Tag: rural

Beyond the Crisis: Ongoing Counselling and Support

Written by: Candice Perry

Now that you have survived, how do you heal so that you can thrive?

Survivors of sexualized violence deserve the support needed to heal. The SARAH program has offered residents and visitors to North Eastern Manitoba advocacy and support immediately following sexual assault, but local resources for longer term support have been difficult to access.

Now, Survivor’s Hope is excited to be able to offer longer term support in its SARAH Counselling and Support Program. The follow up counsellor aims to provide a safe space for survivors so that they can be empowered to heal, just like the safe space our SARAH volunteers have been providing for years. The program believes that survivors can regain their sense of personal autonomy by having their experience believed, having their feelings validated, and having their choices respected.

The SARAH Counselling and Support Program is being offered virtually at this time through Google Meet or by telephone. Once COVID guidelines change to allow for in person counselling, office visits will be arranged throughout the region. The program aims to expand to provide group support and workshops to help those who are supporting survivors.

You can access the program by leaving a voicemail at 204-753-5353 or sending a secure email through the website https://survivors-hope.ca/contact . The counsellor will return your call to arrange for the first session. The program is free of charge.

You do not need to travel your path to healing alone.

Survivor’s Hope is Supporting Local Food Banks and Tackling Period Poverty

We are partnering with community food banks to support the communities they serve in a new way during this time of economic slowdown.

“We recognize that the COVID-19 lockdown has put a lot of people out of work and families will be relying on food banks more than before” says Candice Perry, Reaching Out Coordinator for Survivor’s Hope. “We want to support our communities by helping to meet some immediate and basic needs.”

Survivor’s Hope will be sharing menstrual products with numerous local food banks and community resources thanks to the generosity of a social enterprise in BC called joni, which matches every purchase with a donation. Joni produces menstrual pads that are unbleached and biodegradable, making them a choice that is good for bodies and for the earth.

“Menstrual products can be expensive and are not always available at food banks,” says Stephanie Klassen, Executive Director of Survivors Hope. “These products are a necessity that is often overlooked and without them, the folks who menstruate miss out. We want to support the full participation of women and girls in society by making sure this need is met.”

Klassen said when she first contacted joni, the company was excited. “We asked about purchasing a few hundred boxes and they offered to match our purchase with donations and then some on top of that! We now have 1320 boxes of pads to share!”

Donations will be distributed to community food banks across north eastern Manitoba over the coming weeks. Information flyers about the increased risk of intimate violence during COVD-19 and the support available through Survivors Hope and Nova House, the shelter for survivors of intimate partner violence in Selkirk, will also be included. Nova House has launched a text line where a domestic violence counsellor can be reached 24/7 by texting 204-805-6682.

“There has been a worldwide increase in reports of violence at home. There is a lot of concern about isolation and violence in the home escalating as everyone is asked to stay at home,” said Klassen. “If there is an abusive person in the home, home is not always the safest place. We want to remind folks that there are local resources that are ready to help 24/7.”