Services

The Woman Abuse Response Program provides:

Clinical support for professionals
Training for health care providers
Consultation to practitioners and programs
Leadership in developing innovative strategies within health settings
Professional resources

For more information about how to arrange a workshop in your community or agency, please contact us at (604) 875-3717.

Clinical Support for Professionals

Practitioners best know the opportunities for expanding their practices - collaborating with practitioners is a core value and commitment in this program.

Responding to the complex array of health care concerns of women experiencing abuse requires a broad range of health care strategies. This can be achieved by working in partnership with practitioners to develop appropriate and effective clinical responses for different areas of practice.
Within the context of woman-centered care, we promote a model of care that supports partnerships among medical, legal, and counselling services, and community groups. We offer a range of services that include:

Providing education, training, resources, and ongoing support to health care practitioners
Adapting training workshops according to community needs and resources
Training nurses to educate staff in their hospitals and communities
Developing hospital-based practice principles and clinical guidelines
Designing site-specific clinical protocols and practices in collaboration with units and/or program staff
Participating in committees such as the Violence Against Women in Relationship (VAWIR) Coordination Committees in each community to develop protocols for health and community services
Helping plan, develop, and implement woman abuse programs in health care facilities and in communities
Supporting the development of program or agency responses to women experiencing abuse
Providing education about the dynamics and health impacts of women abuse
Providing legal information about documenting and reporting violence against women
Developing resources for staff and clients

If your community is interested in the training programs, we ask you to consider:

An integrated model of care that ensures the participation of health services, police, community counselling, advocacy services, and aboriginal support services
Regional partnership options for operational funding
Participating in provincial networking for Violence and Women’s Health

Training for Health Care Providers

This four-hour workshop explores the complexity of violence against women and its effects on health, the use of services, and access to health care. By exploring the concepts of women-centered care, advocacy, and safety, practitioners will develop their own strategies for responding to women who experience abuse.

Training Objectives

Identify the health impacts of violence against women in relationships.
Examine the links between violence against women and women’s health, including the health care costs associated with violence against women and related medical and/or health policies.
Analyze how interdisciplinary coordination relates to women’s safety.
Review the provincial VAWIR policy from the Ministry of Attorney General and the provincial RCMP policy and Ministry of Children and Family Child Protection policies as they relate to health professionals.
Offer an opportunity for health care providers and community service organizations to share knowledge and experience with each other.
Establish a set of priorities for your institution or unit to take action that will enhance health care responses to women experiencing relationship abuse and increase safety.
Identify priorities for attention by auditing program and/or service accessibility and safety for women who use your services. Based on your findings:

Develop clinical guidelines and care pathways, in collaboration with other workshop participants, for use in your agency or organization when responding to women experiencing abuse in relationships.
Examine pioneering programs that respond to violence against women in relationships from other communities within B.C.

For more information contact:

BC Women’s Hospital & Health Centre
Woman Abuse Response Program at (604) 875-3717

Library

PHSA improves the health of British Columbians by seeking province-wide solutions to specialized health care needs in collaboration with BC health authorities and other partners. For more information, visit http://www.phsa.ca

PHSA agencies include: BC Cancer Agency, BC Centre for Disease Control, BC Children’s Hospital and Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children, BC Mental Health & Addiction Services, BC Provincial Renal Agency, BC Transplant, BC Women’s Hospital & Health Centre, and Cardiac Services BC.