Component: Violence Against Women

Service objectives

  • To provide community-based counselling, support and referral services for women and their dependents who have experienced abuse and/or sexual assault, including historic sexual abuse in childhood in order that they may live free of violence
  • To support the development of a personal safety plan for women and their dependents, who have experienced abuse, in order to confirm their immediate safety and help them avoid further abuse

Service description

Eligibility

  • Services are for women aged 16 years or older who identify themselves as having been sexually, physically, or emotionally abused by their partners, or significant others (could include caregiver or other immediate family/household member) and their dependent children

Safety planning

  • Services include the development of safety strategies or plans for women and their dependents
  • A safety plan identifies the steps a woman and their children can take to increase their safety and helps to prepare them for the possibility of further violence. It should include, but not be limited to
    • emergency escape plans for various situations (e.g., going to court, workplace, home)
    • a list of emergency and resource numbers; and
    • a list of items to be stored in a safe place (e.g., ID, clothes)
  • Safety plans reflect the woman’s immediate personal circumstances, needs and choices
  • The plan will be comprehensive, concrete, include safety strategies and referrals to appropriate services

Services included

  • Crisis/support counselling to assist individuals seeking assistance, delivered in person or by other means (e.g., phone, email, videoconference)
  • Types of counselling services include
    • Crisis/support counselling (includes safety planning; advocating providing rights information, referrals, follow-up support, outreach); sexual assault counselling; and long-term therapeutic counselling to assist women who have experienced abuse to gain a more in-depth understanding of woman abuse and empowerment and cope with the effects of violence
    • Short-term, goal-focused counselling for women in the community
    • Mid and long-term clinical counselling to support abused women’s emotional well-being and healing
    • Sexual assault counselling provided to women who have been sexually abused or those who have experienced sexual abuse in their childhood
  • Development of safety strategies or plans for women and their dependents
  • Provision of information on rights, options, and available services
  • Referrals or linking women to appropriate services
  • Outreach to women including promoting emergency shelters and bed-based services

Services excluded

  • Crisis phone support provided through provincial lines
  • Counselling support provided as part of other services, such as emergency shelter, child witness program, and transitional and housing support program services

Program/service features

Program goals

  • Increase the safety of women and their dependents who are fleeing violent relationships and prevent further re-victimization
  • Support women to understand their rights, and safety planning and violence prevention strategies
  • Assist caregivers in supporting their children to heal from the effects of witnessing violence
  • Assist and advocate for women and their dependents regarding their health, safety and well-being

Ministry expectations

  • Programs will seek to empower women in their various roles, including their role as caregiver, by means of counselling that is person-centred and strengths-based
  • TPRs will have mechanisms in place to provide counselling services or referrals to link women in emergency shelters or bed-based options with appropriate services

Reporting requirements

The following service data will be reported on at an Interim and Final stage. Please refer to your final agreement for report back due dates and targets.

Service Data Name Definition

# of Women Served: Counselling Services

Unique, or unduplicated, count of all individuals who identify as women who received Counselling Services in the reporting year. A woman is counted only once per reporting period. The count represents an active client roster for the year. If the client carries into the next fiscal year, the client is counted again in the new reporting period. Dependents are not counted in this data element.

# of Referrals Elsewhere Due to Capacity or Placed on Waitlist: Counselling Services

This data element includes requests for Counselling Services that were: Referred elsewhere because the service was at capacity (e.g., staff have full caseloads and cannot take new clients); or Placed on a waitlist. The same person may be counted more than once if they requested service at different points in the fiscal year. Reporting is based on the initial response that takes place following the request for service. For example, if a woman requests service and is placed on the waitlist and receives the service within the same reporting period, her request for service should still be reported once under this data element. Dependents are not counted in this data element.

# of Indigenous Women Served: Counselling Services

Unique, or unduplicated, count of all individuals who identify as women and self-declared as First Nations, Métis, or Inuit descent who received Counselling Services in the reporting period.

# of Indigenous Dependents Served: Counselling Services

Unique or unduplicated count of all individuals (dependents) who received Counselling Services in the reporting period who identified or self-declared as First Nations, Métis, or Inuit descent.

# of Counselling Hours: Counselling Services

The total number of hours spent by paid staff providing counselling for individuals/families in-person or over the phone or through other service modalities. Hours are reported from staff perspective from start time to end time. For example, if two staff spend an hour with a group of families, two hours are reported. This excludes travel to client, documentation, preparation, and other activities with landlord, shelters, medical professionals, telephone calls to third parties, advocacy, that are performed on behalf of individuals. Time spent providing direct counselling to clients outside of regular set counselling appointments, regardless of setting, should be counted. For example, staff attends court with a client and, over a period of five hours, spends one hour providing goal-focused counselling. This one hour should be counted.

# of Dependents Served: Counselling Services

Unique, or unduplicated, count of all dependents who received Counselling Services in the reporting year. A dependent is counted only once per year. The count represents an active client roster for the year. If the client carries into the next fiscal year, the client is counted again in the new reporting period. Dependents are those of the abused woman receiving service. The dependent or child must be receiving services to be counted.

Counselling Services: Ministry- funded Agency Expenditures

Total ministry-funded expenses for the Transfer Payment Recipient to administer and/or deliver this program in the reporting year (cumulative).

# of Referrals to a More Appropriate Service: Counselling Services

This data element includes requests for Counselling Services that were referred elsewhere because they required a more appropriate service at the same agency or at another agency. This may include referral to a specific culturally responsive service, a service provided in another language, or any other service or provider that meets the individual’s needs (e.g., connecting with community resources). The same person may be counted more than once if they requested service at different points in the fiscal year. Reporting is based on the initial response that takes place following the request for service. Dependents are not counted in this data element.