COCHRANE— Helping train community members on how to respond when talking about domestic abuse, Big Hill Haven's Support the Supporters workshops are proving to be successful.
One of the major goals of Big Hill Haven has been increasing education about domestic abuse in the community, said fund development officer Tara McFadden.
“At the end of the day that’s the success story— We’ve raised the awareness about domestic violence in our community, we’ve provided education and in turn that’s allowed our community to have more resources and more capacity to deal with domestic violence,” McFadden said.
Big Hill Haven saw 46 people participate in the Support the Supporters workshops and partake in informed and meaningful discussions about domestic abuse. McFadden added 11 participants attended all the Support the Supporters workshops and will receive certificates for their hard work and engagement.
Five workshops were available as part of the program. The first three talks focussed on how to recognize, respond and refer resources when someone discloses they are experiencing domestic abuse. The final workshops focused on unpacking masculinity and understanding what happens when the RCMP is involved in domestic violence calls.
“It’s so important when someone is starting to reach out and share their story that we know how to respond properly,” McFadden said. “You might accidentally shut someone down or delay their journey by maybe saying the wrong thing.”
An important part of the program was teaching people to feel comfortable and confident in responding when they have conversations around domestic abuse.
Big Hill Haven will continue to engage in the community, McFadden said, empowering people and building community capacity when it comes to supporting those who have experienced domestic abuse.
“At the heart of the Support the Supporter workshops is the fact that we do know through research 70 to 80 per cent of those who are experiencing domestic violence or family violence they don’t go to the formal supports … They reach out to their friends, to their families— Those informal supports,” McFadden said. “If we can provide the tools so we as the informal supporters know how to help each other that’s really important.”
The workshops have helped to normalize and destigmatize the conversations around domestic violence. Each talk makes the topic less taboo creating meaningful steps the community can take to help end it.
Domestic abuse is an epidemic in society, McFadden said, and the rates of violence have only increased during COVID-19.
Big Hill Haven saw an increase in the number of clients they serve, including the level of violence and the complexity of work that goes into supporting clients.
From August 2020 to March 2021 the women's shelter provided 270 nights of shelter helping 43 clients.
“It’s great that our ability to help and our capacity has increased … But, it’s also quite frightening, disappointing and sad that many people in our community needed those supports,” McFadden said. “It is a real problem in Cochrane.”
McFadden said this increase in clients is two-fold due to a greater number of women experiencing domestic abuse, but also Big Hill Haven growing its place in the community.
Big Hill Haven has two outreach workers available providing 55 hours of support from Tuesday to Sunday in the community. The crisis support centre provides services to about 60,000 people living in Cochrane, Bearspaw, Springbank, Bragg Creek, Cremona, Redwood Meadows and Ghost Lake Village.
McFadden said, Big Hill Haven is continuing to grow its capacity as an organization to offer help to those in need, and this has included helping community support grow.
“The more people that know about domestic violence, the more people are accepting it’s a real thing in our community, the better we can deal with it,” McFadden said.
