Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the opportunity to address the committee this afternoon.
The COVID-19 pandemic has created a spike in domestic violence, meaning an increased number of people seeking support. The need for mental health support for our clients surpasses what the current programming and staff can offer, and other counselling resources in the community often have wait-lists or cost more than our clients can afford.
Experiencing abuse contributes to many negative mental health outcomes, including depression, anxiety and PTSD. The additional stress, uncertainty and rapid changes of the COVID-19 pandemic put further strain on the women and children using our services. Access to quality mental health care is an important part of an individual's journey towards a lifestyle free of abuse. One of our main hopes is that by offering our services and increasing mental health supports for these women and children, we will begin to break the cycle of trauma and support clients' transitions to safe and independent lives. Fostering positive mental health is beneficial for the community overall, as better mental health is correlated to better overall wellness and the ability to function within society.
To this end, our organization designed an evaluation to understand the qualitative changes resulting from our program. The evaluation focused on individuals recognizing that they are not alone in the world or in their struggles. We used thematic analysis to discover key findings, and we believe some of those findings are relevant to this discussion today. We chose clients who were active as of September 11, 2020, providing a pool of 52 possible respondents, the majority of whom had become involved in our program since March 1, 2020.
While safety from abusers is a key part of our shelter services, numerous clients also identified the women's shelter involvement as a form of suicide prevention. Often there is a deep sense of loneliness that accompanies leaving a relationship, even an abusive one. This, combined with the logistical and economic complications that most women face and compounded with the mixed messages received during COVID, has created the perfect storm for abusers to capitalize on. Shelters state that they are the safest place to be, even during COVID, while public health messages lock down victims with their abusers, making it more difficult for someone in an abusive relationship to flee to a shelter during social isolation, because their partner may be more closely monitoring or limiting their technology use.
One interviewee said, “Through this program, I went from feeling like committing suicide to feeling like I had a lot of hope.” They went from feeling helpless to feeling they were powerful, with choices and independence. This increased sense of control led to greater mental resilience and the ability to move forward in adverse situations, even during COVID.
Many clients expressed that they had gained the ability to take back their power. Before being involved in our programs, respondents could not speak for themselves or their children, but they now report coming back to who they were before the abuse. They went from feeling helpless to feeling they were powerful, with choices and independence. One interviewee said, “Knowing I have help gets me through mentally.” Another said, “I know that when things get worse for me, the women's shelter is always there.”
A number of respondents shared the difficulty of addressing societal misconceptions about abuse. Those experiences included conversations with friends and family who were uncertain about how to respond to disclosures of abuse and who just didn't “get it”. The common theme that united these experiences was trying to explain abuse to those who don't get it. One respondent expressed, “It is very frustrating, because within my family, who are supposed to support me, someone will say, 'You're a liar', 'That didn't happen', or 'It wasn't that bad.'” These frustrations range from the systemic level to the personal level and are particularly difficult for someone who is trying to relate the effects of abuse on their mental well-being when no one believes them.
Respondents also described their own barriers to accessing services. Abuse can skew an individual’s relationship to help, including feeling undeserving of the help or fearful that assistance will be withheld. Respondents identified a fear of being told “no” when asking for services. One respondent was afraid to access human services as she feared it would be used against her by her abuser. The constant fear of what will be used against our clients is an ongoing reminder of the control abusers have, and COVID has exacerbated that.
During times of COVID, while the public is hearing pervasive messaging to stay home and stay safe for their physical and mental health, women also need to know that, one, shelters serving abused women and children are open and are ready to help, and two, that you don’t need to come to a shelter to get help. As they have done throughout their history, shelters have been innovative in their approaches to reach and support women and to support their mental health.
What COVID has done is to shine a spotlight on the many cracks and fissures in the support networks that women need on their path to healing. We know we can make a difference in women’s mental health, as well as their children’s, now and in the very difficult times that we know are coming.
Thank you.