Stella, l'amie de Maimie

Published purpose

Through this 18-month project, Stella, l’amie de Maimie will conduct a research project that will help improve gender-based violence services for at-risk groups, in collaboration with a social work researcher. The project will document Stella’s intervention model and address intervention methodologies and practices tailored to the needs of sex workers and others who exchange sexual services to improve this community’s access to services for women who have experienced violence, services from which they are generally excluded. The project will feature feminist and nondirective harm reduction approaches developed by and for sex workers. These approaches will focus on empowerment; human rights; the links between direct services and collective advocacy; and issues related to the management, training, and retention of peer support workers. To achieve this goal, the project will document the current intervention and engagement model at Stella, l’amie de Maimie and develop a formal intervention framework, a training guide, and training tools. To share the research findings, Stella, l’amie de Maimie will offer workshops for various groups working with sex workers across Canada. The supplement will allow the production of professional bilingual documents to ensure a wider reach and increased accessibility of the project beyond the organization, in particular with anglophone communities on a national scope.