Protocol Development Webinar Transcript

is started now great so welcome welcome everyone I really appreciate that you've hung in there for a little while while uh we sorted this all out

and formally welcome you I want to formally welcome you to the call and uh let's go ahead and sure that the rest of Technology agrees with us for the remainder of the time that we are here together so quick very quick welcome to everyone from across Ontario who I know is uh joining us here this morning thank you for joining us and um I'll go ahead and uh talk about the handouts in just a second so you here for the recognizing and responding to intimate partner violence for rap centers Ontario rap centers and on behalf of rexone women's center and our funders the uh ircc we formally welcome you and again thank you for hanging in there with the technical difficulties this morning so a quick introduction to myself my name is Carol sores a registered social worker uh consultant and was the project coordinator for the um advancing recognition and response to intimate partner violence for rap centers and so the the the project primary website is uh the wapw workers.com platform where all of the training uh resources tools some of which we'll be referring to today will be allous that you can go to at your leisure and uh you know take the training and continue to access all the tools and resources that are there so the the mission of the project has been to advance the capacity of resettlement assistance programs in Ontario as they identify and respond to incidents of abuse experienced by Refugee women and our primary objective was to expand the sector's existing knowledge base and to strengthen its capacities on a Frontline staff management organization and sector-wide bases partners for this project including the um the primary uh lead agency Rexdale women Center who partnered with uh creac the center for research and educ ation on violence against women and children and ocassi the Ontario Council of agencies serving immigrants to develop the content the materials um adapted existing materials for uh the specific Target group and insured sectoral representation of course we've had a wonderful advisory committee uh many of which had uh representatives from your agencies across Ontario as well as our partner agencies and so who's this web we inar for today uh this is one of two and so this webinar is for possibly senior managers you might be uh the the person who's in the role of the organization and development of a protocol or you might be um someone who's been designated or an advocate or someone else within a resettlement or settlement agency who's been assigned to assume this role or coordinate maybe a partnership or a committee to develop the pro protocol and perhaps you're someone who also recognizes the need I'd like to propose the development of a protocol that maybe that there's not something in place yet it hasn't been something that has been started but you recognize the need and maybe want to take this information back and sort of advocate for proposing that it um be something undertaken by your agency so what to expect so you you will find that um this is a webinar you're accessing it from all different means some of you may just be listening in um my phone others are online and watching the webinar with slides and there are going to be there are some handouts there's three handouts there we'll be together for about 60 Minutes still 60 minutes and I know that if you need to get off earlier please do access the recording that will be sent out to everyone and so the topic for this webinar is developing your organization's protocol for recognizing responding and referring Refugee women and their families when intimate partner violence is witnessed suspected and or disclosed and so here's just an overview of the agenda what we'll be covering for this hour so we'll be talking about why it's important to have a protocol we'll touch on what stands in the way we'll review the project protocol document which is handout number one and so we'll go through that if you haven't had a chance to look at that yet you'll find the handouts that um are there attached to this webinar you will also find um that handout is already um posted on the RW workers.com website as well we will then move into looking at a new document that was um developed this is the protocol preparation key elements kind of a check list and so that's handout number two we'll be going through that and we'll also be going through uh a second new document which is the protocol development outline which actually walks um an organization through that development Al process we'll talk about how to get started if that's relevant for you today we will um take a look at some knowledge exchange and Partnerships bringing that up as a possibility and then we should have some time for some questions and answers so are you ready after a little bit of the technical difficulties and we are ready to get started so I invite you I know that you most of you are at work if possible minimize the distractions that might might be around you access the handouts as I mentioned there are three um be ready to take some notes and prepare the questions that you may have for that uh period of time at the end okay so let's talk about why is a protocol needed well a protocol is needed and and some of you may already recognize this that's why you're here today but a protocol helps to ensure that intimate partner violence issues are safely and consist consistently identified and addressed within an organization a protocol also helps to ensure that appropriate supports and safeguards are in place for individuals and families dealing with intimate partner violence and a protocol also provides a responsive holistic quality driven service for Refugee women and of course their families and so the benefits are you know so many benefits to the agent in terms of um just Clarity people know there's no confusion about what to do in these circumstances there's some liability issues that are addressed when you have a protocol benefits obviously to the woman in terms of safety well-being her potential all of those things benefits children for the same reasons safety their well-being um benefit also to Partners who you know this they may have an opportunity when there is is a protocol in place to be held not only accountable but to be off re resources and um you know support information for them to address their behavior and of course the communities that these families are settling in we all benefit as well what are some of the barriers what stands in the way of people having protocols and so some of them include time we're all busy um you know you work at organizations where there are so many things that are happening just on a day-to-day minute by minute basis and so time can be an issue in terms of why people haven't developed a protocol yet funding could also be um an issue it may be a lack of awareness around um you know issues related to intimate partner violence it may not be considered because it's a settlement agency maybe it's not considered the priority for the for the women and the families that you are seeing in your agency and sometimes um might be just a lack of skills knowledge or resources that you know people feel would equip them to create this protocol and so just think about for a moment if you have not already developed a protocol or it's been sitting and it's not really being implemented and adhere to you know what are some of those barriers what's been standing in the way of you having that protocol in

