Upcoming Resource Spotlights
Online Interventions to Prevent Gender-Based Violence: Building Online-to-Offline Pathways
In 2025, Yorktown Family Services received funding through Ontario’s EngageON Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence and partnered with Moonshot to develop RightPlace - an innovative online service and outreach model that connects individuals affected by gender-based violence (GBV) with support services across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Since launching in November, this trauma- and violence-informed initiative has used targeted digital campaigns to connect thousands of people, including GBV survivors, bystanders, and individuals causing harm who are seeking change, to resources and live support.
Learning Objectives
Following this Resource Spotlight, participants will:
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Understand the context of GBV in the GTA and how targeted digital campaigns can extend outreach to survivors, bystanders, and people causing harm.
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Learn how online-to-offline service and outreach pathways work in practice. This includes messaging, trauma-informed safety and confidentiality measures, and coordination with community-based support services.
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Explore outcomes, challenges, and lessons learned from RightPlace campaigns, and next steps.
Speakers
David O’Brien is the Director of Mental Health at Yorktown Family Services, with more than 25 years of experience in mental health across frontline and leadership roles. He has founded or co-founded several specialized, trauma-informed intervention programs, including Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA), one of Canada’s first psychosocial intervention programs to move people away from violent extremism and terrorism by using psychosocial intervention, and What’s Up Walk-In®, which at the time was North America’s first six-day-a-week mental health walk-in clinic.
David has also contributed to the development of YouthCan IMPACT, which evolved to become Youth Wellness Hubs Ontario, and co-founded H.I.P.S. (Human Trafficking Prevention Strategy), a trauma-focused treatment program for individuals exiting human sex trafficking. He regularly presents across Canada and internationally on topics related to the intersection between mental health and violent extremism and is a frequent contributor to major Canadian media outlets. David holds a Child and Youth Worker diploma and BA, a Master’s degree in Counselling Psychology, and a Master of Business Administration.
Karen Blake is the Manager of Violence Prevention Programs at Yorktown Family Services, a role she has held for the past two decades. She has a long-standing career in the Violence Against Women sector, beginning in women’s shelters and extending to trauma-informed therapy through individual and group work with women, children, and families impacted by intimate partner violence. Karen has extensive experience delivering, evaluating, and developing programs, including services for children and youth exposed to violence, psychoeducational and parenting groups for women, and accountability-based interventions for fathers who have used violence. She has assisted with the development and delivery of Here to Help, Mindful Fathering, and RightPlace, and contributes her expertise through advisory and community planning committees. Karen holds a Child and Youth Worker Diploma and BA. R.S.W.
Glenda Diaz is the Program Coordinator for the RightPlace Program. Glenda has worked in the GBV field for over 18 years. She has worked with the Here to Help and Mindful Fathering programs at Yorktown Family Services and Abrigo Centre. She has also worked in the Here to Help program at the Child Development Institute and Jewish Family and Child Services. Glenda’s extensive experience across the full program lifecycle, include delivering, evaluating, and developing initiatives that support children and youth exposed to violence, and providing psychoeducational and parenting groups for women. Glenda holds the following Diplomas: Child and Youth Worker, Assaulted Women and Children's Counsellor/Advocate, Social Service Worker and Honours B.A.Sc. in Family & Community Social Services.
Hawi Kassie is the Care Navigator for the RightPlace Program at Yorktown Family Services; in this role, she provides comprehensive care navigation support, connecting participants with essential resources and delivering trauma-informed intervention.
Hawi is a Registered Social Worker (RSW) with five years of experience in trauma-informed care and gender-based violence intervention. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work. With three years of international experience supporting individuals who have experienced intimate partner violence, Hawi completed a 1-year bridging program for international social workers at Toronto Metropolitan University after relocating to Canada. She has extensive experience providing trauma-informed counseling services to children and families in crisis in Yorktown family services.
Heulwen Williams (she/her) is a Family, Youth and Child Therapist, violence against women focused, at Yorktown Family Services. Heulwen is a registered social worker, holding a Master of Social Work from the University of Toronto, a Bachelor of Social Work from York University and a Bachelor of English Literature from Queen Mary, University of London. For over 10 years, Heulwen has been a frontline mental health worker, working alongside children, youth and adults within hospitals, schools, non-profits and community-based organizations both in Canada and the United Kingdom. Heulwen comes to the gender-based violence sector with a commitment to providing trauma-informed, client-centered, anti-oppressive care informed by intersectional feminist frameworks.
Nermeen Zia is an Analyst at Moonshot where she leads campaigns dedicated to violence prevention across Canada and internationally. Nermeen holds a Master of Global Governance degree from the University of Waterloo and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto. She has worked with government, think tanks, and educational institutions to combat online harms and advance public safety.
Theresa Rajah is the Director of Online Violence Prevention at Moonshot, a technology and social impact organisation specialising in evidence-based digital interventions to prevent online harms. She leads the delivery of Moonshot’s violence prevention programmes across Five Eyes countries, partnering with government departments in Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom and Australia to counter gender-based violence, extremism, and other forms of online violence.
Theresa served on the Victorian Government Expert Panel on Terrorism and Violent Extremism and worked for over a decade in state-level P/CVE policy in Australia, where she developed expertise in translating complex policy challenges into practical prevention programmes. Her consulting background spans the Asia-Pacific region and Commonwealth governments, giving her insight into diverse political and cultural contexts to address social inclusion challenges. She has worked across government and civil society to design digital interventions
Alison Coleman is Head of International Programmes at Moonshot, where she leads global initiatives addressing online harms, including technology-facilitated gender-based violence and disinformation. She oversees Moonshot’s work in Canada, including the development of targeted digital campaigns that connect survivors, bystanders, and individuals causing harm to trusted offline support services. With over 15 years’ experience in programme leadership, strategic communications, and operational management across international NGOs and social enterprises, Alison brings a strong focus on evidence-based design, partnership working, and translating digital engagement into meaningful real-world outcomes.
All our resources are open-access and can be shared (e.g., linked, downloaded and sent) or cited with credit. If you would like to adapt and/or edit, translate, or embed/upload our content on your website/training materials (e.g., Webinar video), please email us at gbvln@uwo.ca so that we can work together to do so.
