Back in 2006, officials at B.C. Women's Hospital launched a program that aimed to identify and reach women who were fleeing abuse and who may also be coping with addictions and/or mental health issues, but were too often falling through the cracks in B.C.'s transition housing system.
Now, more than four years into the research project Building Bridges, a Woman Abuse Response Program, the Howe Sound Women's Centre is one of six research sites selected to participate in Making Connections, an extension of the Building Bridges project, which will inform best practices when supporting women coping with abuse in their relationships, as well as mental health and addiction issues. The aim is to promote community partnerships for this population.
"It became evident there was a growing need to address women with multi-barriers," said Pavinder Mahnger, co-facilitator of the women's centre support group.
Making Connections, which begins on Tuesday (Jan. 25), will comprise of two successive 12-week support groups, facilitated by Mahnger and mental health worker Laura Johnson, for women who have survived abuse in their relationships while also coping with mental health issues or substance misuse.
"In the group we want to create and maintain a safe place for a woman to share or just to be in a non-judgmental atmosphere," Mahnger said. "The group can act as a place where women amongst themselves can share information and experiences that help each other on a very practical level."
According to Shannon Cooley Herdman, women's program manager for the centre, when transition houses first started opening, they were designed with a particular type of client in mind - a middle-class woman with children, fleeing abuse.
"Moving forward 30 years later, that's not the only demographic we serve," she said. "There are a significant number of women who are vulnerable due to the fact that they have mental health concerns and/or addictions."
Herdman said women often turn to substance misuse as a result of abuse in their relationship.
"I've seen many situations where the male partner is also an addict and in order to save herself from further abuse, she participates in substance misuse," she said. "So there's many variables there - what leads to a woman choosing substances to basically self-medicate the pain of being in a violent relationship."
Because transition houses are set up to serve women with children, there's been a tension between meeting the needs of these women versus the needs of women with significant mental health issues or addictions, Herdman said. "This project is looking at ways to fill the gaps that exist in the health care, anti-violence sector and the justice system and to see how the three areas can work together collaboratively to support women fleeing abuse."
Asked about Pearl's Place transition house in Squamish, Herdman said because it is currently a single-staff transition house, it is challenging to support women with these extra needs.
"My preference would be to have double staffing," she said. "We're hoping there is a middle ground - maybe we can have a bed that meets a higher barrier situation or a dedicated mental health worker or addictions worker on staff.
"So I think we need a baseline where my staff need to feel comfortable working with a higher needs population and we're working on that," Herdman said. "It comes with building relationships with other service providers as well, to fill in the gaps we see."
Mahnger said she looks forward to her involvement with the project.
"I am very excited to be able to start and build something new," she said. "Already, numerous women have signed up and there has been tremendous interest from far as Pemberton and Mount Currie, showing the tremendous need for this type of support work."
Said Herdman, "People go into this line of work hoping to make a difference in their communities and if it reaches even beyond the local to the provincial, that in itself is exciting - that the work we do can benefit the lives of so many women.
"So for us, it's one of those feel-good situations."
The first support group will begin Tuesday (Jan. 25) from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Any woman can self-refer by contacting the Howe Sound Women's Centre at (604) 892-5748.
