Reaching out to colleagues who may be more familiar with a mother’s cultural needs to get resources can be a helpful strategy. Taking time to reach out to colleagues or resources in your community that could support a mother from the same background can be a useful starting point. Remember, you don’t need to have the answers right away and you can even investigate this together with the mother.

BCSTH Member Programs

Vancouver & Lower Mainland Multicultural Family Support Services Society and DIVERSEcity Community Resources Society are two programs within the Lower Mainland that have a mandate to provide services to immigrant, refugee, and visible minority women, youth and children with experiences of violence in the home. Both of these agencies also offer the PEACE Program. Where possible, first language services are provided by cross-cultural workers in many different languages through a culturally safe and respectful lens. Multicultural workers are not easily available in many parts of the province. If you need some insights on cross-cultural practices, you can contact these services at:

• Vancouver & Lower Mainland Multicultural Family Support Services Society: https://www.vlmfss.ca/
• DIVERSEcity Community Resources Society: https://www.dcrs.ca/

BCSTH Resources

• Chapter 5 ‘Community Building’ and Chapter 6 ‘Wise Practices’ of the BCSTH resource mentioned earlier in this document, Increasing Access to PEACE Programs for Indigenous Children, Youth and Non-offending Caregivers, offers suggestions to help enhance the connections and supports you develop with Indigenous mothers in your community. The term Wise Practices was initially used by Natalie Clark to emphasize the ways Indigenous Peoples are heterogeneous, socially diverse, and ever-changing.⁶
• Increasing Access for Indigenous Women online training course.
• Building Supports Promising Practice Guide
• PEACE Program Toolkit pages 280-282; 302-308 and 309-312.
• The following webinars are available in the BCSTH webinar library for members:
  • Cultural Safety and Building Relationships with Our Local Indigenous Communities (VIP Webinar Series)
  • Considerations for doing VIP with Diverse Communities (VIP Webinar Series)
  • Immigration: Navigating a Complex System and How to Keep Women Safe
  • Legal Issues Impacting Immigrant and Refugee Women
  • Women Fleeing Violence Who are Either Out of Status or Have Precarious Status
  • Who Am I in the Room? A Deep Dive into Identity and Therapeutic Relationships (Deepening Our Practice Webinar Training Series).

Community Resources

• BC211 https://bc.211.ca/ offers an online service directory to find available services in your area. You can search for services by topic, including e.g., ‘Indigenous Peoples’ or ‘Immigrant and Refugees’. It is important to search and learn what services are available in your community for client referrals.
• BC Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres (BCAAFC) is the umbrella association for the 25 Friendship Centres throughout the Province of British Columbia. A map of Friendship Centres in BC is available here: https://bcaafc.com/about-us/friendship-centres/
• The First Nations Health Authority (FNHA) offer resources to support with cultural safety and humility.
• MOSAIC is one of the largest settlement non-profit organizations in Canada. They serve immigrant, refugee, migrant and mainstream communities in Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley as well as throughout the province of BC. MOSAIC has a Stopping The Violence (STV) Program as well as victim services program for immigrants and refugees.