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BWSS Launches #SomeMenBreakMoreThanHearts for World Health Day 2018

Apr 5, 2018 | Battered Women's Support Services, Events, Media Advisory

1 in 5 women make their first disclosure of violence in an intimate relationship to their general practitioner.

In B.C., an average of 232 women per year are admitted to a B.C. hospital for severe injuries from intimate partner violence.

BWSS initiative #SomeMenBreakMoreThanHearts is designed to raise awareness of violence against women in intimate relationships, and provide resource kit to family physicians throughout B.C. to help doctors better identify and respond to women who may be experiencing violence in her intimate relationship. Because violence against women is a health issue.

Download the poster  

 

Download the Resource Kit for General Practitioners

Media Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 5, 2018

Launching World Health Day April 7, British Columbia’s family physicians join the fight against intimate partner violence

The #SomeMenBreakMoreThanHearts initiative provides family physicians with training and resources when women present with injuries and may be victims of violence

Vancouver, BC, April 5, 2018 – How do you ask your patient if she is experiencing violence from a partner or family member? If you’re a general practitioner in B.C., this is a tough question to ask, especially if you aren’t sure where you can direct your patient to go for help and support. On World Health Day, April 7, 2018, Battered Women’s Support Services is launching the #SomeMenBreakMoreThanHearts initiative, designed to raise awareness of violence against women in intimate relationships, and provide resources to family physicians throughout B.C.

The campaign includes an information and resource kit for general practitioners throughout B.C.. It’s designed to help practitioners better identify and respond to women who may be experiencing violence in her intimate relationship; and offer resources that are available to support women, including immediate safe places to go, crisis support, and ongoing counselling.

 “Violence against girls and women is often not included in discussions of women’s health; it is considered a social issue, not a medical issue,” says Angela Marie MacDougall, Executive Director of Battered Women’s Support Services.

“#SomeMenBreakMoreThanHearts is designed to bridge this gap and give general practitioners more resources in understanding the dynamics of power and control in violence, assessing risks, safety planning and alleviating women’s isolation by connecting them to support. Because the data shows that when women are connected to support organizations, they and their  children are safer,” states MacDougall.

The statistics about violence against women in intimate relationships in Canada and B.C. are staggering—and general practitioners are often the first person women disclose the violence to.

– Over 50% of all women in Canada have experienced physical or sexual violence.

– 40% of the women who have experienced intimate partner violence reported physical injuries, including bone fractures and internal injuries.

– In BC, an average of 232 women per year are admitted to a B.C. hospital for severe injuries from intimate partner violence.

– 1 in 5 women make their first disclosure of violence in an intimate relationship to their general practitioner

– But many women are afraid to tell anyone: only 21% of women reported intimate partner violence to a nurse or a doctor during their lifetime.

“Family physicians are often the trusted, first-line responders for women presenting with injuries. Knowing how to identify when someone is experiencing intimate partner violence can save lives,” says Vancouver family physician Dr. Janet Ip. “Having a plan in place to ask the right questions, and the ability to connect women to real help and support can and should be a priority in everyone’s family practice.”

If you are seeking more information, are experiencing violence in an intimate relationship, or know someone who is, please contact:

Battered Women’s Support Services Crisis and Intake Line: 604 687 1867

Toll Free: 1 855 687 1867

Email: intake@bwss.org

www.bwss.org

 About Battered Women’s Support Services

Founded in 1979, Battered Women’s Support Services provides education, advocacy, support services to assist all women in its aim to work towards the elimination of violence, and to work from a feminist perspective that promotes equality for all women. BWSS responded to over 11,000 requests for services in 2016. BWSS’ services include a Crisis Line; Counselling; support groups; victim services; an Indigenous Women’s Program; a Black Women’s Program; a Latin American Women’s Program; legal advocacy and law reform; strategic interventions training; social enterprise, My Sister’s Closet eco-thrift Boutique; violence prevention and intervention volunteer training; and Advancing Women’s Awareness Regarding Employment program (AWARE).