place all right so let's take a look at the first document and it's up to you if you'd like to follow along that's fine otherwise please make sure you do access it whether it be here or on the rap workers.com website but I I do want to just touch on what we've covered in that um protocol document it was a 32 page uh document and so we know that it's it's lengthy and it's it's maybe difficult to sort of pull out everything that you would need in creating your own document so just going to highlight some of the things that were covered in there was a framework and of course um it outlined items activities and you know actions that needed to be undertaken by rap centers and creating their own protocol and some people asked you know if it couldn't be you know a document that just specified everything they needed to know that they could just kind of just start using and while there are many things that um agencies can take out and apply directly to their own doct doent there's similarities of course it goes um that exists across communities and initiatives but we know and you know that there are significant variations related to um participant demographics key you know project Partners referral and referring agencies Services provided and current intimate uh partner violence policies and practices within your specific settlement or res settlement agency and so those variations affect how an agency might approach assessing intimate partner violence and then of course how they're going to respond when it's disclosed or detected so therefore intimate partner violence and protocol development by each agency has to be site specific and tailor to reflect the particular characteristics of the community you know and the the spefic programs and staff that are there so here's what we covered in that document we talked about some um primary recommendations we offered a framework for the protocol we talked about challenges for for women refugees um and we put that in kind of a cultural context we talked about considerations and activities for the various stages so sorry recognition St stage the responding stage and the referral stage uh we highlighted some safety planning and threat assessment tools we talked about some key practice strategies and we summarized those and then we included a intimate partner violence policy statement so some of the recommendations were um there were four in particular and so we called upon all agencies providing services to Refugee women and their families to adopt a clearly defined position position and develop processes to support the safety of women from a holistic client centered perspective the second recommendation was that we encouraged all management and direct service providers to be adequately trained to recognize the signs of intimate partner violence and to know when their intervention is appropriate and when outside intervention is

necessary third we urged all resettlement service providers or programs to establish a strategic plan that addresses the unique needs of women and that these plans are Guided by feedback from women and reviewed and or revised consistently and finally we invited all resettlement service agencies to support legislation that will help protect survivors of toate partner violence and their children so those are the recommendations and just to highlight some of the uh Concepts and information that we provided within the framework we said that gender-based violence is obviously by no means unique to Refugee commun communities we said that uh women refugees experience unique barriers and often have distinct histories that require specific considerations and we highlighted the additional complexities that create profound and intersecting barriers for women attempting to flee violence and make the issue especially challenging for service providers to address we emphasized that R Center service providers aren't required to conduct a comprehensive intimate partner violence risk assessment and we also said that they more than likely should not be doing so without the appropriate training and experience but of course we've said that under certain laws and professional code of ethics as you know that um service providers are responsible for screening and responding to obvious signs of disclosures or witnessing related to in intimate partner violence and then we also um just highlighted that collaborating with Community experts is appropriate in many of these cases and so um finally in terms of the framework we said that by developing a protocol rap centers will be equipped with the knowledge and confidence to act in accordance within their legal competencies and duties in order to promote safety for all clients as well as that perpetrator

