Purposeful Connections in Action
November is Family Violence Prevention Month in Alberta, a time to increase awareness, strengthen understanding, and learn more about the supports available in our communities.
At The Today Centre, this work has always involved connection.
Family violence can intersect with many areas of a person’s life, and no single organization, profession, or community member can address every need on their own. That is why this Family Violence Prevention Month, we are focusing on Purposeful Connections.
Purposeful connections can take many forms, from businesses contributing resources and expertise, to organizations strengthening education and service pathways, to volunteers sharing their time and skills.
Throughout the blog, we are highlighting four examples of what purposeful connections can look like in action through Business, Education, Service, and Community.
Business: Brown Law Group
Brown Law Group is an Edmonton family law firm that has supported The Today Centre through event sponsorship, in-kind contributions, and donated professional services.
To better understand what is behind that support, we spoke with Tracy C. Brown, a family and divorce lawyer and owner of Brown Law Group, about why supporting The Today Centre matters to the firm.
For Tracy, there is a clear connection between the work Brown Law Group does and the work happening in the family violence sector. Family lawyers regularly work with people whose experiences of separation and family breakdown may also involve family violence. As Tracy explained:
“As Family lawyers, family violence is very commonly in the mix with the work we do. We are challenged every day on the front lines addressing the realities of family violence as it plays out in post separation scenarios.”
That experience has also shaped how Tracy thinks about the responsibility of the legal profession.
She believes family lawyers need to continue building their knowledge of family violence, strengthening their ability to recognize it, and considering how it may be affecting the people they work with. But she is equally clear that lawyers cannot provide every kind of support a person experiencing family violence may need. That is where connection with organizations like The Today Centre becomes important.
Specialized family violence services bring knowledge, resources, and support that are different from what a law firm provides. For Brown Law Group, supporting The Today Centre is one way to recognize that expertise while contributing to work that closely connects with what lawyers encounter in their own profession. It is also a way for the firm to be clear about what it values.
“For me, this support for The Today Centre is about being visible with our values and our alignments. We want everyone to know who we are and where we stand on important social issues in our community.”
That idea of making values visible is an important part of what purposeful connections can look like in business.
The firm brings legal knowledge and experience to its work. The Today Centre brings specialized expertise in supporting people impacted by family violence. The roles are different, but there is value in recognizing where those areas intersect and in supporting the work happening beyond one's own organization.
For Tracy, the connection also means being part of a wider community of people and organizations that care about family violence and strengthening how people experiencing it are supported. As she shared:
“We proudly join forces with others in our community to support the critical work of The Today Centre, knowing that this support will contribute in some measure to the safety and wellbeing of survivors of family violence.”
When we asked what she would say to another business that cares about this work but may not know where to begin, Tracy was especially direct with others in the legal profession. Her message was that more lawyers and law firms have the ability to step forward and do their part to support this work. There is no single way for a business to do that.
For one organization, it may be sponsorship or financial support. For another, it may be donating professional services, resources, expertise, or helping bring greater awareness to the issue.
Brown Law Group’s relationship with The Today Centre shows what can happen when a business looks at the work it already does, the issues it encounters, the resources it has available, and asks how it can contribute beyond its own doors.
For Brown Law Group, that has meant choosing to stand alongside The Today Centre and support work that matters to both the firm and the community it serves.
Brown Law Group, Sponsor, 4th Annual Illuminating Hope Garden Cocktail Party
Education: Learning That Travels Beyond the Workshop
Purposeful connections can also strengthen the way knowledge is shared across the family violence sector.
In November 2024, after several years of receiving community feedback from service providers, The Today Centre formally launched Advanced Safety Planning, a two-day training designed to build capacity among professionals supporting individuals impacted by family violence.
Having successfully partnered on previous workshops, The Today Centre reached out to enCompass Community Safety Agency to co-facilitate the training.
The partnership reflects a shared commitment to supporting people impacted by family violence and to strengthening the knowledge and confidence of the service providers who work alongside them. Through co-facilitation, the two organizations are able to bring their experience and perspectives together in one learning environment, while creating opportunities for service providers to strengthen their own practice and build connections with others working in the sector.
As Jacquie Hall of enCompass shared:
“Our partnership with the TC reflects the value of purposeful connections built on shared values and a collective commitment to supporting those impacted by family violence. Through co-facilitation, shared learning, and continued engagement and relationship-building across organizations, including beyond the training itself, we strengthen connections between service providers, build capacity, and extend our impact across the broader network of support.”
That continued relationship is an important part of what makes this connection meaningful. The value of education does not end when a workshop is over. The knowledge, relationships, and conversations created through training can continue into the work service providers do with clients, colleagues, and other organizations.
