About Us

Who we are

The Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Office (SVPRO) supports all members of the University of Waterloo campus community who have experienced or been impacted by sexual violence.

This includes all students, staff, faculty, and visitors on the main campus, satellite campuses, and affiliated and federated Waterloo Institutes and Colleges. 

How we support

We work with those who have experienced sexual violence, their supporters, those who have received a disclosure or witnessed sexual violence, and those who have caused harm or are alleged to have caused harm.

We are here for you - please contact us at svpro@uwaterloo.ca if:

  • You have experienced sexual violence

  • You have received a disclosure of sexual violence

  • You are supporting someone who has experienced sexual violence

  • You have a question(s) about sexual violence, consent, healthy relationships

  • You have been accused of perpetrating or having caused sexual violence

  • You have witnessed sexual violence

  • You would like to learn how to more actively and effectively intervene to prevent or stop sexual violence. 

SYSTEMS CHANGE

With consent from those we are supporting, our office will

  • Provide a safe(r) space for people to disclose - in as little or as much detail as they wish - about their experience.
  • Discuss resources, both on- and off-campus, that could provide further support or assistance, and provide referrals as directed by those with whom we are working.
  • Discuss short-term coping strategies.
  • Collaborate with departments and units on campus to facilitate requests for academic and workplace accommodations, residence adjustments, safety planning, and other identified needs.
  • Review available complaints and reporting options/pathways via University policy and/or the police, as directed by those with whom we are working.

Coming to SVPRO does not automatically initiate an investigation; however, if you wish to pursue a formal complaint, we can support you through the process. 

In addition to supporting those impacted by sexual violence, we also:

  • Deliver training, workshops, and awareness-raising initiatives across campus (please see education offerings for more).
  • Provide tailored education upon request (please see education offerings for more).
  • Participate in events run by University departments to promote our services, and collaborate with campus partners to collectively advance #ConsentCulture messaging (examples include the Campus Life Fair and the GSA’s Safe Love Week)
  • Work with University departments and units to create, and continually review, internal services and responses, safety planning procedures, accommodations, and administered interim measures when sexual violence is disclosed, reported to Special Constable Service, and/or complaints made via institutional policies.
  • Foster mutual relationships with diverse community organizations and networks working to address gender-based violence in order to ensure our work on campus is guided by the expertise and skills of those who have built, sustained, and advocated for both survivors of gender-based violence.
  • Collect data and prepare reports outlining SVPRO’s work and impact, as regulated by the Ministry of Colleges and Universities, as well as the University of Waterloo’s Board of Governors.

We're guided by multiple approaches

Survivor-centered: empower survivors by prioritizing their rights, wishes, and well-being.

Trauma-informed: recognize the prevalence and pervasive impact of trauma on peoples' lives, promote survivors’ safety and recovery, and minimize harm from retraumatization.

Intersectional: recognize how social positionality along lines of race, Indigeneity, class, gender, sexual orientation, citizenship status, and other social locations inform experiences of power, oppression, and privilege.

Anti-oppressive: seek to acknowledge and dismantle intersectional systems of oppression that produce structural and everyday inequities.

Evidence-based: consult scholarship, grey literature, and institutional evaluation research to deliver effective service delivery and programming. 

Interdisciplinary: utilize multiple fields of study, theoretical frameworks, and methodologies to inform sexual violence response and prevention. 

Collaborative: emphasize collaboration across different campus and community groups to meaningfully advance the work of sexual violence response and prevention.