accountability and then we provided a cultural context and so we highlighted that Services must take into account a refugee woman's cultural context and how she views herself within that reality we said that Frontline workers will often unn unknowingly bring their own unique cultural values and beliefs to dialogues with Refugee women for example there might be a belief that she should leave her partner While others maybe don't address the concerns and offer a response possibly based on a belief that she should just remain in that situation and so a quote from a a journal article family structure acculturation immigrant status Community response and histories of Oppression affect experiences of women for minority communities and therefore culturally congruent approaches for dealing with abuse will be most effective in response to incidents of intimate partner violence and the rap Center protocols will need to acknowledge that Refugee women have multiple concerns that affect the decisions that they will make yet at the same time need to be able to strive to develop actions that are consistent and responsive all right so the the project protocol broke down many of the activities and and recommendations for um you know a response and procedures into the various um stages and areas and so we started off in terms of the recognition identification stage and in that section we referenced uh the resource guide that the project um has developed and again um it can be found at the ratw workers.com website and also obviously all of the um information training and tools that are find found at that website as well and so an example of what was highlighted in the early recognition identification stage was that when violence is suspected and a service provider is seeking greater understanding that conducting that interview without the presence of the partner or you know the accused perpetrator or perhaps even other family members in some cases can encourage that client or that woman to um to speak more openly and that's just an example of something to be considered in terms of what will be that that process and then within that area the recognition area that initial stage we talked about documentation and confidentiality considerations and then the respond phase so what you were doing in in response to something that's been witnessed disclosed so in that area we talked about some challenges related to early intervention and response we talked about considerations when there is an immediate threat of violence and so it's been witnessed or disclosed what do you need to do at that time in terms of um that person being at immediate and um possibly significant risk uh in that section we referred to tools and other reference sources um that would be useful sorry for your organization at that response stage and then the referral stage and so within the project protocol we talked about um collaboration being very important um in that stage in terms of what you will be outlining in your protocol we talked about um limits to service capacity and being able to clearly outline them and under what what circumstances will that um referral or consultation occur we talked about a multi- sectoral approach to um you know identifying and responding to intimate partner violence we also um talked about referrals being very important and what to consider in terms of referrals we highlighted legal considerations and responses that are available possibly um to uh women who who may disclose or have been a witnessed to experience intimate partner violence and then of course we talked about Community Development related to intimate partner violence and so examples might include Outreach and education with other agencies it might include organizing mobilization and

accountability So within the protocol we also talked about safety planning and threat assessment tools and so we highlighted some important things to consider we provided links and sources that are important for uh protocol

activities we provided a su of the key practice strategies and of course I mean this is just an overview of some things to consider uh as you're developing your protocol in detail and so some of these included creating a safe space and uh building that Rapport maintaining awareness regarding signs warning signs and identification questions so that screening stage um assessing risk planning for safety providing in relevant information to that