https://www.facebook.com/TheViolenceStopsHere/

Twitter: @EndingViolence

Instagram: @EndingViolence

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Media enquiries

Angela Marie MacDougall

Executive Director

BWSS

director@bwss.org

BWSS is Offering Counselling and Crisis Support Services During and Beyond the #MMIWG Inquiry

Mar 26, 2018 | Battered Women's Support Services, BWSS Programs, Events, Indigenous Women

BWSS is offering counselling and crisis support services during and beyond the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls inquiry hearing scheduled for Vancouver on April 3rd to 8th 2018  at the Sheraton Vancouver Airport Hotel, 7551 Westminster Highway in Richmond.

Counselling and crisis support is available for survivors and families while participating at the inquiry including during statement taking and or giving testimony.

After inquiry support services are available.

All counselling and crisis support is individual and group and is trauma informed and centered in informed cultural practices.

For more information and to contact our team call 604-652-1867

BWSS will hold two days of statement taking at our confidential location in April. Information to follow or call 604-652-1867.

 

BWSS Celebrates International Women’s Day 2018

Mar 7, 2018 | Battered Women's Support Services, Events

International Women’s Day 2018 to be commemorated in a year that saw women from all walks of life rise up in protests, power building and advocacy over issues of equality and harassment. BWSS is proud to be part of engaged communities working for change as we continue to #PressForProgress.

 

Women Power


Tonight we honour the over 150 people who volunteer at BWSS through our various programs and services.

Battered Women’s Support Services volunteers help us to:

  • Answer over 10,000 crisis calls annually
  • Facilitate one of a kind violence prevention workshops for youth
  • Enable women to access beautiful thrift clothing while generating funds for BWSS services and programs.
  • Provide culturally specific services for Indigenous women and girls
  • Support women through the criminal, family, Immigration and refugee legal systems
  • Answer our business line and administration support to our entire team
  • Help women with their economic livelihood sustainability through our employment program
  • Deliver Specialized Groups

None of the crucial work would be possible without our dedicated volunteers.

Each year BWSS celebrates these wonderful women during the week of International Women’s Day. Last night we celebrated 80 of our volunteers at Federico’s Supper Club.

We thank all the volunteers who play such an important role at BWSS and My Sister’s Closet, social enterprise of BWSS. Their passion strengthens our impact for girls, women and the community.

 

Fresh Face

BWSS Batteres Women's Support Services
Our website www.bwss.org and blog has 20,000 visits daily and Thursday, March 8th BWSS to reveal our new look.  Change is good and we care about our online community and we have planned this website update to better meet the needs of the people who want to connect on the work to end violence against women.  Our website to include information, resources and ways to connect further in our shared vision of a world without violence against women.

 

BWSS Joins CBC BC Almanac


BC Almanac on CBC on March 8, 2018 at noon when our Executive Director, Angela Marie MacDougall joins a special International Women’s Day panel who will discuss the status of women in the 21st century. The hour long program includes an opportunity to call in.

International Women’s Gathering

Here’s a few images from Rosa Elena Arteaga, Manager of Direct Services and Clinical Practice and Daniela Escolar, Stopping the Violence Counsellor and Latina American Women’s Support Group Facilitator who are attending the gathering in Chiapas, Mexico…

“No more violence against women. No more violence against Indigenous women. They took them alive, alive we want them…state violence against women in Mexico…”

 

Here’s more about the gathering.

TEDxECUAD

BWSS Executive Director Angela Marie MacDougall to speak at TEDx ECUAD 2018
All over the world, people are coming together for TEDx talks given by exceptional individuals who have ideas or experiences that can affect change.

This year’s TEDxECUAD theme is “Equilibrium” which focuses on balance, inner peace and the dynamics of opposing forces coming together. In this polarizing time, it is imperative that we talk about how people can work together to bring about a more stable future. –TEDxECUAD

Angela Marie MacDougall, Executive Director at Battered Women’s Support Services, is honored to have been asked to speak this year.

