Philippe Mineau is a program facilitator working for the Fellowship for the Advancement of Interpersonal Relations, a Canadian registered non-profit association delivering the “Culture of Intimacy” program. For more information, please see www.FAIRottawa.ca.

My Personal Journey Into This Work

My involvement in the Culture of Intimacy program initially stems from my personal experiences and observations as a youth, university student and young adult living across Canada: from my firsthand experience, there is a strong need for this type of educational programming, country-wide.  I witnessed and experienced the hurt we endure related to sexual assaults.  More distressing still, I saw friends and acquaintances say and do hurtful things, not because they were driven by malice, but because they lacked the tools, know-how and understanding to behave respectfully in their intimate relationships.  This was the incentive to create and offer the Culture of Intimacy program.

My wide-ranging career includes providing senior policy advice for the Federal Government of Canada, and providing conflict mediation services for Community Mediation Ottawa and other private clients.

In 2014 while completing my Graduate Certificate in Conflict Mediation from Carleton University, I began providing youth facilitation services for the MANifest Change program developed by the Ottawa Coalition To End Violence Against Women.  This program provides an important service to Ottawa-area schools, but only deals with encouraging bystander intervention, as opposed to trying to work with students to develop a culture of respectful intimacy. Nevertheless, this initiative was important to the development of the Culture of Intimacy program, in conjunction with the non-profit Fellowship for the Advancement of Interpersonal Relations.