Our Services
1
Free Legal Support & Advocacy
We offer survivors pro bono legal guidance and representation, with a focus on sexual assault, domestic abuse, family law matters (e.g., divorce, custody), and protective orders. Survivors often feel overwhelmed by the court process and fear facing it alone, especially when cultural or religious factors complicate reporting and disclosure.
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Our legal services are:
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Survivor-centered
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Confidential and discreet
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Culturally informed
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Focused on both justice and protection
We help navigate everything from reporting to the police, to preparing for trial to understanding court documentation and rights.
We offer survivors pro bono legal guidance and representation, with a focus on sexual assault, domestic abuse, family law matters (e.g., divorce, custody), and protective orders. Survivors often feel overwhelmed by the court process and fear facing it alone, especially when cultural or religious factors complicate reporting and disclosure.
Our legal services are:
-
Survivor-centered
-
Confidential and discreet
-
Culturally informed
-
Focused on both justice and protection
We help navigate everything from reporting to the police to preparing for trial to understanding court documentation and rights.
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2
Mental Health & Trauma Recovery Services
Our foundation is deeply committed to faith-sensitive, trauma-informed psychological support. In partnership with psychology students, therapists, and mental health advocates, we provide:
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Referrals to Muslim or culturally competent therapists
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Peer-support programming and group discussions
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Emergency mental health crisis support navigation
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Long-term recovery and healing strategies rooted in compassion
We recognize that in many communities, therapy is stigmatized. That’s why we approach this work with gentleness, dignity, and cultural fluency.
3
Education & Stigma-Breaking Initiatives
Through online content, in-person seminars, and accessible resources, we are committed to educating families, institutions, and faith groups on:
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What sexual assault is (and isn’t)
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What survivors actually need
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How to respond with compassion, not silence
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Why it’s our collective duty to speak up
Our services are free, confidential, and open to all survivors and allies, starting in the Greater Toronto Area and eventually expanding across Canada. Whether you are a survivor, a student, a future partner, or simply someone who believes in our mission, there is a place for you at the Ruh Foundation.
About us (Our purpose)
At the heart of the Ruh Foundation is a single, unwavering purpose: to protect, empower, and uplift survivors of sexual assault and trauma, particularly those who come from communities where silence is normalized, justice is inaccessible, and healing is seen as weakness.
We were founded with a deep understanding that survivors often suffer twice: once through the harm they endured, and again through the isolation, stigma, and fear that follow. These realities are even more pronounced in faith-based and culturally conservative spaces, where shame and family reputation are often prioritized over truth and justice. The Ruh Foundation exists to break that cycle.
We believe that no survivor should ever have to choose between their community and their safety, their faith and their healing, or their culture and their justice. Our work begins with Muslim survivors, especially within South Asian (Desi) and Arab communities across the Greater Toronto Area, where conversations around sexual violence and mental health are often buried in silence. But we are not limited by faith, culture, or gender. Our mission is universal: to defend the dignity of every soul, regardless of who they are or where they come from.
That is why we chose the name “Ruh,” Arabic for soul. Because when trauma strikes, it isn’t just the body or mind that suffers it is the very soul of a person that is shaken. We are here to restore that ruh.
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The Ruh Foundation stands at the intersection of law, mental health, and cultural advocacy. We provide:
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Free legal support and guidance, so survivors are never alone in navigating police reports, restraining orders, court procedures, or family law disputes.
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Culturally informed, trauma-aware mental health care, so survivors can receive therapy, crisis support, or referrals without fear of being judged or misunderstood.
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Community education and outreach, working to dismantle harmful stigmas within religious and ethnic spaces through university partnerships, school talks, and mosque collaborations.
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Student leadership programs to offer young people opportunities to volunteer, advocate, and contribute to a movement that speaks directly to their communities’ needs.
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Our purpose is not just to intervene after harm has occurred. It is also to rebuild communities from within—to create spaces where survivors are believed, where their identities are not barriers to justice, and where their healing journeys are met with compassion, not skepticism.
We are law students, psychology students, and emerging professionals, young in age but seasoned in vision. We understand the system because we are studying it. And we understand the community because we are from it. Every survivor deserves to feel whole again. Every community deserves to be educated and accountable. And every soul deserves to be restored. This is our purpose. This is our promise. This is the Ruh Foundation.