True Self - Debwewendizwin Coordinator Donna Forget speaks at the pilot project's opening Friday morning. The True Self - Debwewendizwin Employment & Training centre is the first of its kind.
True Self - Debwewendizwin Coordinator Donna Forget speaks at the pilot project's opening Friday morning.
The True Self - Debwewendizwin Employment & Training centre is the first of its kind.
Friday morning the centre opened its doors at 128 McIntyre St. welcoming female victims of domestic violence. The centre will help its participants integrate back into society. True Self is the first service to help victims recover from domestic violence.
“We want these women to find their true selves, not who they have been told they are,” Project Coordinator Donna Forget said while explaining the project’s name.
“When women are repeatedly told they are stupid, not good enough, or can’t do things, they will eventually start to believe it.”
The pilot project was made possible by a $500,000 investment from the provincial government. Nine other communities in Ontario were chosen to create similar projects.
“Women coming out of an abusive relationship need support. They need assistance to get to that next stage where they can get on with their lives,” Nipissing MPP Monique Smith said.
“This office is going to provide that assistance to those women.”
Smith explained North Bay was chosen as one of the pilot sites because of the strong community involvement in putting together the proposal. Partners for the project include; Nipissing First Nation, Canadore College, YES Employment Services Inc., Disability Employment Opportunities Committee, Ojibway Family Resource Centre, People for Equal Partnership in Mental Health, Ontario Northland Transportation Commission, and the OPP.
True Self will hold in-house workshops to help women rebuild their self esteem, and work as a bridge to other community services.
“We may actually go with them to meetings at employment resource centres, colleges, or universities depending on what the women’s needs are,” Forget said.
“We will support them in moving from one service to another, so they don’t get lost in that shuffle.”
The project also has funding to help cover tuition, childcare, and transportation costs, all of which are typical barriers victims may face. True Self will run as a pilot project until March 31, of 2008. Staff at the centre expects to help approximately 60 women.
Forget says there hasn’t been similar projects started because recognition of domestic violence has just come to surface in the past decade. She explained society is starting to realize it affects the whole community, not just the victim.
“In the past domestic violence was a closed door subject, it wasn’t talked about in public,” Forget said.
“In the last ten years that has changed, but we still have a long way to go.”
