New partnership addresses family violence
Mario Prusina – Times Editor
A new coordinator position, funded by a grant from the provincial government, is aimed to reduce the number of repeat family violence incidents.
The $223,000 pilot project, led by the Strathmore Family Violence Response Team, was announced June 29 in Strathmore.
The coordinator will work with the Strathmore RCMP, Wheatland Shelter, Strathmore Regional Victim Services and project advisory organizations to provide services to families at risk of violence.
“This is a community that takes family violence seriously and they’ve done tremendous work already developing informal partnerships,” said Minister of Justice and Attorney General Alison Redford. “This announcement will fund a coordinator position, which will allow them to react more effectively and faster to the situations that they are already dealing with.
“It’s interesting to hear the amount of work, the amount of commitment, that volunteers have put into this whole network of support services over the past 20 years. So as a provincial government, it’s nice for us to come in and augment that work, as opposed to imposing a system.”
The new position will also work with victims to help with specific needs such as safe housing and counseling, as well as providing support through criminal proceedings for victims and families.
Strathmore RCMP Staff Sgt. Larry Marzinzik hopes that the coordinator will be able to assist all agencies involved, while helping the families in need.
It will benefit us in the fact that there will be someone who will be a go-to person for all agencies – in the way of communicating family violence issues – and I’m not just talking about investigations,” said Marzinzik. “It (helps) communications gaps to be filled.”
He added that most cases of domestic violence are passed down through children who previously experienced such trauma. By helping all parties involved, the goal is to stop this form of behavior being passed down through generations.
“This (new project) is not just reactive, it’s preventive,” said Marzinzik. “So if we have information coming in about a family crisis … where we see red flags coming up prior to incidents, then this person (the coordinator) can also be that information gatherer that could help the appropriate agency offer the counseling, assistance or support to prevent that crisis from turning into a police file.”
The project will receive funding over three years as part of the provincial government’s Safe Communities Innovation Fund.
“This is the first time that we’ve ever embarked on such a project,” said Karen Pease, the Executive Director of the Community Crisis Society. “It is a huge project for our community.”