According to the Government of Canada, of all reported violent crime in 2016, more than one quarter (26%) resulted from family violence and almost 67% of family violence victims were women and girls.
Experts know that rates of all forms of family violence are underestimated. For example, in 2014, fewer than one in five (19%) who had been abused by their spouse reported abuse to police. There are many reasons why people don’t report family violence, one of them being the stigma associated with it. Furthermore, young children may not report violence because they may have limited contacts outside the family in whom they can safely confide.
Yorktown Family Services’ mission is to strengthen and support children, youth, individuals and families to make positive change. One of the ways Yorktown is dedicated to this is by providing Violence Against Women services. The Yorktown Shelter for Women (YSW) provides a safe and secure haven for women and their children fleeing an abusive relationship. Staffed 24 hours a day by a multilingual and multicultural team, the shelter is committed to the well-being and empowerment of women who have been abused and to the healthy development of their children.
Norine’s Story – Safe at Last
As the taxi rolled up and Norine hurried her belongings to the door, she knew in her heart this was it. Norine had been a devoted and loving wife in a 12-year marriage, during which she had courageously endured abuse from her husband in the hopes of keeping her family together. Now she found herself and her children leaving the comfort of their home to seek safe refuge in a women’s shelter. This was not the first time they had tried to leave, but she was determined it would be the last.
Norine had travelled from Jamaica to Canada in 1996, after having met and married her husband. Norine had many hopes and dreams of making a better life for herself and her two children. Through incredible determination she was able to enrol in school and began to turn these dreams into reality. It was during this time that Norine experienced such tremendous isolation and debilitating abuse that she fell into an extremely depressed state, jeopardizing her attempts to reach her goals.
Norine had been a very personable and valued member of her spiritual community, and it soon became apparent that she needed help. It was through her community that she was linked to the resources that could help her. Shortly thereafter, Norine and her children came to Yorktown Shelter for Women, where they received guidance and support. However, like so many women who believe in commitment to marriage and the promises of change, Norine decided to return home to give the relationship another try. Sadly, little had changed and abuse remained her reality.
Norine’s shelter experience had helped her to face certain realities of domestic abuse, but her ultimate “A-HA” moment was reflected in the eyes of her child, when one day she saw the same abusive behaviour of her husband re-enacted by one of her children. At this insightful moment Norine came to the difficult realization that her hopes for positive change for her family would not come from transforming her husband’s behaviour, but rather her own. With undeniable courage, Norine packed their belongings one more time, vowing to herself that this would be the beginning of a new life for her family. Norine and her children returned to Yorktown Shelter to receive the support they needed to find their own home where they now live peacefully, free from the presence of abuse.
Yorktown offers many other Violence Against Women Services, in addition to an Emergency Shelter, including our Here to Help program, which is a group to assist mothers and children traumatized by woman abuse to recover from their experiences. Yorktown also offers youth development programs, which aims to create safe and encouraging space for the youth to take on decision-making and leadership roles, as well as integrating many employment and life skills, building new pathways for personal and skills development.
Yorktown also sits at Situation Tables for FOCUS Toronto (Furthering Our Community by Uniting Services). FOCUS Toronto aims to prevent crisis by utilizing a risk-driven response rather than an incident-driven response. Rapid intervention to connect those in need is supported by multi-service teams collaboratively reviewing “situations” (cases) at the same time. The approach enables organizations to be immediately responsive to acute needs in the community.
It takes the strength of an entire community to prevent and end violence. If you or someone you know suffers from violence, please reach out to Yorktown by dialing 416-394-2424 or at our crisis line 416-394-2424.
Yorktown is here for you.