Meet the Herd: Fawn

Meet one of the Zebra Centre’s incredible Justice Navigators, Fawn! She shares all about her role, passion for child advocacy, and more!

Q: Tell us about your role as Justice Navigator at the Zebra Centre.

Fawn: As a justice navigator at Zebra I assist families in navigating the criminal justice system– this includes things like explaining different court dates, preparing children for court, and accompanying families to court when their children are required to testify. Most of my job is trying to make the criminal justice system less intimidating and confusing for families to understand. Most families we see have no idea what the process is going to look like– from whether or not their child will be subpoenaed and how long testimony may take, to what specific type of trial will be taking place. I’m here to answer those questions as best as I can, and provide guidance to families on where to go/who to ask when I’m unsure myself. Overall, my main goal is to ensure that families don’t feel alone in navigating the criminal justice system.

Q: What does a typical “day in the life” as a justice navigator look like?

Fawn: No day is ever the same! Sometimes I’m at the Zebra Centre doing things like court preps and crown prosecutor meetings, and other times I’m in court supporting children who have to testify. The world of court is often so unpredictable, so my day often ends up being that way too!

Q: What do you love most about your role?

Fawn: I love the amount of time I get to spend with families, and the amount of support I am able to provide– sometimes I am in court with kiddos for multiple days, and to see them come out of their shell throughout the week is so wonderfully fulfilling. I am so incredibly passionate about secondary victimization and how the criminal justice process can revictimize youth, so to be able to be a part of the process and attempt to mitigate this revictimization is something that I am very proud to do. I also just in general love everything about court, so to be able to guide families through the system and work alongside crown prosecutors is amazing.

Q: What is your proudest moment at the Zebra Centre so far?

Fawn: It’s definitely hard to choose my proudest moment, but the moment that sticks out to me most is a preliminary hearing I was supporting. When the kiddo had come to the Zebra Centre for court prep, she had been shut down and it was heartbreaking to see– and she was similarly withdrawn in the waiting room at court. You could tell she was incredibly anxious about the idea of testifying, and unfortunately she initially came to the courthouse alone. I ended up being the advocate to sit with her as a support person while she testified, and she did amazing despite being so anxious. She slowly came out of her shell throughout the day, and towards the end of the first day, some of her siblings dropped by to support her which definitely helped. At the end of the first day, her brother asked my colleague to “make sure that lady is back with her tomorrow” (that lady being me!) because I had seemed to help her so much while she was on the stand. The next day, while me and my colleague were waiting for kiddo to arrive at the courthouse, kiddo spotted me as she was coming through security and her face lit up with a smile. After she was finally finished testifying, she said to me “that wasn’t so bad”, and it really warmed my heart to see just how much the Zebra Centre (and testimonial aids in general) can help to reduce retraumatization in the court process and provide support to youth and their families.

Q: What motivates you to show your stripes (your why)?

Fawn: Whenever I tell people I work at the Zebra Centre and they ask me “what’s that?”, I feel like my motivation to spread the word of children's advocacy doubles– children’s advocacy is so incredibly important, but unfortunately a large portion of people only find out about children’s advocacy centres after they’ve been victimized and have been directly referred to us for a forensic interview or other supports. Advocacy and education is so incredibly important in preventing abuse and helping children ask for help when they are being victimized– so I always do my best to find some way to work the Zebra Centre into conversation when I am chatting with new people!

Q: Lastly, share a surprising or fun fact about you.

I have a very random set of skills and hobbies– from calligraphy to dog training, I’m always bouncing between fun things to learn! Right now I’m trying to learn some card tricks to show off to the kiddos who we support at Zebra/in court.