Thank you very much for the question, Anita.
Usually when anyone comes to our agency for help, it's already gone past that point where they've been involved with social services or they've been involved with child and family services. Most of the time they are involved with the judicial system, whether they have to go to court for charges, whether they have to go to court to serve as a witness against their abuser, which most likely is their husband or their common-law. So they are involved with the judicial system in many respects. They are involved with other family members who are trying to help them, but the most important fact is that they are there to help themselves and they really don't know where to turn.
I've been put in that situation where I've been faced with family violence. I didn't have a violent upbringing, but I've faced violence with my husband, which we had to heal from, and that wasn't easy. That's probably one of the worst times in my life. So not only do I have that personal experience in dealing with those situations, but we see clients coming into the office where I work involved with all of those systems and really not getting the help they deserve, especially when they have some type of evidence on their face or their body that they've been severely abused.