Angela’s point of view, working as an advocate, activist, and front-line worker in Vancouver, Coast Salish Territory, since 1992 makes her speak unique, evoking thought, deeper understanding of the roots of violence in Canada, transformation and most importantly, action.

You won’t want to miss it! The event will take place Saturday, March 17, 2018 at 2PM at Emily Carr University with 7 speakers and two performances.

 

Get Tickets Today!

TEDx ECUAD 2018 | “Equilibrium”

Mar 6, 2018 | Battered Women's Support Services, Events

All over the world, people are coming together for TEDx talks given by exceptional individuals who have ideas or experiences that can affect change.

This year’s TEDx ECUAD theme is “Equilibrium” which focuses on “balance, inner peace and the dynamics of opposing forces coming together”.

“In this polarizing time, it is imperative that we talk about how people can work together to bring about a more stable future”. -TEDxECUAD

 
BWSS Executive Director Angela Marie MacDougall to speak at TEDx ECUAD 2018Angela Marie MacDougall, Executive Director at Battered Women’s Support Services, is honored to have been asked to speak this year.

Angela’s point of view, working as an advocate, activist, and front-line worker in Vancouver, Coast Salish Territory, since 1992 makes her speak unique, evoking thought, deeper understanding of the roots of violence in Canada, transformation and most importantly, action.

You won’t want to miss it! The event will take place Saturday, March 17, 2018 at 2PM at Emily Carr University with 7 speakers and two performances.

 

Tickets available here.  

TEDx ECUAD 2018

Photo Courtesy of TEDxECUAD Twitter

 

About TEDx

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TED has created a program called TEDx. TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. Our event is called TEDxECUAD, where x = independently organized TED event. At TEDxECUAD event, TEDTalks video and live speakers will combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.

 

BWSS Executive Director Angela Marie MacDougall to speak at TEDx ECUAD 2018

 

Battered Women’s Support Services My Sister’s Closet Statement on the Ending of Eco-Fashion Week

Jan 19, 2018 | Events, My Sister's Closet

Battered Women’s Support Services (BWSS), through our eco-fashion thrift boutique, My Sister’s Closet (MSC), was honoured to participate three times at Vancouver Eco Fashion Week (EFW) which was created under the brilliant leadership of Myriam Laroche. Eco-fashion week was established in Vancouver, in 2010,  and aimed to present the solutions and innovations working to develop a more responsible fashion industry. The sustainable fashion spectrum is diverse and multifaceted, as it considers the environment, the working conditions, the supply chain as well as responsible consumption practices. Myriam endeavored to inspire change in individuals and the fashion industry. We respect Myriam’s  decision to end EFW. We share her vision to inspire and engage people, retailers, the industry locally to make better choices in their consumption and manufacturing of fashion. EFW brought focus to very important ideas and vision to designers in repurposing fabric and textiles and education to the general public through their eco-fashion workshops.

In 2011, we joined EFW with (zero.O.lab) our collaboration with Katherine Soucie which was our very own in-house clothing label for My Sister’s Closet. (zero.O.lab) was also a space for artists, designers and creative thinkers to conduct research on zero waste art and design concepts. Using collaboration as method for exploration and dissection on fashion production and consumption,  and served as an incubator into the conversation between art, fashion, and the commerce of identity.

BWSS and Zero Lab

BWSS and Zero Lab

BWSS and Zero Lab

In April 2013, we presented a full runway show, Sisterhood Swagger Runway Show. The collection was born from the empowerment of women and their fashion dreams to end violence against girls and women. With style all about the swagger of empowerment; an embodiment of the diversity of the left coast where the mountains meet the sea and where Toronto, Montreal, New York and Paris lean in to learn more.

In October 2013, we presented a second full runway show, Fashion Forward to End Violence Against Women, the collection titled,“Fearless,” was curated by nine women, including two artisans who designed unique pieces for the event.