individual respecting their self-determination and rights to make decisions upholding confidentiality and of course where that's applicable and limitations to that uh we've talked about referring and collaborating uh another key practice strategy to consider is to provide that ongoing support and followup to to sub one you know once they've been referred or connected with another resource then what's your process within your agency to follow up and to continue to offer the Settlement Services or to just provide support based on you know what they might have um disclosed to you who who will that be um of course considering and U making sure that you are evaluating service and intervention practices consistently and along along all along the way and developing Partnerships and advocacy initiatives so we had a policy statement and and this was something that was developed by the working group and was applicable and um encouraged to be adopted by all Ontario rap centers and this is just a couple of um key highlights from that so to support efforts to improve the rights safety and well-being of all Refugee women utilizing resettlement assistance services in Ontario and so we called upon all Ontario rap centers to do that and we said that we believe that the highest quality of services is an essential and non-negotiable element of resettlement services and that Refugee women can only receive this level of service when she is seen from a holistic perspective including a broad range of potential vulnerabilities and experiences and again we called on all rap centers to to adopt this policy statement all right so that um that's just sort of an overview of the document the project uh protocol again I would invite you to make sure that you you know get a chance to to review it in Greater detail and use it to shape your protocol um within your agency and so what I want to do is move on to the other two documents that were created specifically for agencies to just you know get that process started to to get things into motion and so the first one is a protocol preparation key element checklist and so this is just a single page document and it really is a way for agents to think about as they're approaching the protocol development process what is it that we'll need to pull together what will we need to know and identify and preparation for the protocol development obviously there are all the details that I've started to highlight and we'll go into greater detail as we look at the outline but just in terms of allotting time resources information that needs to be um gathered knowledged that needs to be um you know applied to this effort what are the things that U we'll need to consider just in the preparation stage all right and so I'll just go through the checklist here and and this will give you an idea if you haven't already engaged in this preparation stage or the the protocol development process at all here are some things for you to consider so the first one is what is the primary scope and purpose of the intimate partner violence protocol then what are our core principles and values related to intimate partner violence next what are the main programs involved in the service service delivery process so what are the programs that will'll likely see or be involved in or engaged and interact with these women or their families who are the key service providers and what are their main roles in the service delivery process or intervention process how is intimate partner violence defined and how does it usually or could present within your particular organization and then starting to look at each area how will we screen and identify intimate partner violence how will we respond to intimate partner violence who will we consult with and or refer to in cases of intimate partner violence and you may already have a sense of people that you refer to or perhaps this is you know it's some information gathering that you'll need you know as you're pulling together that document and then um what are the confidentiality and Reporting considerations that you'll need to think about and then finally what are the training and supervision needs of the staff involved staff involved um in your agency but specifically those who might likely you know see hear about or reporting intimate partner violence or anything related to that okay so this is just sort of a a quick list it's a checklist as you are getting started gathering information and perhaps it might guide you and you know form the members of a committee it might inform who would be around the table in discussing this if if it's going to be a collaboration and you'll know what type of information and resources you'll need to pull together in order to formally engage in this process all right so that's the checklist that's the handout if you have not already uh download to that you can feel free to to go ahead and do that and we will also be adding that to the uh R workers.com website okay all right so let's go ahead and look at the protocol development outline and so this is um again this is our third hand oute and so I would encourage you to you know know at your leisure to print it out to to use it as your plan and to actually structure your protocol it really just provides that whole framework for you to start putting things together and so these things will be you know information that you have taken directly from the project uh protocol document these will be things that you may have already in place that are applicable to this intimate partner violence protocol specifically and it will also be further developed for this particular process okay and so let me just go through it it's a seven-page document and by seven pages it's not seven pages of information it's seven pages spaced out so that you can actually take notes and start to you know draft your protocol you can actually start putting in the information that you will be putting into each one of these sections and while it is seven pages and it does provide the key area you may want to shape it edit it add things remove things and so make it your own but this is really going to give you a great opportunity to get things started all right and so the first part is um you may start your protocol with an introduction and a background and so introduction and background kind of self-explanatory but you know the questions you'll be asking at that stage will be why is this protocol being developed what is the scope and role that it will Encompass within your agency and then there may be a little bit more of a background that's specific to your you know your community or or your particular um you know um program as well okay and uh you may want to provide a little bit of context there and then the next section would be around your purpose and objectives related to the protocol so what are the needs concerns and issues that the protocol will address what will the protocol accomplish and how will it do this those are some of the things that you'll be putting in that purpose and

