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Support survivors and end sexualized violence.

Prince Edward Island Rape and Sexual Assault Centre (PEIRSAC) is a non-profit, government funded organization

WE ARE FUNDED BY:

Province of PEI under the Minister for the Status of Women and the Interministerial Women’s Secretariat for annual core operations like Sexual Assault Awareness Week / Take Back the Night
Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE) for the Pathways to Thrive Program
Canadian Women’s Foundation for Braiding Sweetgrass Program
Provincial and community-based organizations like United Way PEI and Community Foundation of PEI for short-term projects
Generous donors like you, made easier through donations via Pay Pal Giving Fund Canada

Download our current Annual Report

Click here to make a donation

Engaging Men: Working Together to Prevent Family Violence

We are creating a conversation group for male-identified PEI residents to explore the roles men can play in preventing family violence and fostering healthier communities. Your input will help shape the discussions and ensure they address the topics most relevant to you!

Survey closes February 17th at 12pm.

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JOIN OUR TEAM

Join Our Team

PEI Rape and Sexual Assault Centre (PEIRSAC) is a feminist, pro-choice, not-for-profit organization that has been providing services in Prince Edward Island since 1983. Our mission is to provide high-quality, trauma-informed services to those affected by sexualized violence while advancing gender equity and social justice. We are committed to fostering a safe, inclusive, and supportive community rooted in feminist and anti-oppressive principles.

Our positions are open to all Persons and welcomes gender-diverse applicants. We especially welcome applicants of members of marginalized groups, Indigenous persons, persons with disabilities, Two–Spirit, Trans, gender diverse, 2SLGBTQI+ persons and others with the skills and knowledge to engage productively with diverse communities.

JOB OPPORTUNITY | Trauma Therapist (Full-Time, Permanent)

Deadline to apply: April 1st, 2025

Key Responsibilities:

Individual Therapy Experience: Proven experience providing one-on-one therapy, specifically with survivors of sexualized violence and childhood sexual abuse.
Cultural Competence: Awareness of diverse cultural backgrounds, with sensitivity to how trauma and healing are experienced differently across various communities, including BIPOC, 2SLGBTQ+, and other marginalized groups.
Commitment to Anti-Oppressive Practice: A deep commitment to anti-colonial, anti-oppressive, and intersectional feminist frameworks, bringing an intersectional and trauma-informed lens to all therapeutic work.
Collaborative Work Environment: Experience working in a collaborative, feminist-based environment alongside other clinicians, the prevention and education team, client navigators, and the administrative team ensuring holistic support for survivors.

Qualifications:

Master’s Degree: A master’s degree in Social Work, Counselling Psychology, Mental Health Psychotherapy, Clinical Psychology, or equivalent with current or eligible registration with the appropriate professional body.
Individual Counselling Experience: Minimum of two years' experience providing individual counselling, preferably with survivors of sexualized violence or childhood sexual abuse, and working with complex attachment-related trauma and dissociative defences.
Critical Analysis of Social Factors: Strong critical analysis of social and cultural factors contributing to sexualized violence and child abuse, with a commitment to anti-oppressive, decolonizing, pro-choice, and feminist practice.
Therapeutic Modalities Expertise: Proficiency in multiple therapeutic modalities, such as but not limited to Feminist Narrative, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, EMDR, CPT, Internal Family Systems, Compassion-Focused Therapy, and mindfulness-based approaches.

If you are interested in joining our team, please review the full job ad here.

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY | Board of Directors

If your values and vision for a community free of sexual violence aligns with ours, we would like to hear from you! The PEI Rape and Sexual Assault Centre (PEIRSAC) vision is a community where all people feel safe and are free from sexual abuse and assault, and where those who have been affected are supported in their healing.

WE BELIEVE THAT:

Prevention of sexual abuse is everyone's responsibility. The community has a responsibility to support survivors in their healing and to work towards ending sexual violence.
Sexual assault and sexual abuse are crimes that involve control and power.
Survivors have the right to receive the support they need to heal from abuse.
The trauma of sexual assault and childhood sexual abuse can severely impact the quality of life for survivors.
Ensuring confidentiality and respecting the choices of survivors are top priorities.
Healing that results in long term enhanced quality of life takes time.
The impacts of sexual assault and childhood abuse permeate all of society. Sexual violence is a systemic issue.
All survivors deserve access to services.
Sexual violence will continue until the root causes of violence against women and children are addressed.
Working collaboratively with the community is essential to address the needs of survivors.

If you are interested in joining our volunteer board, please email admin@peirsac.org for further information.

If you are looking to apply for a job or volunteer opportunity with PEIRSAC, please contact us!

PEI RAPE AND SEXUAL ASSAULT CENTRE ANNOUNCES “ISLAND SHOT” CAMPAIGN

Media requests for the campaign

The Prince Edward Island Rape and Sexual Assault Centre (PEIRSAC) is launching a poster campaign “The Island Shot” to bring in licensed venues across the Island to create a safer drinking culture. Since 2017 the “Angel Shot” has been a code that a patron can use to signal their server that they are in an unsafe situation. Ordering the drink “neat”, and a server will escort the patron to their car, “on the rocks” results in a cab being called, and “with lime” means police intervention, with the server escorting the patron to a safer location.

Prince Edward Island is a community driven province, and PEIRSAC believes that by introducing the “Island Shot”, it calls on all Islanders that work within and frequent establishments that serve alcohol to be mindful of one another, and to create environments that feel safer, and more guided by community care.

Laura K. Bird with PEI Human Rights Commission is the project manager for Workplace Sexual Harassment Project (SHIFT) “The goal of SHIFT is to address and prevent sexual harassment in Island workplaces through awareness, education and training that is tailored for employers, employees, high school students and the general public.” [1] Bird and Hagen feel like “Island Shot” campaign and SHIFT are a natural partnership that focus on creating a permanent “shift” in the normalization of sexual harassment and violence that permeates throughout drinking culture. Bird believes that, “Safe workplaces also include the safety of customers.”

“The goal of this campaign is not to call out any individual bar or drinking establishment, but rather call folks in to create a shift in consciousness when it comes to drinking culture on Prince Edward Island. We all want to have safer venues, and to create a community where we genuinely take care of one another.” - Candace Hagen, Sexual Violence Prevention and Education Coordinator with PEIRSAC.

Hagen will be reaching out to licensed establishments across the Island to ask if they would be willing to place Island Shot posters in all of their washrooms, as well as an informational poster behind the bar with emergency contact numbers for staff. Each establishment will have to undergo a training session prior to receiving their posters, carried out by SHIFT project manager, Laura K. Bird, to ensure their staff feel empowered to act in the requested manner of their patron. Hagen is pleased to announce that Upstreet Craft Brewing has already signed onto the project.

Award winning Island musician and anti-violence advocate Kinley Dowling is in full support of the project. “When the Charlottetown drink spiking story was released in November of last year, [2] I knew I would continue to lend my voice to causes that aim to create a safer community. The Island Shot sends a message to everyone that we’re looking out for one another, and that together we can build a stronger, safer province.”

Island Shots Campaign