Partner Promotion - Riseup Society Alberta (Riseup)
RiseUp Society Alberta - Ryley miller (Executive Director)
A big part of The Today Centre’s ability to provide our clients connection to vital resources is possible through the partnerships we have with organizations in and around Edmonton. These partnerships allow our Family Violence Specialist team to connect our clients with further support beyond what we are able to provide them here at The Today Centre. Whether it’s from
finding housing and shelter, connecting them with legal assistance, applying for EPOs (Emergency Protection Orders), long-term family violence support, or counselling, the partnerships we make with other organizations enable us to connect our clients to help they need beyond assistance with family violence. These partnerships are vital to the services we provide! And did you know that we have partnerships with over 50 organizations in Edmonton and area? We truly value each and every partnership we make!
Since these partnerships are so important to the work that we do and the service we can provide our clients, we wanted to highlight some of them in a partner promotion series. We sat down with Ryley Miller, Riseup Society Alberta’s Executive Director, to ask a few questions about the services Riseup provides and what our partnership with them looks like. Check out her answers below!
About RiseUp
What does the RiseUp Society ‘do’?
Our mission is to support communities in helping end intimate partner violence, whether that is directly in providing counselling services or just educating as a means of prevention. In the last few years since COVID we have really leaned in more to that prevention piece by offering more trainings and programming for other groups, and not just that direct client support.
Today, we exist as a registered charity providing free counselling for those impacted by intimate partner violence (IPV). We offer the first six sessions free and then introduce a sliding scale based off of their income, which ranges between $20 to $100 per session thereafter. Because we understand there are barriers to accessing support, we are not firm on that and may waive the fee so that people are still able to come and see us.
We also provide psychoeducation opportunities, doing presentations in the community, talking about what domestic and intimate partner is, and educating on what healthy relationships and consent look like. We offer a mix of both service provider and professional business training. We’ve had a few businesses who want something that helps teach their staff and educate on the topic so that their staff are equipped with any resources they may need in addressing a domestic violence situation that could arise in the workplace. Our professional development opportunities have been a really great way to connect with different types of people and provide training that isn’t often thought about, whether that’s mental health first aid or vicarious trauma training. However, we have also provided training support to other nonprofits and agencies so they can understand this area more and better serve their own clients. Riseup really tries to adapt our programming for the right space so we can meet and reach more people while sharing the mandate of our charity, which is that intimate partner violence piece.
What is the history of RiseUp? How did the organization start and how long has it been around?
It is a bit of a long complex history! So, Riseup has been around since December 2007. We actually began as ‘Riseup Ministries’, which was a Christian ministry back in the day. We have since evolved to become a more inclusive space, dropping the ‘Ministries’ portion of the title and becoming ‘Riseup House’. We used to be ‘Riseup House’ because we were previously located in a little house, providing counselling for those impacted by domestic violence.
We then dropped the ‘House’ title, since we found people began assuming we provided housing, and became ‘Riseup Society’ just to clarify that we don’t offer housing. Riseup Society Alberta is where we stand today, and we have been with that name for over seven years. We have really shifted from the Christian origins of our beginnings to become a completely secular space that is inviting to anybody who may need us.
Star Wars Trivia Fundraising Night at Righand Distillery in May 2024
What are riseup’s core values and what do they represent within the organization?
In essence it comes down to compassion and collaboration for community. So, understanding and meeting people where they are at, where they are in their journey and experience with domestic violence, where they are at in their knowledge of it, and working together to overcome that barrier and to support people so it’s not such a pervasive problem.
What’s really important when people look at domestic violence, is recognizing that it doesn’t just impact the individual the violence is directly inflicted upon, but that it’s systemic. It has impacts for their children, their community, their family, and I think that’s really important for people looking for a cause to support. Because when you build up that individual, you are going to be protecting so many different layers of their life that systemically will have benefit to their income, their children, their education, everything. Domestic violence is one of those things that when you’re supporting a charity against it, has benefits for more than just the individual.
Programs & Services
Who does Riseup serve?
Riseup Society serves anyone 16 years of age or older who identifies within the space of experiencing intimate partner violence. We serve people anyone, men, women, or nonbinary, anybody that has experienced that type of violence we will see.
What services and programs does RiseUp offer?
Our main service is counselling, we offer individual therapy over the phone, virtually, and in-person. With the recent hiring of another therapist, our clients can now visit us in four different locations: Edmonton John Howard, The Today Centre, Edmonton YWCA, and of course our Leduc office as well. If somebody is not able to see us in person, we offer that phone and virtual option Monday – Friday.
Outside of counselling we offer psychoeducation, presentations, and group counselling. It varies how often we offer group counselling, but we have done it in the past. Our group counselling is still for those experiencing intimate partner violence and focuses on various topics such as general education, building coping skills, or addressing self esteem, but the intention always is to build skills and community for our clients who are often left isolated.