objective and you'll be really talking about you know what is it that your protocol will be hoping to accomplish so some of the words you might be using are to help to promote to strengthen that kind of thing um and then you want to be very clear about the role that it's going to be um assuming right and so building on the introduction and background you know you're going to start off by saying this protocol is designed to ensure that intimate partner violence issues or you know this protocol will be used to identify and inform staff and volunteer of you know training needs uh responses that kind of thing uh approaches screening and assessment approaches those kinds of things so that's what um is going to be important to highlight in the area of um purpose and objectives and then the next section is statement of principles and so some of the questions that you'll be asking will be what does your organization stand for which supports the development at and adherance to this document what are the beliefs and core values related to intimate partner violence and you know I think it's really important that um if you're doing it at as an organization it will be your organization's core value sometimes people you know engage in this as a partnership and so helping to identify shared principles and values are going to be very important and so it may be similar to um you know the the policy statements that that I referred to in our documents and we recognize that intimate partner violence is a complex problem etc etc and that there serious obstacles that kind of thing and you may say that we you know you recognize that diversity in the um you know the the refugee women and their families that kind of thing so you're going to really be outlining what are your main principles that really inform and guide the development and adherence to this document okay and then the next section is the programs and services involved and so what are the services involved where there could be witnessed and or reported incidents of intimate partner violence experienced by Refugee women and so it's important that you're able to identify every you know stage that may encounter or may need to screen and identify these issues okay all right and so once you have done that then you're going to be looking more specifically at what are the actual staff and their roles and some of the questions you'll be asking will be who are the parties involved at all stages of the intimate partner violence recognition response and referral process and in what way are they involved and then what's expected from each person how will they respond who will they turn to or consult with uh and then looking at what are their training and support needs for the staff who are involved at at at many different stages and phases okay so that's the staff and roles p and then you know it it's up to you how you choose to organize your protocol but we've sort of broken it down to that initial stage which I think is a nice way to to frame everything but so looking at the beginning recognition screening and identification phase and what are the specific activities that will be involved there what are the expectations at that stage so um the questions you'll be asking are what are the activities needed to support the woman and her family to communicate concerns or issue so what needs to be present in your organization within this the service specifically um what needs to be articulated so that uh all clients know that this a safe space to disclose and talk about this issue and then what tools and actions will staff use to identify intimate partner violence in their daily service encounters and so through the wrap workers um training resource guide and all the other information we go into details about and offer um resources and links to tools that you know you might want to highlight in terms of what tools you'll use um so you know what how will you identify warning signs you know how will you screen that kind of thing so it's going to be important that um you look at that initial stage and you know who will be screened and so perhaps your protocol will say that all participants all clients will be screened for um the potential of intimate partner violence whether there are signs and symptoms that um suggest it or not okay and so you're going to want to really be specific about who's responsible for screening and the assessment and then again as I said what are the screening procedures that will be used you know will that come from training a document a specific tool that consistency is so important so it's not left for um an individual staff to decide you know whether or not they're going to even consider intimate partner violence as being um an issue that this individual might be experiencing all right and so then moving on in your protocol to the recognizing um I mean the responding phase that's the next part that you may want to look at in terms of um developing your protocol and that's how we've sort of encouraged you to to look at it and so that's the real assessment intervention phase and so moving from the the screening it out of a identification to now what's the actual intervention and response and so questions you're going to be asking yourself in terms of what's going to be in that protocol is what are the specific actions that staff will take when intimate partner balance has been identified or disclosed who will be consulted what response is expected what safety tools and measures will be utilized because that's stage where you know it's going to be very important when it's disclosure or something witnessed how that person is responded to what information they're given you know what they're able to um access that kind of thing and so those are some of the questions that you'll be asking yourself as you formulate that particular part of your protocol um and then of course as I said there's going to be different responses based on um you know is this a an immediate or a crisis situation you know are they in danger right now if yes what will you do if no then what will you do and your protocol should also speak to um you know are there disclosures related to past abuse because your response then obviously would likely take a different direction okay so you want staff to be very clear and the agency overall to be very clear on what we will do in an immediate crisis situation and what will we do you know for situations where that person may not be an immediate crisis but something needs to be um done what action will we be taking at that stage and then finally the referral stage so what are the activities what will need to happen what will we need to outline in the protocol related to that stage where consultations are happening collaboration is important and resources are also key so questions you're going to be asking yourself at this stage and at this part in the protocol is what are the community linkages needed to serve clients and respond effectively in intimate partner violence cases how will referrals be conducted and by whom and then of course what followup or ongoing services will be offered and so you're going to want to be very clear about you know a referral will be made to you know this particular staff will consult with the action that we will take at this stage will

be and of course differentiating again those different um you know levels of of safety and threat to a person so what will the referral look like in situations of Crisis and immediate safety concerns what will referrals look like for situations where it's um past incidents and obviously um still concerns but you know assessing that that level and maybe Consulting with where that particular client might be at all right and so looking further at this outline document confidentiality you know what are the key considerations and limitations related to confidentiality that must be established so you're going to want to start to outline that and again pulling down from our protocol um and then you may also have some confidentiality um procedures and expectations uh that you know you can draw on how will clients be informed about confidentiality related to intimate partner violence what they may disclose and what might be you know witnessed and who will do so who will inform clients about this who will be consulted and that kind of thing so confidentiality is an important one particularly because there are some um you know limits to that as you probably are well aware and so that section of the protocol should clearly describe the confidentiality standards and to clarify the roles and you want to avoid misunderstandings and expectations related to what information will and will not be shared related to intimate partner violence disclosures should they be made okay and then uh documentation and Reporting so that section of the protocol will include you know what information will be documented within the client file how will the information be used how are expectations about mandatory reporting shared with clients or staff and who will make decisions about

reporting okay and the next section is an important one legal considerations obviously what are the potential liability issues for your organization what are the legal resources that might be needed by women who are refugees and experiencing intimate partner violence so that's what you will be um referring to in that section within the protocol and then finally the protocol review process well not finally but in terms of you know information to be gathered protocol review process how will you assess the implementation and development strengths and the weaknesses and make modifications as needed because sometimes you know because it it can be timec consuming to actually you know develop a final document sometimes it sits and it serves its purpose but it's not reviewed and it's not modified um you know so it's going to be important that um you know it's it's reviewed it's possibly um altered as needed so you know whether that be at a management level or a committee or partnership level the review um process needs to be outlined and perhaps there's some timelines around that so in six months this protocol will be reviewed by whom and uh what will be um looked at you know that kind of thing uh your protocol might close with um you know an appendix for some dependencies and so that will be the supplemental materials and resources that are included referenced and or integrated into the protocol activities and so what are those documents perhaps that your um staff will be referring to that are directly related to um you know the particular stage uh whether it be warning signs or safety um assessment tools risk assessment tools um threat assessment tools those kinds of things what are those things that um form um important parts of the protocol and then any references or bibliographies that might be necessary so what are the sources that are used um where can support or reference materials be found and so maybe there's some other tools that um you might want to highlight you may want to put the um the WW workers website as a tool of reference um you know within your protocol or anything else that you may come across that um you think would be important for your staff to have for you to continue to refer back to and so um that's going to be very important that you have that as well okay so let's now

um talk about getting started it's one thing for for you to be part of this to get to a place where you understand why a protocol is important or why it's important that you come back to it and um maybe you're reviewing it or revising it some of you U maybe just starting the process but you know what did you do now because what we would hate to hear is that you've come this far and then you know nothing happens from here and so it's really important that you you take it to the next you know stage and actually get something in place and so what we would encourage you to do is to share this information with your within your organization so what are the notes that you took today what are the handouts that you accessed the rap workers website um information that was shared today take that back within your organization have a discussion about it um perhaps you're going to be the one if you're not the one necessarily developing the protocol but maybe you're the one that's going to now advocate for the protocol to be developed or as I mentioned um you might be at that review or revision stage so be that person who kind of advocates for this being a priority within your agency um maybe you're going to create a planning or a development committee so who are the people that are willing to come together to take this to its next and final stage and so who are those people and and you know creating an internal committee and then what works sometimes very well is to coordinate a community um intimate partner violence protocol development partnership and so sometimes uh organizations will come together with the um you know the shelter that they refer to or the the local you know crisis service that's available or um you know housing whatever resources are really key Partners within your specific Community perhaps your your protocol will be something that you develop together as a partnership and so maybe you're one to to lead that or to um to initiate that so whatever you decide to do you know it's up to you but I really encourage you to start from where you are okay so don't look at it as a huge you know task in front of you but to that you know

