Helping important work become understood.
Progressive communications with a purpose—driving action, delivering impact.
Understanding affects trust, access, funding, policy, and action.
Village PR is a strategic communications and media relations practice focused on Canadian non-profits and charities navigating complex public-interest issues.
Through strategic communications and media relations, we help mission-driven organizations build trust, reduce stigma, influence decision-makers, and reach the people who need their services most.
We are brought in when the stakes are high, the issues are complex, and clarity matters.
Where We're Brought In
Helping people access services
Strategic communications and media relations that help clients, families, referral partners, and communities understand available services and how to access them.
Navigating complex public-interest issues
Communications counsel for organizations working on healthcare, substance use, housing, refugee services, mental health, climate, equity, and other high-stakes issues where clarity and credibility matter.
Building trust and reducing stigma
Public-facing communications that help communities, policymakers, media, and stakeholders better understand difficult or misunderstood issues.
Media relations and spokesperson support
Strategic media relations, key messaging, media training, interview preparation, and spokesperson development for organizations operating in complex environments.
Reaching policymakers, funders, and decision-makers
Communications strategies that help mission-driven organizations strengthen credibility, demonstrate impact, influence public policy, and build support among institutional stakeholders.
Crisis and sensitive issue communications
Support for organizations navigating public scrutiny, difficult conversations, reputational risk, leadership issues, service changes, and rapidly evolving situations.
Safe to Speak storytelling
Trauma-informed spokesperson and media preparation for people sharing lived experience. Support for organizations ethically preparing clients, patients, caregivers, and community members for media interviews, public speaking, advocacy, and storytelling — with a focus on informed consent, preparation, boundaries, and reducing the risk of retraumatization.
What Clients Say
The Ottawa Food Bank has worked with Heather and Village PR multiple times. Her trauma-informed and sensitive approach is why we keep hiring her to work with us. Most recently, Heather supported us for a large communication project, and also supported us on an ongoing basis while we work through staff transitions. Her work was critical to help us manage the large time-sensitive project and keep our day-to-day communications moving. The Ottawa Food Bank has benefitted tremendously from Heather’s expertise.
Heather has played a pivotal role in transforming our center's media and public engagement strategies. Her dedication to collaboration involves working closely with our team to develop clear and compelling messages, while her coaching and feedback have significantly strengthened our external communications.
Her expertise in simplifying complex information has greatly enhanced our public communications, making them more accessible and inclusive. Her deep understanding of equity and issues of marginalization align with our centre’s values and has been a highly welcomed approach.
Heather is committed to the success of our organization and often goes above and beyond, working alongside us until the completion of each project. We are deeply grateful for her passion, her expertise, her responsiveness, and her relentless dedication to good clear communications.
Centretown CHC has worked with Village PR and Heather Badenoch for several years. Heather’s flexibility in being able to support our organization throughout a wide range of our communication needs has been key. She has been able to step in and provide comprehensive communications support when needed.
Now that we have a communications officer, she has excelled at supporting us and the team with coaching and mentorship in developing our internal capacity.
Heather has also been very effective in supporting us as we develop our processes for media strategies with media training, as well as supporting our teams in developing media pitches. She has truly enhanced our communications capacity in a way that is deeply aligned with our values as an organization.
Clients
About
Heather Badenoch is the founder of Village PR and provides strategic communications and media relations counsel to Canadian non-profits and charities navigating complex public-interest issues.
For nearly 30 years, Heather has worked alongside organizations focused on healthcare, harm reduction, housing, refugee and newcomer services, mental health, climate, developmental services, equity, and community wellbeing.
Her work focuses on helping organizations build trust, reduce stigma, strengthen public understanding, and reach the people who need their services most.
Heather is often brought in when issues are sensitive, high-profile, complex, or difficult to communicate clearly.
As a living liver donor and active volunteer in the organ transplant community, Heather mentors people considering living liver donation. She also helps people on the transplant list who face significant barriers to finding living kidney or liver donors by running donor appeals pro bono.
When not working with clients or volunteering, Heather and her spouse can often be found with their rescue dogs, Skye and Dori.
