Making Connections: Low Barrier Support Groups for Women Impacted by Abuse, Substance Use and/or Mental ill Health
“Making Connections” is a provincial project funded by Canada Post Foundation, Canadian Women’s Foundation, and BC Women's Woman Abuse Response Program, and supported by the BC Society of Transition Houses. Low barrier support groups are being piloted in seven communities in BC for women impacted by abuse, substance use and/or mental ill health. The project is coordinated by the Woman Abuse Response Program and overseen by an existing provincial Steering Committee whose mandate is to develop programs, policies and research to support the improvement of services for women impacted by abuse/trauma and mental ill health and/or substance use.
There are six main activities in this project:
1) Develop a draft Making Connections Curriculum to support the co-facilitators and ensure knowledgeable, consistent group facilitation in each of the seven participating BC communities;
2) Provide a three-day training workshop in Vancouver to train the group co-facilitator teams from the anti-violence and mental health sectors to deliver violence-informed, integrated support groups for women with complex safety, mental health and addiction needs. Facilitators participated in hands-on training to develop the skills necessary to co-facilitate support groups in a collaborative, interdisciplinary team approach;
3) Deliver low-barrier support groups for women impacted by abuse and mental ill health and/or substance use. Using a 12 week group model, women will be provided with an opportunity to share their experiences, explore the connections between woman abuse and mental ill health and substance use and learn new coping skills in a supportive, safe and non-judgmental environment. All seven participating communities will offer these 12 week groups twice in their community at a safe, accessible, community-based agency. On-going information and clinical support will be provided to the facilitators through tele-conferencing, coordinated by the project lead;
4) Develop a Self-Help Workbook for women with input from participants attending the support groups;
5) Finalize the Making Connections Curriculum and Women's Self-Help workbook, using feedback and results from the evaluation of the groups
6) Disseminate the Final Making Connections Curriculum and the Women's Self-Help Workbook. This will ensure that other organizations and communities can implement their own support groups for women impacted by woman abuse, mental ill health and/or substance use.
Seven Participating Communities:
- Dawson Creek
- North Shore
- Port Hardy
- Prince George
- Squamish
- Trail
- Vernon
For more information about the Making Connections Project, please contact Louise Godard: lgodard@cw.bc.ca