The partnership between The Today Centre and enCompass shows what purposeful connection can look like in education: two organizations bringing their knowledge together to build capacity, strengthen relationships between service providers, and support a broader network of people working to respond to family violence.
Service: Bringing Specialized Support Closer
Purposeful connections can make a real difference when organizations recognize a need and work together to bring support closer to the people already accessing their services.
For example, our partnerships with Norwood Child and Family Resource Centre and Jasper Place Family Resource Centre bring family violence services directly into community settings where individuals and families are already connected for support.
These partnerships began after leaders at both organizations noticed a trend in disclosures of family violence among families accessing their services. Conversations followed, and each location now has a Family Violence Specialist from The Today Centre onsite once per week.
That connection helps bring specialized family violence support closer to people who may already be navigating other needs through these organizations. At Norwood, Jessy Gray, Manager of Evaluation and Family Support, has seen the value of having that support onsite.
“We are fortunate to have a Family Violence Specialist onsite every week which reduces barriers for access.”
The partnership also creates opportunities for staff to connect and consult with The Today Centre when supporting families who may be experiencing family violence. As one Norwood staff member shared:
“It has been a great help to be able to connect with The Today Centre. They are able to consult with me regarding a family’s unique needs and provided navigation and resource supports that will best support the family.”
These relationships can help strengthen referral pathways, create more seamless connections between services, and improve access to family violence resources. They also show what purposeful connections can look like in service delivery. Rather than expecting one organization to meet every need, community partners can bring different areas of expertise together and create clearer pathways to support.
By working directly with organizations like Norwood and Jasper Place, The Today Centre is able to bring specialized family violence knowledge and services into spaces where families are already connected, while supporting a more coordinated, trauma-informed, and client-centred response.
At its core, this kind of partnership starts with something simple: recognizing a need, starting a conversation, and building a practical response together.
Community: A Collaborative Approach
The Today Family Violence Help Centre is founded on collaboration, valuing the impact we make through community partnership. We are excited to highlight an amazing example of the unexpected and far-reaching outcomes this approach can have.
Recognizing a gap in local resources and information about Technology Facilitated Abuse, Dinah Bear, a Family Violence Education Specialist at The Today Centre, connected with TELUS Wise, a free digital literacy program. They quickly recognized the significance of this issue and its alignment with their mandate to help empower people of all ages to stay safe in our digital world Working together by providing family violence expertise, training, research and resources, TELUS Wise created a Technology Facilitated Abuse Guide.
The Today Centre is delighted to have collaborated with TELUS Wise to bring awareness to the digital harms encountered by adults experiencing intimate partner violence and youth experiencing dating violence. The Today Centre is immensely proud to have worked with a Canadian organization with national reach in developing this important tool – demonstrating once again what can happen when communities work together!
Learn more:
The Impact of Volunteers
Purposeful connections do not always begin with an organization or formal partnership. Sometimes it begins with someone choosing to give their time, skills, and energy to work they care about.
Volunteers are an important part of The Today Centre community. They support different areas of our work, from events and awareness initiatives to administrative tasks, educational resource fairs, committees, and other activities based on the organization's needs. And there are many reasons people choose to become a volunteer:
“ ‘Volunteer’ is my role on paper at The Today Centre, but I connect better with the word ‘ally’ much more… Working with the Today Centre has allowed me to fulfill experiences closely related to my future field of work, so just interacting with the staff has shown me how to build community. I am honoured to work and continue to work for an organization that pushes their mission statement to new heights everyday. “ – Sonia, Volunteer
“I believe very strongly in the work that The Today Centre does and am a huge proponent of their initiatives to increase awareness around a difficult but extremely important topic and offer support to individuals who have been impacted by family violence. I love knowing that my time and effort as a volunteer is going toward something so meaningful, and it is easy to see the difference we make based on the growing impact that The Today Centre has on their clients and the community.“ – Cecilia, Volunteer
Volunteers bring more than the hours they contribute. They bring different skills, experiences, ideas, and perspectives that can strengthen the work happening across the organization.
Every volunteer contributes differently, but each connection adds something meaningful to the community surrounding The Today Centre and the work we are able to do.
Building More Purposeful Connections
These examples might look different, but each began with people or organizations recognizing where they can contribute. That may mean offering professional expertise, financial support, resources, knowledge, stronger service connections, volunteer time, or greater awareness. There is no single way to support this work.
If your organization is interested in learning more about partnering with or supporting The Today Centre, we invite you to connect with us and explore what a purposeful connection could look like.