Consent Café
TRU Wellness Centre
Join our team
The Consent Café was developed on the ancestral lands of Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc within Secwepemc’ulucw, the traditional, unceded territory of the Secwépemc people. As we learn about consent, we must recognize that the Canada many of us know was built on Indigenous lands without consent. Manipulation and violence have been, and continue to be, used to control Indigenous peoples' bodies and lands through colonialism. Importantly, alongside every act of violence exists a parallel story of resistance to that violence. We recognize and honour Indigenous peoples historical and ongoing resistance to colonial violence.
Contact us
If you have questions about the Consent Café or want to get involved, please email Chelsea and Tanya at consentcafe@tru.ca
In the news
What is the Consent Café?
The Consent Café is an adaptation of the annual TRU Consent Tea that was first offered on campus in 2015. It is an activity-based consent education, communication, and sexualized violence prevention program for youth and young adults. Our overarching goal is to introduce and reinforce rights-based consent literacy and sexualized violence prevention early to ensure youth transitioning from high-school to post-secondary (TRU) or high school to the workforce have this critical knowledge.
The Consent Café works because we meet participants “where they are at”, where they learn, and where they are navigating consent every day. Our curriculum and consent mentors are relational and capacity building, peer and community supported, reflexive, strengths-based, and trauma-informed.
Gendered violence remains a significant issue across Canada. The Consent Café provides our community with the opportunity to assume a leadership role in educating youth about consent, sexual health, and sexualized violence prevention. In turn this will enhance their knowledge, skills, and comfort with speaking about a very difficult topic and accessing resources and supports when needed.
Based on the current prevalence of sexualized violence in society and post-secondary institutions (ACHA, 2016 & 2019; Cotter & Savage, 2019; TRU Integrated Planning and Effectiveness, 2016), we know that many students come to TRU without the foundational education about sexual health required for establishing healthy relationships and sexual decision making. The goal of this initiative is to address and enhance the learning objectives identified in the BC Government’s Physical Health and Education provincial curriculum as it includes healthy sexual decision-making; sources of health information; healthy relationships; and strategies to protect themselves and others from potential exploitation, abuse, and harm (Government of BC, 2021).
Primary prevention and the opportunity to scaffold consent education are two goals of this initiative.
Meet the team
The Consent Café was co-founded by two TRU faculty members, Chelsea Corsi, Senior Wellness Coordinator, and Tanya Pawliuk Associate Teaching Professor in the School of Social Work and Human Service.
Chelsea Corsi (she/her)
Senior Wellness Coordinator
Counselling, Academic Support & Assessment
TRU Faculty of Student Development
Tanya Pawliuk (she/her)
Associate Teaching Professor
School of Social Work and Human Service
TRU Faculty of Education and Social Work
Join our team!
The Consent Café Team is seeking multiple Consent Café Mentors in order to support the Consent Café program.
The Consent Café is an activity-based consent education, communication, and sexualized violence prevention and response program for youth and young adults. Our overarching goal is to introduce and reinforce rights-based consent literacy and sexualized violence prevention early to ensure youth transitioning from high-school to post-secondary (TRU) or high school to the workforce have this critical knowledge. The Consent Café works because we meet participants “where they are at”, where they learn, and where they are navigating consent every day. Our curriculum and Consent Mentors are relational and capacity building, peer and community supported, reflexive, strengths-based, and trauma-informed.
The Consent Café team is hiring volunteer Consent Café Mentors to support the implementation of the Consent Café program with students in SD73 and youth from other community agencies. Consent Mentor volunteers will be remunerated with an honorarium for their time and effort.
Apply nowDuties
Consent Mentors will have various duties, including, but not limited to:
- Meeting with the Consent Café team to review curriculum and their role during program delivery
- Setting up and taking down Consent Café's at various high school and community sites
- Facilitating small group dialogue with youth about communication, consent, relationships, and violence
- Communicating with Consent Café leaders if they are concerned about a student (or the content of the conversations)
- Representing the Consent Café in the community
- Actively engaging with the Consent Café team
Application requirements
- Cleared vulnerable sectors criminal records check
- Comfort and capacity to facilitate discussions with youth about consent, communication, relationships, and sexualized violence prevention and response
- Demonstrated relational skills, including strong written and oral communication skills
- Commitment to consent education, health promotion, and social justice
- Previous sexualized violence prevention and response (SVPR) training is an asset, OR ability to participate in mandatory SVPR training
- Access to reliable vehicle/transportation
- Ability to attend some (not all) Consent Café offerings during high school hours
- Interest in working with children and youth
- Experience working with children and youth an asset