We also host client meet ups from our Leduc office, which is facilitated by one of our students or another facilitator and is another opportunity to build connections that are not therapy based. We’ll offer coffee or do an activity together and we try to host one bimonthly.
“We meet clients where they are at and whatever part of the journey they are on, we will take them as a client.”
Is there a fee for your services?
Of course, the first six sessions are free and then we will have a conversation with the client on what they are able afford, which is where that sliding scale comes in. One of the reasons we’ve done that is because we found that when people have that financial buy-in to therapy they usually desire to gain something more meaningful from it. But we also understand that clients often have financial restraints when in these types of relationships. It is often a gateway to bigger things that are going on, and we don’t want to make their lives harder, so we don’t always enforce it and will have a conversation with them instead.
We get emails all the time requesting services, but they will always be directed to give a call to our office. We don’t offer any online bookings because we’d like to chat with clients first before we get them booked in.
Oksana, Riseup's Community Facilitator, at a community booth
How would someone access Riseup society’s services?
A few ways! A good chunk of our clients are self referred and will find us themselves from Google, a friend, or another way. Clients really come to us in lots of different ways, with our current partnership with Edmonton John Howard and The Today Centre some are referred directly from EJHS or The Today Centre, but we have also received referrals from local FCSS offices, Victim Services, police, and recently even a few doctors.
All clients have to do is give us a call and we will complete an intake form with them to ensure they meet our mandate as an organization. Often our clients think they have to be currently experiencing IPV, but it could be anyone who has recently left the relationship or even a few years ago, and still dealing with the impacts from that experience.
HOw long are clients able to access your services for?
It varies. Sometimes we’ll get a client that maybe just needed one session with us just for clarity or whatever they wanted to get from that time. We also have clients that if we have the ability to do so, we can see them for twenty plus sessions. It is really between them and the therapist on what works best and what their needs are.
We are not crisis; you do have to book with us and we do want to make sure you are on the way of stability when you speak with us. Six to ten sessions are the average but we recognize that some people need more time. So, even if a client stays with us for a little bit longer, we do encourage, if possible, having a break and extending the time between sessions so that eventually clients don’t need us. That is our goal at the end, that clients are strong enough they don’t need to see us regularly. Sometimes we’ll have clients that maybe want to check once a year just to see how things are going and that’s great too!
Growth of the organization
How many people does Riseup regularly see? What has been the growth of the organization in this area?
The agency has evolved a lot! Even since I have started here in April 2021, it has changed a lot. The biggest change is that we have really grown into the Edmonton region as a whole. About 60% of our clients are now from Edmonton. And that’s not to say we don’t serve the same amount, if not more, of people from other communities like Leduc and area, it’s just that we have the ability to see more clients because we’ve hired on more therapists, we’ve opened our days for longer working hours, and we have access to virtually or remotely serving our clients. When I started, we weren’t open five days a week and we were part-time therapists, so we have really made a lot of transitions there.
Not only have we grown into the city, but we’ve also kept up with the demands of other communities and have seen more clients overall. We are based in Leduc and have seen more individuals from Leduc, but we’ve also just generally expanded what we’ve been able to do and that’s a really big change.
With the hiring of this new therapist (in partnership with The Today Centre and Edmonton John Howard), our services will double in the amount of people that we’ll see in the given year. For reference in 2023, we had a little over 1300 sessions between myself and our full-time therapist, so it is quite busy and steady, and there is obviously a need for this. Outside of that therapy scope, we have contact with at least 500 people in presentations and that community outreach piece.
Many people don’t know who we are until they need us. Which is why we are trying to get ourselves out there more so that people know we are available and can receive more education on the issue of domestic violence, because I think a lot of people find it uncomfortable to talk about.
Riseup Society Alberta booth setup
Where do you see Riseup growing in the future?
Ideally, it would be great to continue to expand! Being able to have more therapists, being able to deliver this type of therapy across Alberta, to live up to our name ‘Riseup Society Alberta’. It would be great to reach Central and Southern Alberta and have counsellors there as well!
With our partnership, it really shows how seamless it is to station our therapists within agencies that serve those impacted by family violence (IPV, DV). And the great thing about therapy is that it doesn’t require a whole lot to ‘do’ it. It can be provided over the phone, virtually, or in-person, you just need a space and the financial support to train people to do the work. Other than that, it can be adapted. Looking to the future it is just growth, more therapists and a farther reach.
It would also be great to have different departments and different roles within our agency. Perhaps someone dedicated to fundraising, who is devoted to that task and time that is often pushed to the corners of others’ task loads within our organization. It would be great to just have more staffing support to do things better and have a farther reach. Sustainably, it means better things for the organization.
Practicum students
HOw often do you have practicum students?
It varies! We may receive a few requests in one season, but we want to make sure we’re able to provide a really good practicum experience and will never take on more than two at a time. Currently, we have an undergraduate student doing more community presence work, hosting client meetups, so not therapy, and doing a few intake calls as well.
