As Bryony House looks for new home, community left with 'gaping hole,' says staffer

Bryony House employees held a protest Friday calling for management to immediately find a temporary shelter for women and children after the Halifax facility closed its doors more than two months ago.

The building that housed the shelter was closed following damage caused by Hurricane Dorian in September. That storm served to highlight the problems with the aging structure and management decided it was no longer habitable.

Executive director Maria MacIntosh said the organization is hopeful it has found a temporary location that may be operational in a few weeks.

"It's similar to the current shelter, it's a house with bedrooms, kitchen, those kinds of things. We have to get permits, look at the zoning, get fire inspection … there's a number of pieces involved in securing the location," she said.

Bryony House first opened in 1978 in a former residential building in south-end Halifax. On Nov. 12, the facility's board issued a tender for construction of a new permanent location.

Bryony House counsellor Kathleen Guitard of Halifax was at the protest.

Guitard is also a former user of the shelter's services.

"I was in an abusive relationship when I was 19. In one of my trips to the ER after an attack, a nurse took me into a little room and told me to memorize [the shelter's number]. She knew I hadn't just fallen again," she said.

About 18 months later, Guitard used that number. It saved her life, she said.

"I have no doubt that without Bryony House, I wouldn't be here," she said. "The man I was living with carried a handgun that was loaded all the time and numerous times [he] put the gun to my head."

When she called the shelter, a worker named Peg advised her to come to the facility right away and the shelter sent a cab to pick her up.

Guitard said the support she received enabled her to escape her abusive partner and she eventually returned to school where she received training to become a counsellor herself, a position she has held at Bryony House for 21 years.

She's worried women and children escaping violence will be unable to get the same help.

"I know they still have the 24-hour distress line, but when you need to get out and you need to get out now, a distress line isn't going to help," said Guitard. "You need something more substantial. You need a place, a bed. We need another shelter. We need 24 beds. This community has a huge, gaping hole."

MacIntosh said the organization is still able to provide a safe place for women and children.

"When a woman calls, we would assess the situation, assess the level of risk," she said. "We would bring the woman into a location that we are currently managing. Then we would engage in the same sort of safety planning … assess what does this woman and/or family need. All of the same supports are being provided."

For safety reasons, MacIntosh would not discuss where clients are currently being housed.

She said Bryony House has shut down multiple times before. One time was because of a flood.

MacIntosh was emphatic that women in abusive situations should call Bryony House for help.

"We don't want women, especially women who might be calling for the first time, to feel that we have nothing for them because that in itself places women at risk," she said.

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