A Question of Care
About Us
A Question of Care (QoC) is a Peterborough-based capacity-building initiative focused on building and strengthening skills, knowledge, and awareness to address the intersections between substance use, stigma, mental illness, and trauma. QoC creates spaces for mutual learning, respectful dialogue, and fostering collaboration between community members, as well as multi-sectoral collaboration and interdisciplinary practice between professionals.
Our goal is to see helping professionals and community members feel better equipped in person-centred relationships and for people living with complexity to see a reduction in the stigma they encounter in their communities.
Workshops, forums, and other events are offered at minimal cost with a focus on people in Peterborough City and County.
Question of Care workshops provide introductory strategies based on foundational frameworks on various subjects that are not meant to replace regulated training or provide formal certification.
The ultimate impact that QoC is seeking to make is that people who use substances within the County of Peterborough will experience less stigma and more support in the communities they interact with. Specifically:
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People who use substances will receive more informed, less stigmatizing care from helping professionals.
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People who use substances will face less stigma and discrimination from the Peterborough community.
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The Peterborough community will have greater skills and knowledge to know “what to do” and “what to say” when interacting with people who use substances.
Our Target Audience
Helping Professionals
Helping professionals (both therapeutic and non-therapeutic) are interested in taking our workshops in order to provide better informed, more skilled care to people who use substances. Our workshops provide opportunities to build and strengthen skills, knowledge, and awareness to address the intersections between trauma, stigma, substance use, and mental illness by creating space for mutual learning and respectful dialogue and fostering collaboration between professionals. Therapeutic helping professionals who primarily work in Peterborough City and County. We define “therapeutic helping professional” as anyone providing a direct, therapeutic service. Examples include social workers, therapists, service providers, health care providers, and harm reduction staff. Non-therapeutic helping professionals who primarily work in Peterborough City and County. We define “non-therapeutic helping professional” as anyone in a position of interacting with people in providing a service that isn’t necessarily therapeutic. Examples include administrators, volunteers, shelter wrkers, public health staff, and police officers. Most helping professionals work for organizations that serve or interact with people who use substances. These include board members, senior staff, managers, human resource personnel, service providers, health care providers, administrators, peer workers, and volunteers.
Community Members
Community members are anyone 18 and over who live in the Peterborough community. They may have friends, family, colleagues, or acquaintances who use substances. They may not always be aware that they are connected to someone who uses substances. In our advertising, they may be referred to as “loved ones” or “supporters” of people who use substances.
Collaborative Partners
Many local partners, including the agencies and individuals involved with the Peterborough Drug Strategy, have contributed to the creation of QoC workshops, forums, and other events to support information sharing and skill development.
Have You Created A Workshop?
QoC's Event Coordinating Service assists local organizations and individuals with coordinating their workshops (aligning with QoC’s purpose, principles, and framework) or other sessions for a fee. QoC’s services and network are used, but the sessions are “white labelled”¹ and branded independently as “QoC Partner Workshops.” The individual or organization requesting the service is charged a flat fee plus a per-ticket fee and gets to set their own ticket rate with recommendations based on QoC’s pricing system.
Examples are the Cultural Awareness Training sessions hosted at the Nogojiwanong Friendship Centre by their facilitators and paid for by FourCAST and the City of Peterborough, or a workshop facilitated by PARN—Your Community AIDS Resource Network at the Peterborough Lions Community Centre, the costs of which were covered by ticket revenue.
¹ White labelling is when a product or service removes its brand and logo from the end product and instead uses the branding requested by the purchaser.
Other Services We Offer
Workshop Bursaries
A Question of Care is pleased to be able to offer limited bursaries for select Workshops and Events. Bursaries are only available for participants who live and/or work within Peterborough County. Bursaries are limited to two per year per person. Student bursaries are limited to two per term (overall, not per student). The bursary fund is intended to support Peterborough workers, volunteers, and long-term residents. Donate to our bursary fund by clicking the button in the top right corner of your screen.
Core & Premium Workshops
Core Public Workshops - Sessions that are open to the public. Content is developed and owned by PDS and delivered by contracted trainers. Registration is capped between 35-60, depending on the size of the room. Premium Public Workshops - Specialty workshops requested by QoC on topics that fall outside of our expertise. Sessions that are open to the public. Content is developed, delivered, and owned by contracted facilitators and organizations, who charge their own rates. Registration is capped between 35-60, depending on the size of the room.
Workshop Certificates
We offer a variety of multi-workshop certificates that attendees and facilitators (of both standard and premium courses) can receive after completing a specified amount of training with us. These can be submitted to an employer, used to apply for Continuing Education Units, or bolster participants’ resumes.