Stephanie Rochon, Intern
Every October, child advocacy organizations recognize Child Abuse Prevention Month with the goal to raise awareness on how to identify and prevent child abuse. This year, the Brookline team had the opportunity to work with the Sheldon Kennedy Child Advocacy Centre (SKCAC) regarding an important announcement around this cause – the launch of an informational toolkit to help educators and school staff recognize, address and report potential child abuse they may suspect within their schools.
With Brookline’s support, the SKCAC held a press conference where SKCAC CEO Sara Austin, Calgary Catholic School District Superintendent Gary Strother and Calgary Board of Education Superintendent David Stevenson announced the launch of the toolkit in schools across Calgary, as well as its availability to schools and youth serving organizations across the province. The hope is that the toolkit will be implemented in schools across Canada, empowering all teachers and school staff with the information and resources they need to recognize and report abuse.
Brookline was pleased to support the SKCAC on this initiative with event planning and media outreach for the conference. Prior to the event, the Brookline team coordinated the event logistics and then helped ensure that everything ran smoothly on the day.
Brookline focused its media relations efforts on traditional Calgary media and national print outlets. The conference resulted in nationwide media coverage and well over 12 million impressions; a great result as the SKCAC hopes the tool will be used in schools across the country. Notable outlets covered the story including the National Post, Globe and Mail, CTV Calgary News and Global News Calgary. In total, there were 89 media stories published around the country on the toolkit.
Brookline was thrilled to be part of the SKCAC’s tool kit launch, and was pleased to help garner significant media coverage for this important initiative.
Stephanie is an intern at Brookline Public Relations. A self-professed ‘word nerd,’ she’s keen to find the heart of every story and make it matter to those who will read it. She has experience in creative and corporate writing, event planning and media relations.