Curriculum Developer – Trauma and Violence Informed Approaches (TVIA) Training Course

Introduction

OCASI – Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants invites qualified individuals or organizations to submit a proposal to update and redevelop the content of its Trauma and Violence Informed Approaches (TVIA) Course, a self-directed e-learning course offered in both English and French.

The TVIA course is part of OCASI’s Mental Health Promotion in Immigrant and Refugee Serving Organizations Project (MHP), funded by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). This course is designed to provide settlement and social service providers with opportunities to learn fundamental principles, basic concepts and evidence-based approaches to serve immigrants and refugees with experiences of trauma and violence. It will also provide opportunities for learning about self-care, and organizational and community building to address vicarious trauma and systemic trauma and violence.

About OCASI

Established in 1978, OCASI acts as a collective voice for immigrant and refugee-serving agencies across Ontario. With over 250 community-based member organizations, OCASI supports capacity-building, advocacy, and professional development initiatives to promote equitable outcomes for immigrants and refugees across the province.

About the Mental Health Promotion Project

The Mental Health Promotion Project aims to build the capacity of immigrant and refugee services to promote mental health and newcomer wellbeing and respond to mental health issues within organizations. The project also aims to strengthen collaborations and partnerships between immigrant and refugee serving organizations, primary health, and mental health sectors through the development and implementation of a service model for mental health promotion. 

Project Overview

In 2020, OCASI launched its Trauma and Violence-Informed Approaches (TVIA) Guidelines. This resource was developed to form a system level response to addressing the high prevalence of trauma experienced by staff and clients in immigrant and refugee serving organizations. The Guidelines were developed to build organizational capacity to respond to trauma through trauma- and violence- informed practices while incorporating key principles of anti-racism and anti-oppression. 

The accompanying TVIA training course was piloted in English in 2020 and formally launched in 2022 - 2023. The course was subsequently adapted into French, piloted, and launched in 2023 - 2024. Since its original development in 2019, the sector context, organizational needs, and best practices related to trauma- and violence-informed work have continued to evolve. 

Recent course evaluations indicate that existing content is valuable, providing learners with a strong foundational understanding. However, there are ongoing requests for deeper applied learning and practice-based content, such as more real-world scenarios, practical communication strategies, guidance on role boundaries, and an expansion of vicarious trauma and worker wellbeing content. 

The objective of this Request for Proposals (RFP) is to engage a consultant or consultant team to update, revise, and redesign OCASI’s Trauma and Violence- Informed Approaches (TVIA) e-learning curriculum content. The updated curriculum will support settlement and social service providers working with immigrants and refugees by strengthening knowledge, skills, and organizational capacity to respond to trauma and violence in ways that are equitable, anti-racist, and responsive to current sector realities. 

The updated TVIA curriculum will: 

• Equip settlement and social service providers with timely, relevant, and evidence-informed knowledge that reflects current social, political, and immigration policy contexts impacting immigrants and refugees in Canada.
• Strengthen providers’ ability to recognize and respond to individual, organizational, and systemic forms of trauma and violence, including those shaped by racism, colonialism, migration experiences, precarious or non-status immigration, and other intersecting forms of structural inequity.
• Enhance understanding and practical application of trauma- and violence-informed principles through concrete examples and decision-making guidance across direct service, organizational practices, and community contexts, including attention to vicarious trauma, systemic trauma, and staff wellbeing.
• Support learners to apply TVIA principles in complex, emotionally heightened, time-limited interactions, including responding to disclosures, navigating challenging behaviours, maintaining role boundaries, and working within scope of practice.
• Promote promising and emerging practices that support client safety, dignity, empowerment, and trust, while also fostering organizational cultures that prioritize care, accountability, and collective responsibility.
• Support learning through adult education principles and deliver an interactive, accessible, bilingual (English and French), and engaging e-learning experience that supports knowledge retention and practical application in real-world service settings. 

Ultimately, this project aims to enhance service quality and responsiveness, strengthen organizational and sector-wide capacity for trauma- and violence-informed practice, and support the wellbeing of immigrants and refugees, as well as the staff and communities who serve them. 

Scope of Work

The selected consultant, organization, or team will be responsible for the following:

