VICTORIA NEWS - Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Women
LOCAL WOMEN MAKING A DIFFERENCE • A9
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Bridges for Women
Moves into new facility Pamela Roth Victoria News Harbouring a broken soul from years of abuse in her home country of Guyana, Diane Holder moved from Toronto to Victoria in 2003 to experience warmer winters and connect with nature. She was homeless at the time and came across a sign at a community centre about Bridges for Women — a nonprofit agency that provides employment training and support programs for women impacted by violence or abuse. Once she found housing a year later, Diane enrolled with Bridges, marking the beginning of a new journey that gave her confidence she never knew she had. “I experienced a lot of traumas in my life and I was going through a spiritual awakening where I knew why this and that happened and why this person was a part of it,” said Diane. “You have to let it go and move into your life and take responsibility.” Hearing stories like Diane’s brings tears to Victoria’s Pruden’s eyes. Working as the executive
director for Bridges, Pruden said the volume of people it serves has grown substantially, forcing the agency to move four months ago into a bigger space and new location on Douglas Street. Bridges now has double the space it had before, allowing employees to run three full time classes at the same time and accommodate at least 50 more trauma counselling sessions per month. There’s also an expanded computer lab with 15 stations and two full kitchens that provide hot lunches on a regular basis. “In the old space it was a nightmare. On our busiest days we have 60 or 70 women in here taking classes,” said Pruden. “We create a women’s community here of people that care about each other and care about the future together, and how we’re doing physically, emotionally, spiritually, financially, which you don’t always get, especially in an urban environment where people can be very disconnected.” Last year, Bridges helped more than 200 women complete full time programming
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Staff and friends of Bridges for Women celebrated moving in to their new expanded location with an Open House Grand Opening at 1809 Douglas Street. Bridges for Women is a community agency that supplies employment training and supportive programs for women impacted by violence or abuse. Bridges has been in operation in Victoria since 1988. and had another 135 intake assessments with referrals to other services. An additional 358 women walked in for support. Some were experiencing a crisis. The cases that program manager Jenny Holder sees have more complexity than before now that technology is being used to track people down and
harass them. Staff have also been dealing with a lot more cases of women immigrating to Canada with their spouse in search of a better life, only to find themselves isolated and abused. As for why Bridges is getting busier, Jenny believes it’s because more women are seeking help.
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“It’s always been in the fabric of our communities and that still remains the same. What’s changing is that people are getting help and speaking out and they’re able to break out of those cycles,” she said. “The more people we can reach, the better off our whole community is when the most vulnerable people are being
helped and in turn able to contribute to the community.” Bridges for Women was established in Victoria in 1988 and offers women a six-month employment program that prepares them for the workforce, trauma counselling and mentoring, among other programs.