Luke’s Place is a centre devoted to improving the safety and experience of abused women and their children as they proceed through the family law process. To do this, they have developed the Family Court Support Worker, which is a province-wide initiative funded by the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General, the goal of which is to help reduce wait times in family courts and improve outcomes for families in which violence is occurring. Internally, their focus is on the development of a specialized response to support abused women in this difficult and challenging process, including providing individual service and group support. For this purpose, Moodle is used to deliver training and provide legal support to workers, as well as deliver a number of professional development services to community workers in Ontario.
The service that Luke’s Place is most proud of, that Moodle has made possible, is their Family Court Support Workers Discussion Area. Here, there are over 100 workers who provide legal information to domestic abuse survivors involved in the family law system enrolled. Their learners use Moodle to post questions and comments about various legal topics to discussion forums and share resources they have developed for clients and volunteers.
A lawyer, who also participates in the forums, sends participants weekly news updates, answers legal inquiries and posts legal resources on their Moodle site. Luke’s Place also uses Moodle to occasionally run surveys on different topics so that their learners can share their experiences, and help Luke’s Place improve their services.
Additionally, many of Luke’s Place primary contacts are located in small communities throughout Ontario. These contacts have expressed that the Discussion Areas enabled through Moodle really acts as their life-line, helping them resolve legal issues, improve safety for clients, make good referrals and allow them to feel less isolated in their work. With Moodle, Luke’s Place was able to create a steady stream of communication, keeping their community connected, and allowing them to better improve the safety and well-being of abused women and their children.