that said, thank you all for attending today's fireside sessions. There will be more in the future and just look out for our announcements of that and be sure to sign up for the email subscription, newsletter. Thank you all so much. I will say another big thank you and I hope everyone has a wonderful rest of your day and thank you summa for helping -- Simone Captioning by AI-Media