Wellness Within: An Organization for Health and Justice

11/17/2025

🙏🚨🙏🚨🙏🚨 Our Annual Conference is ALMOST SOLD OUT!

LAST CHANCE to get your tickets! Sales close on WEDNESDAY at NOON.

Two interactive workshops — one focused on community response and awareness of gender based violence and a collage workshop.

11/08/2025

Have you gotten your ticket for our fall conference? 👇👇👇

Two interactive workshops — one focused on community response and awareness of gender based violence and a collage workshop.

10/24/2025

As a part of our annual conference (Nov 22, 2025 from 1pm-6:30pm) we will be hosting a Neighbours, Friends, and Families workshop with the lovely folks at .ns 🫂 Link in bio to register 💟

Neighbours, Friends, and Families (NFF) is a public education initiative focused on preventing
intimate partner and domestic violence by raising awareness of the signs of abuse and empowering
individuals to intervene safely. It encourages people who are close to someone experiencing intimate
partner or domestic violence to recognize the warning signs and take appropriate action to support
them. The program emphasizes that everyone has a role to play in ending intimate partner and
domestic violence, and provides local resources and guidance on how to help.

The Transition House Association of Nova Scotia (THANS) is leading a province-wide initiative to
revitalize and expand the Neighbours, Friends, and Families (NFF) prevention education program in
response to the growing crisis of intimate partner and domestic violence in the province. This work
comes in response to the unprecedented rate of IPV-related homicides in Nova Scotia during 2024 and
2025, and the need to increase awareness and education among community members, who are often
the first to notice or respond to signs of intimate partner and domestic violence.
In collaboration with the Centre for Education and Research on Violence Against Women
(CREV A WC), community and government partners, this project aims to standardize NFF training
across Nova Scotia, build a provincial infrastructure to support trainers, and ensure the materials are
responsive and adaptable to the needs of equity-deserving groups.

10/22/2025

We are thrilled to have the amazing Lindsay Stewart, co-founder of , as our Artist in Residence for Wellness Within’s Annual Conference November 22, 2025. Lindsay will lead an interactive collage workshop. ✂️💥 Link for conference registration in bio! 🔗

Lindsay Stewart is an artist, facilitator and community organizer based in Halifax, working at the intersection of craft, accessibility, and anti-establishment art practices. Her personal work is in mail and postal art rooted in DIY values and creative exchange.

In 2022, Lindsay co-founded the Halifax Collage Collective with Fraya MacDougall—a monthly gathering that creates space for collective art-making in non-traditional venues like bars, cafes, and galleries. Their work and organizing are driven by a belief in community care, creative autonomy, and imagining more liberated, inclusive futures through art.

10/21/2025

REGISTRATION IS LIVE! 💟 Link in bio 🔗
Join us for Wellness Within’s annual conference: Crafting Abolitionist Futures Together 1pm-6:30pm on Nov 22, 2025 at the Dalhousie University Weldon Law Building (6061 University Ave, Halifax NS).📍

An exciting afternoon of community building with two interactive workshops, a powerful keynote speech, food + drink and a silent auction — you don’t want to miss it! ⭐️

10/15/2025

Introducing our Keynote Speaker for this year’s conference: the ever-inspiring, Wyndolyn Brown! ✨

Wyndolyn Brown is an African Canadian woman from a marginalized community in Nova Scotia whose personal journey and professional expertise uniquely position her to support individuals and families affected by addiction, homelessness, mental health challenges, gender-based violence, and youth in care.

A survivor of physiological trauma, physical and s*xual violence, human trafficking, addiction, and homelessness, Wyndolyn has transformed her pain into purpose. Her lived experiences provide her with profound empathy, understanding, and a deep connection to the healing process.

Through her work as a coach, advocate, and community leader, Wyndolyn empowers others to reclaim their lives with dignity and hope. She integrates her recovery journey with her professional training to create a compassionate, non-judgmental, and harm-reduction approach that meets people where they are.

Today, as the Founder and Ceo of Empowerment For Hope Society, Wyndolyn leads initiatives that foster healing, community connection, and empowerment for survivors of intimate partner violence, s*x trafficking, and systemic marginalization.
Her mission is to create spaces of belonging, healing, and transformation—by survivors, for survivors.

10/14/2025

Wellness Within is pleased to announce that we will be bringing back our annual Reproductive Changemaker Award for its third year! 🏆💕

Reproductive justice, developed by women of colour in the US and with long histories in Indigenous communities expands the legal framework of reproductive rights to examine the intersectional human rights and equity implications of reproductive decisions. This award seeks to recognize individuals who have exhibited a deep commitment to reproductive justice in their work: whether that be clinical, academic, political, community-based or artistic.

Please email nominations to [email protected] by November 15, 2025. Tell us who you are nominating and the changemaking they have done! Recipient will be announced at the Wellness Within 2025 Annual Conference: Crafting Abolitionist Futures Together on November 22, 2025 at the Dalhousie University Weldon Law Building (6061 University Ave, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2). Registration coming soon!

10/09/2025

Save the Date! 💖 Nov 22 in Halifax NS.

This year’s conference is titled Crafting Abolitionist Futures Together and will bring an exciting new format different from previous years. Instead of our typical presentation lineup, we plan to host a shorter day with two interactive workshops — one focused on community response and awareness of gender based violence with .ns , and a collage workshop with the incredible Lindsay Stewart. We are also excited to announce Wyndolyn Brown, founder of , as our keynote speaker.

Stay tuned for more details!

09/22/2025

Please join us and this Thursday Sept 25, 2025 at 12pm outside the NS Legislature to rally for universal contraception 📣

All are welcome. Let’s show that Nova Scotians want and need access to free contraception now!

09/07/2025

Join Dr. Martha Paynter in conversation with Dr. Lianne Yoshida and Nasha Nijhawan for the launch of Lawless: Abortion Under Complete Decriminalization

October 17, 2025
5:30pm (AT)
Bus Stop Theatre , 2203 Gottingen Street , Halifax , Nova Scotia, Canada
———
About Lawless

Canada is the only country with complete decriminalization of abortion: no gestational duration limitations, no parental consent obligations, and no waiting periods. In recent years, other countries (New Zealand, Colombia, Uruguay, Mexico) have made strides toward this, while the United States has notoriously lost ground. Amidst the tumult, nurse and scholar Martha Paynter uses historical context and contemporary issues to explain why experts advocate against laws governing abortion.

Despite decriminalization, Canadian federal and provincial legislation and regulations about health funding, delivery, and human rights all shape how abortion care is delivered. Barriers persist in uneven access, unclear information, and belief-based denial of care. In accessible plain language from the expansive perspective of a clinician, researcher and activist, Paynter describes abortion policy, practice and experience and discusses how to resolve challenges that continue more than three decades after Canada became the world’s most legally progressive jurisdiction for abortion.

06/15/2025

Don't miss Jen Metcalfe this Tuesday!

REGISTER for our virtual AGM and talk: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/upholding-the-mandela-rules-for-health-professionals-care-of-prisoners-tickets-1374246932569?aff=oddtdtcreator

Jennifer Metcalfe is vice-president of the Canadian Prison Law Association and is a member of the Canadian Bar Association Committee on Imprisonment and Release. She was the Executive Director of Prisoners’ Legal Services for 16 years. Her career has focused on representing people in prison with human rights complaints. She received her law degree from the University of British Columbia and was called to the bar in 2004. She has an undergraduate degree in Native Studies from Trent University. Jennifer is now focusing her work on heart projects.