The need for shelter and services for women and children escaping family violence in Northumberland was already acute before the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Now, with the pandemic entering a fourth wave and a second year, the need for help for women and children in the county has continued to climb — and will continue to do so, said Janelle Eisler, manager of community engagement at the Cobourg-based Cornerstone Family Violence Prevention Centre.
She describes the current increase of family violence within Northumberland County as a “pandemic within the pandemic”.
“When you think about shelter at home or stay-at-home order comes down, it’s assumed that home is a safe place to stay. We know all too well that women and children living within the County that this isn’t the case. So, we have seen a steady increase the demand for our services since the beginning of last March,” said Eisler.
And, the numbers don’t lie.
• Cornerstone received 451 crisis calls as of Aug. 31, 2020. This year, as of Aug. 31, 2021, the crisis calls numbered 608.
• The days of shelter provided to women and children in 2020 were 767 as of Aug. 31 of that year. So far this year, the days of shelter provided was 2,288 as of Aug. 31, 2021.
• The number of women and children served at Cornerstone’s shelter was 26 as of Aug. 31 of 2020. This year, that number jumped to 47 as of Aug. 31, 2021.
“So, as you can see, the increase in demand is there,” said Eisler in an email. “We predict to see a steady increase in the demand for our services as we manage our way through the second year of this pandemic.”
Pandemic restrictions and the need for physical distancing within Cornerstone’s shelter has meant less capacity to offer women and children impacted by family violence within Northumberland. Prior to the pandemic, Cornerstone had 21 shelter beds, but after an extensive renovation due to pandemic restrictions that was completed in July, the number of beds dropped to 17 and 19 beds, depending on the family dynamic.
The cold reality of less capacity at the shelter and the need for funding has meant turning away women and children in crisis, said Eisler.
“We are full 100 per cent of the time. And, due to COVID-19 restrictions last year, we had to operate at a lower capacity because we had to then renovate our facilities to be able to offer the programs and services that we do with the new COVID-19 restrictions. So, we do have to turn women away unfortunately due to lack of funding and space,” she said.
Having to turn women and children away, however, doesn’t mean Cornerstone doesn’t provide help in other ways to those in need, said Eisler.
“We try to provide every resource that we can,” she said. “Possibly transportation can be a barrier, so we try to provide transportation for the women and child to get to family or friends who maybe live out of town. We try to coordinate with other shelters from around the area, Belleville, Peterborough, Bowmanville, Oshawa and we definitely will try to provide all the resources we can to provide a safe place to go.”
In addition to shelter for women and children impacted by family violence in Northumberland, Cornerstone also offers a community resource centre that hosts counselling, family court support and various other services for women.
For more information about Cornerstone and its programs, call 905-372-0746 (local) or toll free 1-800-263-3757 or log on to the website at cornerstonenorthumberland.ca.