It was beautiful to see that our participation each year increased community awareness about how and why a woman’s organization, like BWSS, was involved in ecofashion. At BWSS we have always known that the issues of violence against women, fashion, consumerism, and the environment are all connected and EFW gave us a platform to illustrate how all these issues were interconnected and mattered in building a healthier and more just society.

The fashion industry —a $2.5 trillion sector—is the second most polluting industry on Earth, right behind oil. Manufacturing a piece of clothing has a tremendous impact on the environment—for example, beyond the carbon emissions caused by energy consumption, the typical pair of jeans eats up 1,664 gallons of water in its lifetime. Regardless of this ecological toll, the average  individual still throws way 81 pounds of clothing and textiles into the trash every year which heads to our landfills.

We are disconnected from the people who make our clothing as 97% of items are now made overseas. There are roughly 40 million garment workers in the world today; many of whom do not share the same rights or protections that many people in the West do. They are some of the lowest paid workers in the world and roughly 85% of all garment workers are women. The human factor of the garment industry is too big to ignore; as we consistently see the exploitation of cheap labor and the violation of workers’, women’s, and human rights through globalization and as direct result of unchecked consumerism.

 

Cambodian garment factory workers toil at the W&D garment factory, just southeast of Phnom Penh, April 28, 2004. (AP Photo/Isabelle Lesser)

 

Battered Women’s Support Services formed My Sister’s Closet based on some of the same ideas as Eco Fashion Week; shifting away from excess consumption, recognizing the role of textiles and the overarching degradation of the environment and looking at oppression and globalization especially how they grind down on women’s lives in terms of the male violence they are subject to and the sexual violence and exploitation they face at various levels in the fashion industry.

And although it is the end of an era for Eco Fashion Week, the ecofashion movement continues and we are proud to be a part of a community that is grounded. And this movement continues to reuse, repurpose and envision economic model that are sustainable and safer for women, communities, and the environment.

BWSS social enterprise, My Sister’s Closet, advocates for zero waste, revenue generated from the sales of donated women’s and men’s clothing and accessories help fund violence prevention and intervention services that we operate assisting us to respond to 11,000 requests in 2016. Donations can be dropped off anytime during opening hours at its location, 1092 Seymour on the corner of Helmcken St., Downtown Vancouver.

Women Seeking Safety: BWSS Forum on Violence against Women and their Children and the Law

Jan 19, 2018 | Battered Women's Support Services, Events

For 40 years, we at BWSS have been providing emotional support, information,  and advocacy support to numerous women who express hopelessness, frustration, and anger with the court system. Many are caught between the proverbial rock and hard place when they are faced with parenting time orders that allow abusive fathers to spend time with their children, children who have often been victims. We have invited a number of guest speakers to present and join a panel discussion to look at systemic change, lethality/assessments and recommendations. This forum has emerged as result of the tragic deaths of Chloe and Aubrey Berry as well as a result of our ongoing work with women victims of violence.

BWSS would like to invite you to  this event to share our expertise and knowledge on this issue. These deaths should have and could have been prevented. We are bringing this conversation back to the table so we can ensure that we contribute towards making women and their children safe from male violence.

This forum is for diverse communities, service providers and government personnel who are interested in learning and gaining more analysis and knowledge on the issue of violence prevention and intervention.

The forum will be held Friday, January 26 2018 at Policy Room 7000 at  Harbor Centre, Simon Fraser University. We would like to invite you to share your analysis

Women Seeking Safety: BWSS Forum on Violence against Women and their Children and the Law Panelists:

Professor Emerita Susan Boyd

Janice Abbott, CEO of Atira Women’s Resource Society & Atira Property Management

Harshada Deshpande BWSS, Manager of Legal Services and Advocacy,

Summer-Rain BWSS, Manager of Indigenous Women’s Program,

MC: BWSS, Executive Director, Angela Marie MacDougall

 

 

Women Seeking Safety: BWSS Forum on Violence against Women and their Children and the Law