Status of Women committee  In terms of the physical space, we have safety things in the shelter that support those, but those would be a real barrier, if I'm being honest. If somebody who was blind came in, we would offer services, as we do for anyone coming to our shelter. We would reach out to our partne

Status of Women committee  In terms of the helpline situation, several years ago—I don't know how long ago now—we, too, lost a local helpline that was in place and was accessed quite a bit. For funding reasons, it was discontinued. The Tearmann Society has the only 24-hour crisis line in our area, and the

Status of Women committee  Absolutely, yes.

Status of Women committee  Absolutely.

Status of Women committee  We do have women coming in with disabilities and injuries from their abuse. In our shelter alone, we have a wheelchair-accessible bedroom on our main floor. Last year we had renovations to our kitchen to make it totally accessible so wheelchairs or walkers or even basic supports

Status of Women committee  We are supportive in—

Status of Women committee  We are, to a certain degree. We receive a certain amount of funding to make our kitchen accessible. We still have a large house with our laundry facilities in the basement and the women are not able to access that, so staff have to help them with it. Funding is limited, and whe

Status of Women committee  Yes.

Status of Women committee  In our centre alone, if we just look at children coming into the shelter who are being affected by violence in their lives, our shelters alone don't specifically have.... I mean, we have our house child and youth counsellor available to support, but we really need services outsid

Status of Women committee  Thank you. I do appreciate this opportunity to participate in this current study of shelters and transition houses serving women and children affected by violence and intimate partner violence. The Tearmann Society for Abused Women, commonly known as Tearmann House, is a 15-bed