St. Mary's gets $34K to boost help for sex assault victims
A program to help people in Waterloo Region who have been sexually assaulted is based is getting a $34,200 one-time grant from the province.
The funding will help the Waterloo Region Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Treatment Centre, based at St. Mary's General Hospital, increase public outreach and offer longer-term counseling to people who have been assaulted or abused.
The grant is part of the Ontario government's action plan to end sexual violence, called 'It's Never OK.'
Lydia Chudleigh is the vice president of quality and performance management at St. Mary's General Hospital. She says the funding will help the centre provide ongoing counselling, rather than just crisis-based counselling, as well as public outreach.
In 2014, [we served] 426 victims of sexual assault and domestic violence.- Lydia Chudleigh, St. Mary's General Hospital
"We find it beneficial to do outreach with colleges and universities and through other community agencies as well," said Chudleigh in an interview with Craig Norris on The Morning Edition Wednesday. "We also know one in three women sometime in their lifetime will or has experienced sexual assault. This often goes unreported. People often do not seek help. We want to encourage people to do so."
She says that over half of the time when a person has been sexually assaulted, they access the centre's services through a hospital emergency room, either at St. Mary's or Cambridge Memorial Hospital.
"Our team of specialized nurses and social workers are on-call 24-hours a day," said Chudleigh, who said that the team is about 20 people in total.
"We served, in 2014, 426 victims of sexual assault and domestic violence," said Chudleigh.
She emphasized that people seeking the services are able to determine what and how much help they want. For example, a woman seeking help would not be forced to go to police to report an assault if she didn't want to.
To reach the Waterloo Region Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence and Treatment Centre call 519-749-6994 or 1-844-HERE-247. Colleges, universities and community groups can also offer a referral.