A recent conference in Okotoks brought together victim services specialists, law enforcement officers, social workers and educators from throughout the province.

The event, organized by Foothills Regional Victim Services, featured keynote speaker Jeffrey Bucholtz, director of the San Diego, California-based We End Violence.

Bucholtz says that, while it takes a community to end violence, bringing about that type of change will require a shift in thinking.

"I would say that the simplest way to describe why I'm here is to help Okotoks and the surrounding communities shift our culture so that violence no longer happens," he explains. "And when it does rarely, in our dreamy future where it doesn't happen very often, that when or if it does that people are able to receive quality support, not just from our systems and structures, like our law enforcement and our victim services, but also from their friends and family."

He says violence prevention and victim support starts with educating our youth. He adds that there is a whole generation of young people wanting to make the world a better place and we all share the responsibility of passing along our values to show them how.

"What if we created a generation of Albertans who didn't think that it was the victim's fault, who would never say anything like that," Bucholtz says.  "What if we built a generation of Albertans, literally our next generation, who would never say or do anything that would encourage a rapist to think what they are doing is acceptable."

Okotoks RCMP School Resource Officer Cst. Rita Gillis attended the meeting and she points out that the prevalence of violence in our communities should not be underestimated. In fact, she says that rates of violence within communities are actually rising, highlighting the need to continue building violence prevention strategies and victim support services.

"Parents need to have that open line of communication with their young people and keep that line of communication open," Gillis says. "One of the things I've noticed through this conference is that he speaks about when somebody comes to you as a victim and reveals their story to you for the first time, we need to be able to believe those victims and we need to support those victims."

The conference was held at the Foothills Centennial Centre in Okotoks on Thursday, October 19 and Friday, October 20.

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