Women’s Shelters

COMMUNITY > Emergency Services > Women’s Shelters

COMMUNITY > Public Health Services > Women’s Shelters

The Fireweed Safe Haven is a 7-day/24-hour emergency shelter for women and their children fleeing violence, located in Fort St. James.

Fireweed Women’s Collective Society was formed in 1994 by women interested in education about and prevention of violence against women and children and exploring the possibility of a women’s shelter for the region. Since then, the organizations has been involved in a variety of grassroots projects.

Services
Emergency Shelter
We provide shelter for women & their children who are victims of spousal abuse, provide them with necessary counselling and to make available medical and legal services when needed. The facility is a 7-day/24 hour emergency shelter that can house up to 8 people.

The house is fully secure with video camera surveillance around the perimeter of the building, steel doors, video intercom access camera, two safe rooms located on either side of the house with monitored panic buttons. While staying in the Fireweed Safe Haven, a Crisis Intake Worker provide crisis support and referral to outside agencies while empowering the individual to make positive lifestyle choices for themselves and their children.

Stopping the Violence Counselling
Are you (or were you) in an abusive relationship? Do you have nightmares or flashbacks? Are your past experiences influencing your current relationship? Abuse in relationships can take many forms beyond bruises and broken bones. Yelling, making threats and preventing you from seeing friends and family are also forms of abuse. There are many others.

For appointments, please call the STV Counsellor at 250-996-8083.

Supportive Recovery Bed
Safe housing and support for a woman going to or returning from drug and alcohol rehabilitation services, or for a woman on suicide watch.

Educate the Community
Provide education and develop community awareness around women’s issues in rural communities by sponsoring awareness events.

Contact Information:
Our emergency number is 250-996-8000.
Please call collect if you are not in our dialing area.

Brandi Hanterman: Manager
250-996-8081 Phone
Email:

What Is Abuse?
A woman may experience abuse in many forms in her life including physical, emotional/psychological, verbal, environmental, social, financial, sexual, religious/spiritual, or ritual abuse. Everyone has a right to live free from violence and/or abuse.

Spiritual Abuse
Involves ridiculing a woman’s beliefs, using her beliefs to manipulate her or denying her or her children’s involvement in her spiritual or religious beliefs.

Physical Abuse
Can include slapping, punching, kicking, biting, shoving, choking, using a weapon to threaten or injure the woman and children. It can included any unwanted physical contact or physical neglect, and it may result in death of the woman and/or child.

Emotional/Psychological Abuse
Includes various forms of intimidation, harassment, excessive jealousy, control, isolation, and threats.

Environmental Abuse
Includes making a woman feel afraid in her home or environment by destroying property and possessions as a form of intimidation.

Verbal Abuse
Includes constant criticism, blaming, false accusations, name calling, comments about woman’s body, and threats of violence toward the woman or people or things she cares about.

Social Abuse
Includes isolating the woman from her friends and family.

Financial Abuse
Includes preventing a woman from having financial independence, economically exploiting her, or preventing her from having any control over the family’s money and purchase decisions.

Sexual Abuse
Includes any forced sexual activity. It can also include infecting a woman with a sexually transmitted disease by engaging in unsafe sexual practice. May also include unwanted pregnancies.

Funding
The Fireweed Collective Society Board of Directors would like to gratefully acknowledge the volunteers, funding agencies, and working partnerships because “You believe in us; we believe in us.”