4      Identified Gaps in Service and Programming Message 2      Abused women need to know that they are important and the response they receive from service providers must be respectful and non-judgmental. This response must encourage disclosure and intervention at the earliest point. Service providers need comprehensive training on the indicators and dynamics of woman abuse and appropriate responses in order to provide that response. The response that a woman receives from anyone she tells about the abuse has a direct impact on reducing violence against women in our community. "[The response I received at Anderson House] was probably what saved my life over the long run" Overcoming abuse is a process involving several stages during which she will go through periods of denial, blaming herself and seeking help. If she hasn't gone through the stages in the process and is not ready to end the relationship, she may not admit that there is a problem or she may attempt to protect her partner and misdirect her anger towards the service provider. If, at these stages, she is not ready to leave, she cannot be forced to do so. On the other hand, if she is emotionally ready to end the relationship and the service provider does not listen and support her in that decision, the service provider's doubt can push her back into the abuse. "[T]he first time I ever called the [police], ... in 1983-84 ... they asked to speak to [my husband]. John knew them, he spoke to two of them, and ... he put me back on the phone, and [they] said, 'well, just settle down and if you want to call your lawyer in the morning you can do so,' and I said, 'I may not be alive in the morning' and he said, 'oh, Mrs. Doe1, you’re going to be alive in the morning' and that didn’t make me feel very good so I never contacted the [police] again [until 1993] ... and there was many a time I should have called them, but I didn’t because of what happened there. Things have improved, thank god, because when I called them in 1993, they were good, they were responsive." If an abused woman receives support, information and encouragement from service providers, she may feel safer in a decision to leave. "I managed to get some good workers. I just had a worker though who said, 'you seem to be under the impression I’m here to help you.'" During the workshop, participants listed those that may provide service to victims of woman abuse and who should be supported with training that sensitizes them to woman abuse. The list includes: public officials faith community/clergy friends school teachers/system community groups lawyers women's groups & shelters Income Assistance/Social Services politicians & policy makers self-help groups, ex. AA, Al-Anon media counsellors, social workers police doctors, emergency room staff Victim Services Legal Aid neighbours whole community (everyone has a responsibility) community leaders Mental Health Child Welfare judges nurses Parole Probation Corrections Family Court Turning Point Crown Attorneys Emergency Response People "[My husband's] lawyer didn't have a chance to attack me, [because the judge] attacked me ... and after the [settlement conference] he handed me the phone and literally forced me to speak to my husband, after a very emotional situation and I did not feel that was appropriate." Workshop participants identified a lot of current training in responding to woman abuse in PEI. The cautions they listed with regard to the current training include: training is often not compulsory there are many groups who are not provided with training opportunities current training often doesn't emphasize prevention current training may not be in-depth enough service providers need training in personal issues and conflict management too professionally focussed (not socially sensitive) Message 3      Adequate financial assistance for victims of family violence is essential. Many women who leave abusive relationships leave with little. Often there has been financial abuse where her partner has not allowed her access to or control over money. After separation, keeping her from having money she is legally entitled to is another way of controlling her. The costs of separation are high and there are additional costs associated with leaving an abusive relationship. Where a non-abusive partner may wish to settle issues in a reasonable period of time, an abusive partner may see the family law system as another way to control his partner and may use that control to try to get her back into the relationship or to hurt her. For this reason, the abusive partner will often do whatever is necessary to make the process last longer. This longer process means higher legal bills. " ... a big firm, they usually want a $500 retainer fee. So I mean, I've been lucky, I've had other ways to go about things, but I mean you get some poor little thing that's flipping burgers over at Burger King making minimum wage, sitting home at night and buddy's having a few drinks and smacks her in the mouth every time she turns around. You know, she's just going to stay, because what's out there, what hope does she have, you know and he's a welder making $12 an hour, you're not going to get a dime out of him, or if she does, she's going to owe it all on legal fees." Abused women need financial assistance to pay those legal bills. For some women that means free legal aid, for others it may mean having access to loans until a financial settlement is reached with her partner. Abused women will often give up what they are leally entitled to in order to put an end to the stress and expense of a legal battle. "I think in a situation like this there should be an opening somewhere for me to get some help without hiring someone who wants $150, $160 an hour, but I don't qualify for legal aid, because I work even though it was casual and I receive maintenance. So I'm at a standstill now, I'm at a point where if I want the balance of that [settlement] money, I've got to pay out to get it or I could choose to forget it, and I'm at the point now, where that's what I've done. I've chosen to forget it, to let John have it" There is also a need to make immediate monies available to assist women who leave so that they can pay for necessities, such as a phone to call for help when an abusive partner is trying to break in, replacements for the driver's licence and birth certificate that were left behind, beds for the children, prescription the doctor ordered to help with depression, transportation or first and last month's rent. It may be necessary to extend this assistance so that women can pay their bills and purchase items of necessity when their partner refuses to pay ordered maintenance. "I left the hospital on a Monday, I remember sitting there in tears with the prescription that I cannot afford for antidepressants waiting for a friend to pick me up to drive me home..." It is important that this assistance be flexible so that each woman's basic needs can be met. "I had negative experiences with collection agencies. Everything out of whack, when he doesn't pay or he's late, then I'm late. And then you get to a point where you don't even open the bills. ... I watched an episode years ago of "Roseanne" where they were playing eenie, meenie, miney, moe, on the bills. Which one absolutely had to be paid and which one didn't have to be, and that's how I felt, and