Sue Pitman representing the Sussex Committee for the Prevention of Family Violence, was the Club’s guest speaker on May 9th, 2011. The Committee is around ten years old.
Dawn-Marie has about 30 women who meet with her to get help with decisions on leaving violent situations before having to go to the transition house. Mary works for VON and does family prenatal classes but is also a volunteer on the Committee...
“Moving Forward” is a 12-week program that is 1.5 to 2 hours a week. These groups are all focused on healing aspects. This is to move forward after the situations have stopped. This is for kids and mothers. Mom’s meet with a volunteer to get help understanding their children and what they are going through in order to learn how to work with their children.
There are 60 assaults per hour reported in Canada, and 78% of them committed by someone the victim knows. Women with disabilities are four times more likely to be assaulted; other groups are first nations and women under 24. Statistics show that women who fight back and try to get away from the perpetrator are overwhelmingly more likely to get away from the situation.
Having said all this, they see a huge need for programs for males. They have created “Man to Man” and are working on having men talk to a male student in the schools to set the record straight and be a male role model for the young men.
They are fully government-funded.