Respect Group

What Respect Group does

Respect Group Inc. is a Calgary, Alberta-based provider of online interactive training programs focused on preventing bullying, abuse, harassment, and discrimination (BAHD) in sport, workplace, and school environments. Founded in 2004 by former NHL player Sheldon Kennedy and Wayne McNeil, the company has certified more than 2.1 million individuals across over 50,000 organizations. Its product suite includes Respect in Sport (with Activity Leaders, Parent, and Officials sub-programs), Respect in the Workplace (a 90-minute Bill C-65-compliant training), Respect in School, Keeping Girls in Sport, and Stay in the Game. The platform is bilingual (English/French), mobile-compatible across desktop, Android, and iOS, and features animated scenario-based content, custom branding for each client organization, certificate portability, and administrative dashboards for tracking and recertification.

The underlying technology is a conventional interactive e-learning platform with no API or SDK exposure, no AI/ML capabilities, and integrations limited to payment processing (PayPal) and sport-specific data feeds (Hockey Canada's myhockeyuniversity.com, Coaching Association of Canada's NCCP Locker, and e-Hockey). The business model is primarily B2B organizational licensing sold via annual subscriptions on a sales-led motion, supplemented by one-time individual certification fees. Programs are sold to employers, sport governing bodies, and school boards, often as mandated compliance training, with pricing not publicly disclosed.

In March 2026, Respect Group was acquired by Headversity, a mental health platform serving workplace, sport, and school environments. The acquisition repositions the company from compliance-based harm prevention to a broader psychological safety and culture-building mission, with the brand now operating as 'Respect by Headversity.' Headversity serves 2.8 million youth and adults across the combined platform, indicating meaningful scale at the parent level. Respect Group holds 11-50 employees and is privately held with no disclosed external funding rounds.

Name

Respect Group

Legal name

Respect Group Inc.

Website

https://respectgroupinc.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2004

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Calgary-based online training provider offering bilingual bullying, abuse, harassment, and discrimination prevention programs for sport organizations, schools, municipalities, and workplaces, with 2.1M+ individuals certified across 50,000+ organizations, now operating as Respect by Headversity following the March 2026 acquisition.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Online Compliance Training

NAICS

Educational Support Services (611710), Educational Services (611)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Health, Safety & Compliance Training (CPR/First Aid, Safeguarding, Licensing) (EDACAIAH)

akta.pro secondary industry

Behavioral & Social-Emotional Support (ABA, PBIS, Counseling) (EDAJAKAE)

Keywords

• Online training programs
• Abuse prevention training
• Workplace harassment training
• Safe sport training
• Bullying prevention e-learning

Headquarters

HQ city

Calgary

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Training Program Licensing: Organizations pay for access to Respect in Sport, Respect in the Workplace, Respect in School, and other programs. Programs are sold as annual licenses or per-certificate fees to organizations who mandate training for their staff, coaches, parents, and members.
2. Individual Certification: Individuals pay for program certification, with support for multiple payment options. Certificates can be shared across organizations requiring the same program type.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Respect Group provides interactive, online certification training programs that educate coaches, officials, parents, employees, school leaders, and sport participants to recognize, prevent, and respond to bullying, abuse, harassment, and discrimination (BAHD). Programs are sold to organizations (sport governing bodies, employers, schools, municipalities) who license the training for their staff, members, and stakeholders. The bilingual platform delivers content via animated scenarios, expert video clips, and interactive questions, with a 90-minute workplace edition, sport-specific editions, and a school-leader edition, each producing a portable certificate.

Product overview

Respect Group (now branded as Respect by Headversity) offers a suite of interactive, online training programs for harassment and abuse prevention across sport, workplace, and school environments. The core products include Respect in Sport (with Activity Leaders, Parent, and Officials sub-programs), Respect in the Workplace, Respect in School, Keeping Girls in Sport, and Stay in the Game. The company has certified over 2.1 million individuals and serves organizations through a bilingual platform with mobile compatibility (Desktop, Android, iPhone/iPad), animated scenario-based instructional design, and administrative tools for organizational tracking. Additional programs include Safe Places for child safety training. The portfolio is delivered via a fully outsourced risk management platform with custom branding capabilities, certificate portability across organizations, and integration with the NCCP Coaching Association of Canada for coach certification tracking.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Respect in Sport: Program educating youth leaders, coaches, officials and participants to recognize, understand and respond to issues of bullying, abuse, harassment and discrimination in sport environments
• Respect in the Workplace
• Respect in School
• Keeping Girls in Sport
• Stay in the Game

Products and services

• Respect in Sport Online interactive certification training that educates youth leaders, coaches, officials, and participants ages 14 and older to recognize, understand, and respond to bullying, abuse, harassment, and discrimination in sport. Sold to sport governing bodies, clubs, and minor hockey associations who mandate training for their members. Includes Activity Leaders, Parent, and Officials sub-programs.
• Respect in the Workplace A 90-minute online interactive training program that provides organizations with a cost-effective tool to empower teams with skills to prevent bullying, abuse, harassment, and discrimination. Updated to comply with and exceed Bill C-65 requirements. Sold to employers, municipalities, and corporations for deployment to all employees.
• Respect in School Online bullying, abuse, harassment, and discrimination prevention training tool developed for school leaders including teachers, administrators, educational assistants, counselors, custodians, and other staff who interact with students. Sold to school boards and individual schools.
• Keeping Girls in Sport Coach education program that helps coaches and youth leaders understand how girls develop physically, mentally, socially, and emotionally to keep them in sport. Built in partnership with Canadian Tire Jumpstart, the Coaching Association of Canada, and the Canadian Women & Sport.
• Stay in the Game Program that educates young athletes to understand and respond to issues of abuse in sport as well as the benefits of sport, finding their voice, building confidence, safety, and sportsmanship.
• Safe Places Program originating in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, advising that anyone in a position of power, trust, or supervision over a child should first be properly trained and vetted. Sold to organizations for child safety training.

