Client-Led Care
Survivors deserve to be believed – not only about their experiences, but about their needs and goals too. Surviving isn’t just about making it out, and FSGV is here to help people find their way forward.
The approach Victim Support Workers and Trauma Counsellors at Family Services of Greater Vancouver take with clients is trust-based. We listen and we trust our clients to know what they need, walking beside them without deciding the path for them. This is what client-led work is all about: supporting each person’s abilities to self-empower. After all, people are the experts in their own lives. When we respect a survivor’s autonomy, we give them the space to step into their power and sense of self. This is where healing can begin.
Trauma-Informed Support
Trauma-informed support means recognizing the ways that trauma can impact every aspect of a survivor’s life and staying firm in respecting their autonomy and rights. Trauma-informed means building a space of trust, in both directions. It means giving people the chance to choose: what to disclose, whether to report or participate in the criminal justice system, and how they’d like to move forward, and how they’d like to receive services with a sense of safety.
At times this might mean respecting a decision, whether or not the counsellor or support worker agrees with it.
We don’t define their needs, we don’t define their trauma, and we don’t define their next steps.
This is how you create a space that’s safe enough for open conversations. Survivors didn’t have a say in what happened to them to begin with, but while working with us they’re in control.
You can’t provide trauma-informed care if it isn’t client-led. It’s rooted in affirming survivors’ autonomy and self-empowerment.
Did you know that the Victim Services and Trauma Counselling programs at FSGV are free? Survivors shouldn’t have to overcome financial barriers in order to get the support they deserve. We see how systemic inequities intersect with personal trauma and we’re committed to honouring the experiences and identities of those we work with—race, gender, sexuality, age, disability, and other parts of our lives and identities all shape us and our experiences. We also see the ways marginalization correlates with the likelihood of someone experiencing poverty; making support for survivors free is a critical component in equitable solutions for our community.
With a trauma-informed, client-led approach, FSGV provides free supports and counselling to victims and survivors of violence, exploitation, trafficking, and other abuses. Investing in survivor-centered services is critical in disrupting cycles of violence and in creating safer communities.
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