Christmas Fund: Agencies help Calgarians escape 'shadow pandemic' of domestic violence and abuse yyc
Over the past few years, there has been a reckoning of sorts when it comes to the widespread problem of sexual abuse and violence, says Danielle Aubry. “People are talking about it more, and more are feeling safe to come forward,” she says. “We’ve come a long way — but there is still quite a deficit in being able to properly deal with this in our society.”Sign up to receive daily headline news from the Calgary SUN, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.
Along with prevention, her organization has long provided support services to those affected by sexual abuse and violence, with everything from a sexual assault response team and trauma counselling, to guiding victims through the court system. “It’s been a challenging last couple of years, as we’ve been dealing with elevated levels of trauma,” she says. “But we’ve also had a lot of success, and we’re seeing more people come through the trauma process and become the people they’re meant to be.
McLean’s observations reflect the hard, cold statistics. A recent University of Calgary study found incidences of domestic violence increased globally during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of that, says the report, is likely due to the mental-health distress, job effects and isolation it brought. In late 2022, while many have returned to a semblance of normal lives, the pandemic is still with us, now joined by high inflation and low vacancy for rental accommodation.
“We only focus on the most complex and severe instances of child maltreatment,” says Karen Orser, CEO of Luna, which used to be known to Calgarians by its former name, The Sheldon Kennedy Advocacy Centre. It was named after Kennedy, who was sexually abused by his former junior hockey coach Graham James. He stepped down in 2018 to take care of his own health.Article content
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