A grant from the Safer + Stronger Grants program of the Canadian Women’s Foundation will allow Family Counselling Support Services for Guelph Wellington (FCSSGW) to partner with Victim Services Wellington (VSW).
The partnership will help address, prevent and reduce gender-based violence in Guelph-Wellington.
Benjamin Hesch, director of mental health services for FCSSGW, said the $100,000 grant will allow them to address a big need they have been seeing in the community.
“We’ve seen a number of folks coming forward struggling as victims of violent crime, especially domestic violence, we know during the pandemic domestic violence rates have increased dramatically, and these folks are really struggling without any support,” Hesch said.
Hesch said the grant will help them offer fully funded therapy for those who have experienced violent crimes of domestic violence.
“It will [also] allow us to offer psychotherapy that addresses the roots of trauma, so we’re really pleased to be able to offer therapy that delves into addressing and processing the trauma like, EMDR, which is eye movement desensitization and reprocessing,” Hesch said.
Hesch said what they’re finding through hearing from clients that contact the agency is that people are isolated in their homes and in a lot of cases unfortunately, they may be living with an abusive partner.
“And there is nowhere else for them to go, they don’t even have the reprieve of going to work like they may have before, and so they’re living 24/7 with somebody that is causing them significant harm be that emotional, physical, or in other ways,” Hesch said.
He said support has been very difficult for them to find, and one of the barriers they are facing is being able to access therapy in a safe way.
Hesch said that the funding will enable the agency to meet with people in-person in their spaces or in other neutral community spaces where they feel safe.
He added that the funding will enable them to serve a number of residents from now until September 2021, and they are hoping to secure more funding to continue the programming.
Benjamin Hesch, director of mental health services for FCSSGW: