Building safer communities. Supporting successful reintegration.

CoSA Ottawa brings trained community volunteers together with people returning to the community after incarceration for sexual offences – providing support, accountability and meaningful connection that help reduce the risk of reoffending.

Everyone deserves the opportunity to build a safer, healthier life.

Reintegration after incarceration can be difficult. Housing instability, isolation, unemployment, poverty and limited social supports can create significant barriers to success.

CoSA provides something different: a community of trained volunteers who walk alongside individuals as they rebuild their lives, offering support while maintaining accountability.

The goal is simple: No More Victims.

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I would like to volunteer

CoSA Ottawa is looking for qualified volunteers.

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What is Circles of Support and Accountability?

Circles of Support and Accountability (CoSA) is a reintegration program, operating on restorative justice principles, that assists individuals who have been incarcerated for sexual offences and seek CoSA’s help, voluntarily, in their effort to develop a meaningful and safe life in the community. By doing this work, CoSA works to reduce sexual victimization.

 

How CoSA Works

1. A person returns to the community
After incarceration, a Core Member is connected with a Circle of trained volunteers.

2. A Circle provides support and accountability
Volunteers meet regularly with the Core Member, helping them develop healthy relationships, make positive choices and navigate the challenges of community reintegration.

3. Community supports provided 
The Core Member is referred to and supported by community supports that support their safe and successful reintegration.

4. The community becomes safer
By addressing risk, encouraging pro-social behaviour and reducing isolation, CoSA helps prevent future harm.

It takes a community to build a safer future.

Each Circle brings together one Core Member, trained community volunteers and a CoSA staff.

Volunteers don’t replace professionals. They provide something different: consistent human connection, support and accountability.

We acknowledge that we gather here on the traditional and unceded territories of the Algonquin and Anishinaabe. We recognize their continued presence of these lands and also that of people of other First Nations, including Inuit and Métis. May we dwell together on this land with respect and peace. 

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