Quantifiable outcome

• Athletes in leagues with longer Respect in Sport Parent Program implementation showed better prosocial behaviors toward teammates and improved antisocial behaviors toward opponents.
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and minor.

• HeadversitycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 12 March 2026Headversity acquired Respect Group, combining mental health platform expertise with Respect Group's safe sport and workplace training programs. Headversity is evolving the Respect in Sport programs to expand from harm prevention to building psychologically safe environments. Allison Forsyth was appointed as Chief Sport Officer to lead this new era.
• Premier Hockey Federation (PHF)flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 4 January 2023Multi-year partnership making Respect in the Workplace mandatory for all Board of Governors, front office personnel, team staff, and players. Part of PHF's commitment to fostering healthy, respectful, safe, and inclusive environment.
• RealResponsecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 4 January 2023PHF partnership announced alongside Respect Group - provides athletic organizations with real-time reporting and feedback tools for accountability and trust building with over 200,000 athletes reached.
• National Center for Safety Initiatives (NCSI)minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 4 January 2023PHF partnership - NCSI provides background checks for all league and team staff, trusted provider that served 2022 Winter Olympics.
• Canadian Tire JumpstartflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint partnership to develop Keeping Girls in Sport program addressing high dropout rates of girls from sport during adolescence. Jumpstart provides funding and support for the program that helps coaches and youth leaders understand barriers to girls' continued participation.
• Coaching Association of Canada (CAC)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerCAC partnered on Keeping Girls in Sport program and provides NCCP certification integration allowing Respect in Sport certificates to sync to coaches' Locker profiles.
• Canadian Women & SportflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered with Respect Group on Keeping Girls in Sport program to address systemic issues in female sport participation and create the next generation of female coaches and role models.
• University of AlbertaminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFaculty of Kinesiology, Sport & Recreation conducted evaluation research on Keeping Girls in Sport program, finding 99% participant satisfaction.
• Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCAMH conducted evaluation of 'Being Trauma-Aware: Making A Difference in the Lives of Children and Youth' online course developed by Respect Group.
• PREVNetminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPREVNet (Promoting Relationships and Eliminating Violence Network) conducted evidence-based research study on Respect in School program, funded by Ontario Ministry of Education.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Direct peers

• Vector Solutions (formerly SafeSchools): Vector Solutions offers K–12 staff compliance and safety training (bullying prevention, bloodborne pathogens, mandated reporter) to school districts across North America. Directly comparable to Respect in School as an online, audit-tracked training suite sold through district licensing.
• Traliant: Traliant delivers modern, mobile-first workplace harassment, discrimination and DEI training modules to HR and compliance buyers. Closely matches Respect in the Workplace's role/scenario-based approach and B2B sales motion to mid-market and enterprise employers.
• US Center for SafeSport: The U.S. Center for SafeSport mandates abuse prevention training across the US Olympic & Paralympic Movement and oversees SafeSport Code compliance. Directly analogous to Respect in Sport's role as the designated national safe-sport training provider, though a non-profit regulator rather than a commercial vendor.
• EVERFI (now part of Discovery Education): EVERFI provides K–12 and workforce social-impact courses on harassment, inclusion, mental wellness and digital citizenship, sold to school systems and employers. Overlaps with both Respect in School and Respect in the Workplace on content and buyer profile.
• NAVEX Global: NAVEX Global sells enterprise ethics, compliance and harassment-prevention training alongside whistleblower hotline and GRC software. Comparable to Respect Group on the workplace segment, though NAVEX serves a much larger enterprise buyer with a broader risk/compliance suite.
• Inspired eLearning (a Kemba company): Inspired eLearning provides security awareness, harassment prevention, and HIPAA/workplace compliance eLearning to SMB and enterprise HR buyers. Directly competes for the same B2B harassment-training wallet as Respect in the Workplace.
• Second Nature Learning / LRN Corporation: LRN provides ethics and compliance, code-of-conduct and harassment prevention eLearning to global enterprises. Competes head-to-head for the larger employer accounts in Respect Group's workplace vertical.

Broad incumbents

• Active Network / Community Brands (sports management): Active Network / Community Brands sells sport-organization management software (registration, scheduling, background screening) to clubs and governing bodies across North America. Adjacent to Respect in Sport because it owns the club-relationship channel through which Respect Group distributes, and could disintermediate by bundling safeguarding training.

Regional players

• Canadian Red Cross (First Aid & safety training): Canadian Red Cross runs online first-aid, CPR and emergency preparedness certification that schools, workplaces and sport clubs must complete. Operates the same Canada-only compliance-training category as Respect Group but with a different subject focus (physical first-aid vs. psychosocial safety).

Others

• Resolver (risk and compliance platform): Resolver provides enterprise GRC, incident management and case-management software that buyers often pair with harassment and violence prevention training vendors. Adjacent ecosystem player that influences procurement decisions adjacent to Respect in the Workplace deals.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/RespectGroup
• Facebookfacebook.com/RespectGroup
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/respect-group-inc
• Instagraminstagram.com/respectgroup
• Xx.com/RespectGroup

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Respect Group