BCIFV home > Newsletter > 1995 Archives > Winter 1995 articles

Battered Women's Support Services

Interview with Janet Freeman, Resources Coordinator

The following interview was conducted by BCIFV Newsletter Editor, Barbara Sherman in January 1995.

Would your organization receive emergency calls from Police Victim's Services for immediate assistance of a battered woman, and would you receive calls from a hospital emergency room to offer support?

We don't get a lot of these kinds of calls because we are not so much an emergency service. We're a counselling and advocacy service, so we don't, for the most part, work outside the office. It's a little hard to answer, because of the word emergency. It kind of depends what it is she needs, but for the most part we work on the phone and the woman comes in here for support.There could be times when we would go to a situation but the way it is right now we don't get these kind of calls. We want more referrals from Victim's Services, but as it stands now the calls that we get are more for ongoing support, not so much for crisis. I think in a lot of situations it would be a woman needing to go to a transition house and there are immediate safety concerns, so it wouldn't be us.

What type of work do your volunteers do and what type of training do they receive?

What we call them are peer counsellors/support group facilitators/advocates and they do the phone counselling, one-to-one counselling and support group. Sometimes they help us with education work and with legal advocacy, although for the most part we use staff for accompaniment to court and Crown Counsel.

How many staff and volunteers do you have?

We have, right now, 11 staff. As for volunteers, it varies between 25 - 30. The training is very intensive, with 60 hours of in-class training and 30 hours of practical work. It takes about a year.

And then do they make a commitment?

Yes, they make a commitment for nine hours a month for the first year.

What kind of volunteers do you get? Are they women from all age groups and all sectors of society?

Yes, we look for a wide representation. Women with different languages and from different age groups and backgrounds, and varying education levels.

A lot of your contacts would be with Crown Victim Services if you are doing advocacy. Is Battered Women Support Services there to try and push for certain things for the woman, and to inform her of the different services available.

We do the ongoing emotional support as well as the practical and legal advocacy. We really don't get that many referrals from Crown Victim Services.

Do you work with women who reside in a transition house? Do they send women to Battered Women's Support Services for counselling sessions?

Not all that often because they offer a lot of services in transition houses. They have counsellors that work there and sometimes they have groups. I wouldn't say it's a very high percentage of their clients that come here.

So most of the women that come here are either thinking of leaving a relationship and want information, have left a relationship and are involved with the legal system in terms of a charge against her husband, or else they just need counselling?

Yes, they're dealing with the issues. A lot comes up after women leave or women are being harassed.

What would you advise a woman to do who is being harassed by her ex-partner?

We have hand-outs and a complete file on that now. We say keep a record of everything and collect any evidence that you possibly can. Always report to the police; even if you don't have evidence report it to the police, and continue reporting. Those are the two main things. Then we go through safety plans - is there any way that she can increase her safety and decrease his access to her.

Do you have lesbian clients at this time and do you offer any special services or counselling to them?

Yes, we certainly do. The issue of lesbian battering is one we've been working on for several years. We've had a worker in the last two years who has been doing a lot of public education and workshops.

We've been getting a lot of referrals and the issue is being talked about more in the lesbian community. There is more material being published and general discussion about it. We have quite a thick file on lesbian battering. As far as special services, we ask a woman if she prefers to speak to a lesbian counsellor; she has that option. We have had a support group for battered lesbians and we're hoping to have another one in the spring.

Do you see the problem with battering in lesbian relationships to be as prevalent as in heterosexual relationships?

I would speculate that it is the same. There hasn't been a lot of research on it. We say this about every cultural group. There is no distinction. It doesn't matter whether it's age, or education or religion or cultural background; the rate of battering is pretty well constant. There is no group that is better or worse. Often what happens is the kinds of battering can be different. Those factors vary, but the rate of battering is pretty constant. The way we look at battering is around issues of power and control, where one person is attempting to control another.

Is there any change or development that you hope to see for responding to the needs of battered women?

There is the one area of custody and access. It's problematic because it's civil law and it's not criminal law, but the fact is that there are battered women who are being adversely affected by situations in Family Court. There needs to be a lot of work done educating the civil law system around the impact of battering and how it plays out. My theory is that a lot of work has been done in the criminal justice system to protect battered women. It's not perfect and there's still more work to be done, but I think that a lot of the focus of battering is now going over to civil law.

The batterers are battering in Family Court through divorce settlements and custody cases. There hasn't been enough work done in the civil area educating workers and the policies need to change.

What about the Family Justice Centres where they use mediation, but they apparently do more screening for an abusive relationship?

I think there needs to be a lot of educating, a lot of lobbying in this whole area. It is admitted in the system that mediation isn't good for battered women, but the problem becomes when you can ever determine that a man and a woman are in an equal relationship.

I don't think abuse is something you can educate away in a couple of sessions. It's much deeper and more complex than just saying to someone "You know you're not fighting fair here", or "you're manipulating". It's misdirected in any way for mediators to say things like "We can re-balance this and make it fair by laying out these rules." It doesn't work that way. That's not how battering works.

Pointing out these abusive behaviours might be just the trigger and he's going to make her pay for it later. She's responsible for everything, she's always responsible. He's going to blame her. It's her fault they went into mediation and it's her fault that he got called on his behaviour.

Abusers are good at knowing what people want and they can be extremely charming. So they can psych out a mediator or a counsellor and set it up so that again, they're the one in control or that they're the most reasonable, whereas the woman often is the one who is reacting. It might be a safe place . It might feel like a safe place for her to finally get angry, but if might not be safe at all. She might not be articulate or be seen as the "good client". So then the mediator, much as they may try to be neutral, unconsciously can take sides.

Something I hear from women over and over again in couple's counselling is that the focus suddenly goes to the man. It's all about him and what does he need and what would work for him, because he's the one doing the talking. It's extremely subtle.