Roots of Safety Service Planning

A women-centered approach to safety planning

Roots of Safety is a culturally responsive, trauma-informed safety and empowerment planning model that DIVERSEcity Gender-Based Violence Services developed and adapted from its parent model Signs of Safety™. It uses a women-centered approach to provide culturally safe and respectful safety planning to support the unique needs of newcomer women and their families impacted by gender-based violence.

The model equips service providers with a structured yet adaptable framework to facilitate culturally appropriate conversations, enhancing clients’ safety while respecting their cultural backgrounds and circumstances.

Central to its approach is the use of a three-column framework, which guide clients to:

Identify their strengths
Outline the risks and challenges they face
Collaboratively develop a personalized empowerment plan that links strengths directly to those challenges

The framework is grounded in intersectionality and anti-oppressive practice, with a continuous effort to support the long-term healing process of women, self-identifying women and other survivors.

DIVERSEcity’s Roots of Safety is a Recognized Settlement Practice

All of DIVERSEcity’s gender-based violence programs use the Roots of Safety approach. It’s a collaborative process between us and the client, empowering them to act and make decisions independently. DIVERSEcity also trains other service providers supporting immigrants, newcomers and refugees in the approach, enhancing their capacity in violence prevention.

In March 2025, Roots of Safety was named as a Pathways to Prosperity Promising Practice. Funded by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, P2P’s Promising Practices project highlights promising practices in immigrant settlement and integration with an empirical basis for their effectiveness. Watch a video created by Pathways to Prosperity below.

For more information, please call 604-547-1202 or email intake@dcrs.ca.

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