By Brody Langager

making a difference

Project highlights experiences, outcomes for women’s shelter clients

Feb 25, 2021 | 10:25 AM

Officials say a pilot project that spanned a year for the Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters and Dialogues in Action is coming up with some very promising results.

Project Impact was started in early 2020 with the ACWS and DIA looking to find the impact and outcomes of clients in domestic violence shelters.

“To develop evaluation capacity, we designed a half-year course to create fresh evaluation designs, push the sector into new evaluation possibilities, and use evaluation to shape program innovations and renovations,” says Dr. Steve Patty with DIA about the program.

Twenty-one shelters across the province participated in the project, and worked with Dr. Patty’s team to collect data, participate in workshops, and analyze it all with support and training.

“We were truly taken aback by what we found. Women were impacted in a transformational way by being here. They regained the ability to trust, and they were able to connect with what the program at WINGS provides and with other women at WINGS who relate to their story. Something wonderful is happening. After coming to WINGS, they saw things differently. They had hope.”, says Karen Kingdom, Program Manager at WINGS, an Edmonton shelter that was part of the project.

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With the rate of domestic violence being higher in Alberta than many other provinces, the ACWS is doing everything it can to get more insight on this issue.

Other programs spearheaded by the ACWS have been happening as well, including training sessions for their Danger Assessment Tool earlier this month.

If you have concerns over a domestic abuse situation, Red Deer RCMP want you to dial 911 for emergencies or the police non-emergency line at 403-343-5575.

If you need to speak to someone at a shelter and connect with their outreach services and assessments, you can call the 24/7 hotline at 1-866-331-3933.

For more information on the Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters, go to https://acws.ca/.