Implementing Safe Community Engagement

Consider the following aspects of implementing safe community engagement:

• Designing the Questions
• Designing Diverse Engagement Opportunities
• Choosing the Space
• Choosing a Facilitator
• Prepare Participants for the Community Engagement
• Collecting Consent
• Support Participant Burnout
• Be Mindful of Power and Positionality

Meaningfully design your questions to elicit authentic answers that do not have pre-determined conclusions or expected outcomes. Consider having someone with lived experience expertise vet your questions to ensure that appropriate terminology is used. 

Design questions to support disabled and neurodivergent participants, such as by providing questions in written and verbal formats, and writing materials in plain language.

Provide engagement options and alternatives to support diverse participation preferences. This may include supporting diverse communication styles, such as group discussion or individual interviews, using the chat or unmuting yourself in virtual meetings, sharing stories orally or in written surveys. Plan for flexibility and be prepared for someone needing adjustments during the activity. Avoid calling on participants and ensure they always have the opportunity to not participate. 

Set aside more time to allow for different processing speeds, communication styles and breaks, especially for activities that are over an hour. Ensure that you are repeating important information in multiple formats.

Consider engagement options that include activity to accommodate neurodiverse needs, such as drawing on a posterboard, writing on a table mind map, moving around the room, or provided fidget toys

The physical space and accessibility of this space is a vital part of a participant’s comfort and ability to participate. Choose a space that accommodates for physical barriers, such as through ramps, elevators, open spaces without tripping hazards, and a close distance to accessible and gender-neutral washrooms. It’s also important to consider potential sensory barriers, including loud hallway noises between classes, air quality from construction, and scent-free environments.

Consider the need for ASL translation and closed captioning (AI-captioning or live captioning); requests for these services may take many weeks to fill.

Food and refreshments can help build community and safe spaces, especially when engaging people from diverse cultural or Indigenous backgrounds. Note that food and refreshments are not an alternative to compensation. 

For in-person and virtual community engagements, including focus groups, workshops, townhalls, and interviews, follow the guidelines for Campus event planning.

Consider who is leading the consultation. Community members will relate most to facilitators they can trust with vulnerable lived experiences. This may require paying an external facilitator (ex. Student facilitator for student consultations), or choosing a facilitator that has similar identity lived experience as the group being consulted. It’s important to ask “when does my presence become unhelpful” and “who is best to hold this vulnerable space”.

Consider attending a workshop with Organizational and Human Development: Facilitating with Confidence.

Share written materials (including slide decks) in advance. Deliver detailed information and instructions in advance to give participants the opportunity to determine what accommodations they will need (you can’t expect every accommodation, and people can’t tell you what they will need if they don’t know what to expect).

Provide participants with plenty of time to ask questions and request accommodations

Ensure that there is an appropriate mechanism to collect and record participant consent to the community engagement process. 

Reference the Office of Research’s Sample consent and permission forms.

Ensure that you are supporting participants in sharing vulnerable information by being aware of potential triggers, exhaustion, and content impacts. Supporting a participant as a wholistic person and ensuring appropriate relationship building may require sharing support resources (ex. Good2Talk for students, Homewood Health for employees) or having access to counsellors, social works, or Knowledge Keepers.

Consider these trauma-informed principles with an ethic of care from Medium (webpage).

1. Track and notice verbal and nonverbal cues of warning signs from participants throughout the community engagement (ex. sudden fidgeting, heavier breathing, agitation).
2. Acknowledge and validate warning signs as soon as they are noticed, including through affirming language (“I’m sorry that happened…”) that does not interrogate or pry.
3. Offer options for support that include formal pathways (ex. Good2Talk, Homewood Health, counsellors, Knowledge Keepers) and options for breaks or soothing activities (ex. fidget toys, coloring).
4. Follow their lead and emphasize that participants are in control of the engagement, which may include following shifts in conversations or moving on to different questions.
5. End on a caring note that includes thanking the participant and re-emphasizing options for support.

The power and positionality of project coordinators, facilitators, and participants must be considered before and during the community engagement. This may include watching for unequal power dynamics in the space, such as some participants needing more time to respond to questions or prompts.

Reference the Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Anti-Racism’s How to Consult & Engage with Groups from Marginalized Identities for more information on key definitions and recommendations for navigating power and positionality in community engagement