Frontline Workers on the Back Burner Report & Action Plan

This report is based on a 2-year research project with social services workers supporting survivors of gender-based violence (GBV), born from a collaboration between the VAFCS and SFU Faculty of Health Sciences. The findings demonstrate an urgent need for systemic accountability and organizational readiness to care for workers so they can, in turn, care for survivors.

The research, conducted from 2023-2025 through dialogue with frontline workers, sector leaders, and policy makers, shows that the most pressing issues facing frontline workers in the sector are insufficient and unstable funding, significant workload pressures and affordability challenges for frontline staff. 

The accompanying action plan makes a series of 20 recommendations to support frontline workers, based on the needs identified by frontline workers and anti-violence leadership, for action at the systemic and organizational levels. This includes increasing and sustaining funding for the anti-violence sector, ensuring that all frontline workers in the sector are paid a living wage, increasing access to affordable housing and improving workload management.