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safe that children aren't exposed to that partners are held accountable but also you know offered resources and services um related to their Behavior Uh there's liability issues to be considered the community benefits When there's something clear in place and staff volunteers you know everyone benefits When there's a protocol in place because there's Clarity you know people know what they're expected to do they don't feel unsure about what to do because that's the number one reason I I think and that's what came you know out of our focus group as well people didn't feel equipped and so therefore they either weren't responding or they weren't feeling good about their response related to intimate partner violence and so when there is something in place that's very clear and it outlines this is what you will do to screen to identify in response resp to related to referrals just people feel at ease to some extent I know this is a topic that is not easy for for many people you know it's a topic that uh is is very uncomfortable for many but it is something that um with the right information is easier to talk about and address and so that starts with very clear policies and a protocol that out outlines what's expected and what will be done so it's consistent across the board it's not left for a staff to decide whether or not they feel it's important it's expected by the agency so start from where you are is what I'm trying to highlight okay all right so this is just um a moment to we won't be able to do this because of the number of people that are um on the line and available um but I wanted this to be an opportunity to exchange knowledge you know you all are out there doing the work at at various levels um whether it be at a management level or some of you are direct service or you know a middle management and supervisors you're out there doing the work and some of you have already developed protocols have Partnerships in place have some important you know ideas about where you're going with this and so this is a great opportunity to share that with your colleagues you know and share that within the sector so that the process is is more consistent across Ontario across the province and when it's easier then you know there's more likely that it actually is going to happen and so if you have information or if you are someone who would like further information that is out there and available then you know we' like to be able to sort of offer this um not necessarily on an ongoing basis but right now as we are looking at how to move protocol development further how can we share the knowledge and resources that are out there and so if you have additional tools and documents you know further than what we've mentioned we've um provided then please um send that to us we'd be happy to share that with your colleagues and and those who are also you know engaging in this process you know think about collaborating there we we are now as you can tell by being on this call we're just a phone call a telephone a computer away from being able to collaborate with one another and you know the opportunity to create maybe a partnership with someone who is also developing their protocol but wanting some you know some support and some accountability to keep the process going that might be something as well so please um send any information you can you know let me know for now what information you have or need and you know we'd be happy to share that with the various agencies or you know you know how to get in contact with each other as well so keep the communication open and exchange the knowledge that already exists there's you know there's a richness that already exists out there and so let's draw on that in this protocol development uh process as well okay so questions we do have just a few minutes uh left and so you know if there are specific questions about the information that's provided then um you know I could probably answer a couple feel free to send others in to um rectile Women's Center Care of um myself or um you can also send it to our executive director um and she certainly make sure that the right person gets it or you know here's an opportunity to ask questions that might be lingering and for some of you it might be that you are just um taking in the information right now and so there may not be any questions yet um until you actually get started in the process so if you have any questions feel free to send those in in the next uh minute or so that we have left I'll be happy to to answer any of those and we'll look out for any that that may come out in the near future related to um this webinar and the protocol development process so I'll just give you a minute to do that and then I will um I will check

back

see any questions yet we'll give you just one more minute and see if there are

any okay so we're just uh looking for any questions that you may have before we bring this to a

close Okay so I don't see anything in terms of questions right now and I'm thinking that within this whole um beginning stage if that's where you're at that you may not be um at the point where you have questions yet so as you develop it there may be some things that come out and feel free to let us know okay so I want to thank you for joining us and I apologize again we had some technical difficulties at the be very beginning but thank you for joining us us and uh we really look forward to what's created through these processes and feel free to to share that with us you know how have you um moved forward what have you developed uh if you're opening open to sharing that with any of your colleagues we'd be happy to you know help you with that or you know send that directly to other people so that they can um you know be helped along in this process again the rap workers um.com website is an excellent tool if you haven't been there already it's great um training uh platform resources are there the protocol is there the resource guide is there the all the training material um there are other um documents there these additional new documents will be added as well so feel free to also let us know your feedback what did you take from today what did you enjoy about this um Workshop how do it help you and how will it help you in the future As you move forward so thank you again everyone for joining us and uh I look forward to um to any you know communication conversations that we may have in the future so take care and we'll say bye for now