that's how I lived." Message 4      Orders for protection and maintenance must be enforced. A lot of hard work has been done with regard to putting in place financial and physical safeguards for victims of family violence in PEI. Unless we do a good job of enforcing the court orders, however, those safeguards don't keep women safe. "When I'd call [Maintenance Enforcement] ... and go, "hi, my name is so and so, I haven't received my maintenance cheque", [they would ask] "when was it due?," and I'd say "it was due the first," and they'd say "well, give it another week." But the bank won't give me another week...that was [happening] consistently." "... he came when I was in the hospital ... and they wouldn't keep him out, they said he wouldn't go, so I mean it would have been a big battle in the hospital, so they didn't do anything ... they wouldn't even call security. They never even got the security guard up... I ... showed them the Peace Bond, he wasn't supposed to be there. They just kept saying he wasn't causing any trouble, he wasn't doing anything." Maintenance orders, Peace Bonds, Parole conditions and other orders meant to keep women safe and secure can only do that if they are strictly enforced. Message 5      Victims of woman abuse need to be informed and part of the process. It is important that victims of woman abuse be well informed about their options. Knowing what programs or services are available to them may mean the difference between leaving or going back to the abuse. Information must be imparted in a way that is accessible for all women, taking into account literacy levels and disabilities. Many of the workshop participants noted a need for professional or volunteer advocates who can assist abused women to get the information they need to make the necessary decisions. It is important, however, that women have decision-making power over issues that affect their future. As service providers, we need to offer options and trust women to make choices. It was also noted that victims need to be well informed by service providers about anything that relates to their safety or the safety of their loved ones. "But I got a lot of help, I couldn't have done it myself. If those resources were not there I couldn't have done it. I would have just, I would probably still be with John*. I'd still be slaving away and waiting on him hand and foot, meeting his needs, forgetting about my own, because that's what a woman's supposed to do." "The only thing I could say is I wish to god they had [let me know that he was released], I found out he got out of jail when [my temporary workplace] called me to say that he showed up there, nobody told me and I wish that happened." - a survivor whose boyfriend stalked her for years after she ended the relationship Message 6      There is a need for increased victim-centred programming and support for victims of woman abuse. As service providers, we must focus on using practices that attempt to balance power between victims and abusers. One way to do this is to focus more attention on the reintegration of the victims in to the community, through training, job creation, counselling and circles of support. More resources are needed for the programs that we have in place, to provide women with the support that they need 24-hours a day, to focus more attention on the needs of adult survivors of child abuse, women with disabilities and senior women and to provide adequate follow-up by service providers. Family violence research shows that women who have been abused by their intimate partners are more likely to require certain services. For instance, at least 50% of women patients admitted to psychiatric hospitals are known to suffer from abuse. 22% to 35% of emergency ward visits by women are believed to result from acts of violence. And abused women are 16 times more likely to become alcoholics and 9 times more likely to use drugs than women who are not abused.(2) It is important to remember this research when determining the needs in the community in terms of programs for victims of woman abuse. "So all the stress between [the abuse] and going to school and life in general I found myself ...admitted to Hillsborough Hospital for 3 weeks and I found the time there was horrible. Basically all I did was sit and watch talk shows, like Jerry Springer. Here you're supposed to be healing yourself and you're watching garbage on television so I kind of growled about that, I saw a Psychiatrist maybe a total of an hour while I was there, I saw a Psychologist probably about the same amount of time..." Many of the workshop participants noted a need to focus on early intervention and empowering and supporting mothers. Some of this support work is being in the family resource centres and should be encouraged and built upon. "... this is very difficult for me to say, sometimes victims of spousal abuse are not fit to be mothers, they need help and the help's not there. When they're looked at, they're not a fit mother, and they're right but it's not because she's not a fit mother, it's because of what she's been through. Help her, don't judge her and that's what the system does, it does the judging without the right resources there to correct them. We've got lots of compassion here for the perpetrators, all kinds of compassion and programs and all the rest, but there's not for the victim, this is not justice." Message 7      A holistic, collaborative response to woman abuse by service providers is necessary. Having an integrated and collaborative response to woman abuse will assist women in getting the best service possible. As well, communication between service providers will create an important emotional support for front line staff. Steps in building a more holistic response include: make referrals consult with one another share written and unwritten procedures make sure there are connections between policies, procedures, services create a multi-sector immediate response team make sure that each agency is aware of all other policies as well as it's own develop concordance so policies work together, not contradict each other make sure that front line staff have knowledge of other services create dialogue and support among service providers develop a communication strategy identify shared core values create information kits about services for service providers Message 8      Front-line service providers need to be supported. The best woman abuse protocol in the world cannot be effective if the people that carry them out are not supported to provide a good service. Resources must be dedicated to ensure adequate staffing and training as well as emotional support for front-line staff. Workshop participants noted that liability protection for service providers is also an important discussion item. Message 9      As service providers, we need to be sensitive to victims' needs and experiences when determining who best can provide support and service to victims of woman abuse. When determining who in a particular organization can best provide services to victims of woman abuse, it is important to think about the experiences and needs of victims. Workshop participants pointed out that policy cannot change attitudes and not everyone has the ability to work with abused women. 1. Names have been changed 2. Centre for Research on Violence Against Women and Children, 1995