​​Intimate Partner Violence rarely begins with a blow. It starts quietly, with control, isolation, and fear disguised as love. This three-part film series, produced for the Canadian Addiction Counsellors Certification Federation for an IPV Certification Course, is based on a real case and traces the slow, insidious build of abuse in raw, unflinching detail. Each chapter, The Incident, The Isolation, and The Warning Signs, draws you inside Cheryl’s world, revealing how emotional manipulation grows, how systems fail, and how early warning signs, if ignored, can lead to irreversible consequences. These films do not dramatize violence; they put you inside the silence, the hesitation, and the denial that shape real lives. Every glance, every flinch, every pause is a moment to witness the unseen. The result is not spectacle, but recognition, because every counsellor, colleague, or friend who learns to see these signs has the power to intervene. 

Awareness is not passive; it is urgent, it is life-saving.
 

These films are more than stories. They are mirrors held up to moments too often overlooked and lives too often dismissed. Cheryl’s journey is based on real events, and the truth it reflects is far too common. Every survivor carries a version of it, and every missed signal carries a cost. The goal of this series is not to shock, but to awaken.

It reminds us that intervention begins with seeing what others cannot, and that change begins the moment we choose to act.
 

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Credits

 

Client: Canadian Addiction Counsellors Certification Federation

Executive Director: Doug Brewer

VP, Communications: Monika Frejlich

Director, Brand + Experience: Michael Willson

 

Agency: buddhabutter

 

Production Company: AnotherWay

Producer: Jamie & D'Arcy Way

Director: Jamie Way

1st AD: Ian Carl

Director of Photography: D'Arcy Way

 

Production Designer: Peri Greig

Wardrobe: Nalinie Budhu

Makeup: Adrian Cordero

Hair: Debra Way

1st AC: Nick Petrie

1st AC: Evan Seccombe

Gaffer: Kristoff Galimore

BB Electric: Mike Consiglio

Key Grip: Allan Gray

BB Grip: Paul Naghten

PA: Ethan Hendrie

 

Casting: Milo

 

Post-Production Offline/Online: Jesse Unruh Editing

Offline/Online Editor: Jesse Unruh

 

Colourist: Gary Chuntz

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Original music, SFX and sound design: Igor Vrabac / AKASHIC ENTERTAINMENT

Additional SFX: Ethan Hendrie