Resources

Professional Resources

We have worked with other health care providers to create a number of resources.  Please contact us if you would like copies of any of the following resources:

Making Connections: Supporting Women with Experiences of Violence, Substance Use and/or Mental Health Concern (Facilitator's Guide)
by Louise Godard, Jill Cory, Alexxa Abi-Jaoude, Karen McAndless-Davis & Naomi Armstrong--  This curriculum is designed to help communities offer support groups that give women an opportunity to share their experiences and develop their own knowledge and understanding about violence, and how violence may be connected to substance use and/or mental health concerns. The groups offer women support and information about the dynamics of abuse; the intersecting issues of abuse, substance use and/or mental health concerns; how these impact women’s lives; and how women can begin to rebuild and heal from these experiences. The opportunity for women to connect with other womens with similar experiences and discuss the connections between these issues helps to validate their experiences and reduce their feelings of isolation, failure and shame.

Making Connections for Women with Experiences of Abuse (Workbook)
by Alexxa Abi-Jaoude, Jill Cory, Louise Godard, Karen McAndless-Davis & Naomi Armstrong--  This workbook is intended to help women make sense of their experiences of abuse. How might experiences of abuse be connected to your physical and mental health? How might they be connected to your social and financial well-being? It is extremely isolating and “crazy-making” to
live in an abusive relationship, even after leaving. We hope this workbook is helpful by offering a different perspective on your experiences of abuse, and that through other women’s stories
you can find hope in your journey to achieve safety and well-being.

Girls Speak Out: Understanding Violence, Substance Use and Mental Health Support Needs Among Young Women in British Columbia
by Louise Godard, Naomi Armstrong & Alexxa Abi-Jaoude-- Girls and young women who are abused often develop depression and anxiety and related mental health concerns. Without effective support for abuse, young women are silenced and often cope in harmful ways, including eating disorders, cutting and substance use. We urgently need to develop resources and services that reflect the specific needs of these young women.  This is a final report of the Girls Speak Out project, which consulted with 56 young women, aged 16-24 years old, about the experiences of violence, substance use and mental health concerns, the barriers they face accessing support and their recommendations for improving services for this population. 

The SHE Framework- Safety & Health Enhancement for Women Experiencing Abuse
by Jill Cory and Lynda Dechief - A tool kit for health care providers and planners to conduct an audit of their practice and/or organization. The SHE Framework points to the need to assess the health care system for potential barriers and risks for women impacted by abuse and identify ways to improve health care services for this population.  It includes two contrasting models: Compounding Harms and Safety and Health Enhancement. It also includes an evidence paper which draws from reseach, women's stories and reports from international bodies; and a toolkit which helps health care providers, planners and policy makers with concrete tools to transfer the evidence into a safety and health enhancement plan.
Note: The SHE Framework provides a critque of the practice of universal screening for violence in health care settings. BC Women's acknowledges the differing views on this practice.

Women-Centred Care: A curriculum for health care providers 
by Jill Cory with Robin Barnett, Shelley Rivkin, Gayla Reid, and Laurie Hasiuk. The goal of Women-Centred Care is to ensure that all girls and women receive evidence based care that respects their social, economic, physical, cultural and spiritual realities. This curriculum is based on the Framework for Women-Centred Health and is designed to support health care providers in developing and sharing knowledge and practice related to Women-Centred Care. The curriculum will help health providers build upon current Women-Centred Care practices, to create new ways of thinking and new practices and structures within health care.

Building Bridges Consultation Summary Report 2010 (pdf)
by Louise Godard, Jill Cory and Alexxa Abi-Jaoude.  This summary document provides background information on the Building Bridges initiative and presents the findings from the provincial consultation with service providers and women impacted by abuse, mental health concerns and/or substance use on how to improve services and supports for this population. The project is lead by the Woman Abuse Response Program, a provincial program of BC Women’s Hospital and Health Centre.

Building Bridges: Linking Woman Abuse, Substance Use and Mental Ill Health;  Summary Report (pdf)
by Louise Godard, Jill Cory and Alexxa Abi-Jaoude.  Based on research, practice and women’s narratives confirming that violence is pervasive and central to the development of substance use and mental health concerns, we identified the need for direction and action to improve services that support women’s safety and health. This initiative aims to explore the complexities and links between gender based violence, substance use and mental health; explore how these issues impact service delivery and practice; identify the gaps in service provision; and identify and problem solve ways to reduce access and service delivery barriers. This is achieved through province wide discussions, consultations and educational forums with community and health partners to further our knowledge and develop a provincial strategy.

Best Practice Approaches: Child Protection and Violence Against Women.  A Curriculum for Child Protection Workers

Workers in both the child protection and anti-violence sectors have raised concerns about the challenges they face when supporting women who are experiencing abuse and their children who have been exposed to or witnessed abuse of their mother. This curriculum is designed to support child protection workers by providing them with new skills and best practice approaches to guide them while they are supporting women’s and children’s safety. The curriculum is based on evidence and practice that affirms that women’s safety is an integral part of all child protection interventions where violence against women exists.
PowerPoints: Module 1  Module 2  Module 3  Module 4  Module 5  Module 6  Module 7

The curriculum is based on the Best Practice Approaches: Child Protection and Violence Against Women developed by the Ministry of Child and Family Development (MCFD). This document can be accessed on-line at http://www.mcf.gov.bc.ca/child_protection/pdf/cp_vaw_best_practice_2004-07-22.pdf

Pamphlets and Posters

Program Pamphlet

Woman Abuse Response Program Pamphlet

Poster for Health Care Facilities

Are you Experiencing the Health Impacts of Abuse? (Poster)- hard copies available by request


Hope Help and Healing Pamphlets (Government of BC):

Am I Safe? What are my Options? (PDF)
Are you experiencing Abuse? Do you know how to protect yourself? (PDF)
Are you being abused? Do you need a safe place to go? (PDF)
Is someone you know being abused? Do you know the Warning signs? (PDF)
Is someone you know abusing his partner? Here’s how to talk to him about his behavior (PDF)

Reasonable Doubt Report- A review of how health records are used in court cases for women impacted by violence

Reasonable Doubt Pamphlet


To get any of these pamphlets or posters, call the  Woman Abuse Response Program at (604) 875-3717.

BC Women’s Policy Guidelines:

Privacy/Safety Policy Guidelines

BC Women's has recently updated our Safety Alert and Privacy Status Policies.  For infomation about these policies and/or support in developing guidelines for health agencies to improve women's safety when accessing their services, please contact us.  Please also see our patient pamplet:  Your Privacy and Safety at BC Women's Hospital and our resource for health care providers: How to Support a Woman in an Abusive Relationship

For questions or to obtain any of these resources, call the Woman Abuse Response Program at (604) 875-3717.

Other Helpful Resources

When Love Hurts: A Woman’s Guide to Understanding Abuse in Relationships (book)

Order on-line at orders@womankind.bc.ca or www.womankind.bc.ca

Court-Related Abuse and Harassment: Leaving an abuser can be harder than staying (pdf)
Prepared by: Andrea Vollans,YWCA Legal Educator

The goal of this paper was to document the issue of court-related abuse and harassment and provide a set of recommendations based on the findings. In order to document the issue, a literature review and and surveys with frontline workers were conducted.

Key Provincial Organizations