PEARS stands for Prevention, Empowerment, Advocacy, Response, for Survivors.
The PEARS Project is a grassroots, trauma-informed coalition that provides support and resources to survivors of sexual violence across the University of Toronto. Founded and led by survivors through survivor-centred principles such as autonomy, consent, equity, mutual aid, support, and care. PEARS recognizes survivors as leaders and the voices which need to be heard to implement policy change. The tri-campus initiative consists of 10 teams of peer supporters (one at each St. George campus college; one at each satellite campus, and one within Engineering).
By formalizing a community and resource network that is by and for survivors we can better support one another and increase access to legal, mental health, and capacity-building supports. Furthermore, by integrating PEARS ‘nodes’/teams into pre-existing communities, PEARS will be better able to create mutual relationships with broader student communities and help promote the work of other divisional stakeholders.