For the first time we have a student coming in under a counselling program, so they will be able to offer counselling support as well. All of our practicum students take on regular supervision with our staff as well.
RIse Coffee
Tell us a bit more about the new coffee cart! What is the hope for it?
We’re in the barista biz!
Domestic violence is not a super fun topic to talk about, people might be uncomfortable by it, and often it’s hard for agencies like ours to get our name out there and reach people unless you need us, then you’ll find us. We created Rise Coffee to bridge that gap and share a little bit of what we do in a way that is user friendly and approachable. It is an ongoing fundraiser starting up here in the Fall and is an espresso-based coffee cart with a fancier machine capable of fancier coffees. We’re hoping to use it for public and private events to share about what our agency does while also having all of the proceeds come directly back into our charity.
Rise Coffee is a way to diversify the way that we keep operating! Looking for steady streams of revenue can be difficult, and this is something we’ve created to be at the forefront of people’s minds and approach the topic of domestic violence in a way that’s palpable. We’re launching soon and currently looking for corporate sponsors and those looking for a way to take part and support it, whether it’s having the cart at an event or wanting to support it financially. There are lots of perks to sponsorship, such as discounts on the cart, and more, and we’d love to advertise people as a way of supporting those who support us.
We’re really excited about it and to see where it goes! Coffee is very universal, it bridges people, it builds community, and that can work for a function like a wedding. You can feel good about purchasing this coffee because it goes back into the charity, it’s not just your Starbucks, it’s an organization that gives back, so there is value to having something like this at events. And it builds connections with groups we probably wouldn’t have otherwise interacted with!
Our Partnership
What do referrals between The Today Centre and Riseup look like?
The referral process isn’t complex. If we have clients who have accessed services at The Today Centre or Edmonton John Howard, we know there has already been a process in meeting the requirements for accessing services related to domestic violence. Then when a need for counselling is identified with a client, we know it comes from a place of knowledge about our mandate and what we do. Referrals entail clients working with their case worker, identifying if they’ve experienced domestic violence, and walking through a short referral form indicating that they have other supports in place so that when they come into therapy, we know clients are connected. So, if clients have a housing issue or an addictions issue, we want to know that those needs are currently being addressed or are no longer a risk factor for them. This way, when clients are in session with a Riseup therapist, they are working therapeutically solely on the impacts of domestic violence rather than it becoming a social work kind of setting. It’s also just identifying that clients have a safe space to have 50-minute sessions with a therapist and that they are able to commit to that time. Other than that, we want to make sure our services are accessible to clients.
For example, if a Family Violence Specialist has a client who has identified a therapeutic need, all Riseup needs is that completed referral form, the first and last name of the client, a safe email address and phone number, and an indication whether it is safe for contact. The Family Violence Specialist would then send that form and information to Riseup’s main email, and then one of our therapists will reach out to book a session.
In our partnership with The Today Centre and Edmonton John Howard Society (EJHS), we recently hired a therapist that will serve clients directly from The Today Centre and EJHS. Referrals come from either EJHS or The Today Centre and then our therapist has opportunity to meet clients at either of those offices or even at Riseup’s Leduc office, or virtually and remotely via phone or video call. Prior to this more formal partnership, Riseup did have a linking protocol with The Today Centre.
How are you grateful for our partnership and see it moving forward in the future? WHat has riseup been able to achieve with this partnership?
So grateful! It’s so exciting to have this partnership and we couldn’t have done it without the Stollery Charitable Foundation, which has been a huge support to getting our partnership lifted off the ground.
When speaking to EJHS and The Today Centre, it was clear there has been a mental health barrier to those experiencing domestic violence. Riseup is one of the only agencies that provides that specific type of counselling. So, it means a lot to have this partnership because it not only does it mean we have access to more people that need that support, but we’re also able to provide spaces and other agency support to host us and have us located in Edmonton directly if needed. To be accessible in this way means a lot. Attached to this partnership of course is funding and without that funding we wouldn’t have been able to hire someone to do the work that is so needed.
For the future, I hope we are able to find steady funding to keep the partnership going. Perhaps we’re able to expand not just with EJHS and The Today Centre but adding another partner agency into it as well!
Collaboration is the way to go and if we are able to better support each other and not duplicate, then why not do it together?
Anything else you’d like to add?
Tier3 IT Solutions in Leduc provides us our space and without them we would be in the hole! Our location has been so handy for clients because it provides privacy for our clients and offers another variety of space for those who may desire to see services not in the community they are present in.
We are a small but very mighty organization of people that are very creative and collaboratively work together! We need support from community to grow more and support people and that is only possible through collaboration. And there are lots of ways to do that, whether it is utilizing our coffee cart, sponsoring us, inviting us to speak, or getting involved as a volunteer.
Get in touch with rise up society
Address
#100B, 5908 50 Street, Leduc, AB T9E 0R6
Box 5437, Leduc, AB T9E 6L7 - Mailing Address