1. Conduct Training Needs Assessment(s) and Content Verification Session(s)
   • Conduct surveys, interviews, and/or focus groups with settlement service providers, including those working with Francophone newcomers, to assess current training needs
   • Summarize findings to inform content updates and course design.
   • Share final drafted curriculum content with advisory/focus group(s) and receive feedback for finalized content
2. Research and Environmental Scan
   • Identify emerging and innovative practices in trauma- and violence-informed approaches within immigrant and refugee-serving organizations.
   • Analyze systemic issues and responses related to trauma, violence, mental health, racism, migration, and organizational wellbeing.
   • Ensure all updates reflect current social, political, cultural, and immigration contexts in Ontario and Canada.
3. Content Development (3 Self-Directed Modules)
   • Update and redesign the curriculum in alignment with adult learning principles, using OCASI’s internal course design templates.
   • Incorporate:
     • Scenario-based learning grounded in real-world settlement and social service contexts, including work with refugees, survivors of war and torture, LGBTQIA+ newcomers, children and families, seniors, and clients experiencing precarious or non-status immigration
     • Discussion and critical thinking exercises that allow learners to practice choosing responses and reflect on outcomes
     • Sample scripts and language guidance (e.g., “what to say / what to avoid”) for common and challenging situations
     • Scenarios demonstrating contrast between trauma- and violence-informed and non-trauma-informed responses
     • Reflection activities that support integration of learning into day-to-day practice
   • Ensure at least one module or dedicated section includes applied learning on vicarious trauma, including differentiation from burnout and secondary traumatic stress, impacts on personal and professional functioning, and both individual and organizational strategies for sustainability.
4. Accessibility and Inclusivity
   • All content must:
     • Comply with AODA and WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards
     • Use plain language, avoid jargon, and support cognitive accessibility.
   • Include:
     • Alternative text to ensure accessibility when images or visuals are included
     • Descriptive and meaningful link text
     • Proper use of headings and structured lists
     • Transcripts for all audio and captions for all video content
   • Represent diverse identities and lived experiences, including race, gender identity, sexual orientation, immigration status, and ability.
   • Avoid stereotypes and ensure all language is inclusive, trauma- and violence-informed, and culturally sensitive.
   • Integrate cultural safety, anti-racism and anti-oppression principles within applied scenarios, illustrating how trauma and violence are shaped by racism, colonialism, displacement, and systems navigation, rather than addressing these concepts only at a theoretical level.
5. Assessment and Evaluation Tools
   • Develop course evaluation tools (pre and post-assessments to measure outcomes relating to learner knowledge, confidence, and ability to apply trauma- and violence-informed approaches into real-world scenarios at work)
   • Create evaluation questions embedded in the modules to support reflective learning and self-assessment
6. Citations and Copyright
   • Properly cite all external materials, including text, images, and media.
   • Ensure permission is secured for all third-party or copyrighted materials.
   • Use open-access or public domain sources wherever possible.
7. Collaboration
   • Work in close collaboration with OCASI project staff and the advisory committee.
   • Attend regular check-ins and feedback sessions to integrate guidance into content design and development.

Budget

The total available budget for complete course content development (in French and English) is $30,000 (including HST). We invite proposals from bilingual individuals/organizations demonstrating the ability to complete the scope of work themselves as well as proposals from consultant firms/organizations/individuals working in partnership to produce the course content in English and French.

However, applicants are not required to be bilingual, in which case content translation and adaptation may be subcontracted. 

If the selected contractor works in English only, OCASI may arrange for translation and adaptation. The available budget for content development in English only is $15,000 (including HST).

Course content development in French and English: $30,000 (including HST)

• This includes personnel, language translation, and adaptation services to produce culturally relevant content for learners in English and French.

Course content development in English only: $15,000 (including HST)

Eligibility

• Individual consultants with demonstrated experience in curriculum development, adult education, or content design for the non-profit, health, or settlement sector.
• Consulting teams or organizations with expertise in trauma- and violence-informed practice, equity based frameworks, and e-learning design.
• Bilingual (English/French) capacity is strongly preferred.
• Individuals or teams with relevant graduate-level education (e.g., social work, education, public health, psychology, sociology, or related fields) and/or equivalent professional experience.

Required Qualifications

• Experience developing content grounded in trauma- and violence-informed, anti-racist, anti-oppressive, and intersectional frameworks
• Familiarity with immigrant and refugee-serving contexts in Canada, including settlement and social service systems
• Proven ability to design engaging, accessible, and interactive self-directed learning modules
• Experience conducting needs assessments and stakeholder consultations
• Ability to work collaboratively with advisory committees and project teams

Proposal Requirements

Interested applicants must submit a proposal that includes the following:

• Cover Letter / Letter of Interest: Brief statement outlining interest in the project and relevant qualifications.
• CV(s) or Organizational Profile: Résumé(s) of key personnel or team members, or an organizational overview.
• Project Approach and Work Plan: Outline your proposed approach and key steps, with a high-level timeline.
• Budget Proposal: Include your daily/hourly rate, estimated time, and total cost
  • Maximum $15,000 (including HST) for English only content development and $30,000 (including HST) for French and English content development
• Work Samples: Two examples of similar content development or training materials previously developed
• References: Names and contact information for two professional references familiar with the applicant’s work

Anticipated Project Timeline

1. Proposal Submission Deadline March 12, 2026 by 5pm
2. Interviews with Shortlisted Applicants   March 17 - 20, 2026
3. Project Start Date March 25, 2026
4. Needs Assessment and Research Phase April - June 2026
5. Draft Content Delivered to OCASI by August 31, 2026
6. Final Content Feedback and Edits Mid-September 2026
7. Final Content Submission September 30, 2026

Note: Timeline may be adjusted in consultation with the selected applicant(s).