24-Hour Helpline

Trained staff are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to provide crisis support, safety planning and referrals to women and anyone impacted by domestic violence.

To access this free and confidential service immediately over-the phone, call 519-252-7781, or attend in-person at 250 Louis Avenue.

Emergency Shelter

Our caring and dedicated staff support women and their children, escaping violence through our emergency shelter service. We have a 42 bed shelter located in Windsor, Ontario. All shelter services are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

We also provide specific supports and programming for women, children and youth who are onsite to meet any needs they may have while in shelter.

The team is able to support women and children within a culturally safe setting, with access to translation services if required.

For immediate assistance, call 519-252-7781

Transitional and Housing Support (THSP)

This program assists women and their children with safety planning and support so they may live free from violence. Women in the program are connected with available community supports such as:

• housing,
• counselling,
• income support,
• children’s services,
• legal services,
• education upgrading,
• job training,
• health and well-being.

These services are provided to women staying in the shelter or to those living in the community in unsafe situations.

For more information please call 519-252-1143

Family Court Support Worker (FCSW)

It is our job to help you navigate the family court process and connect you with the appropriate community or court-based services you and your children need.

Our objectives are to:

• provide information and support if you are involved or considering involvement in the family court process
• develop and help you implement a safety plan to reduce the risk of future violence
• increase your access to services and supports in the community
• support other service providers to better help women who are victims of violence in using the family court system

We will help you

• by giving you information about what to expect with the court process
• to record your story
• find resources you need
• by informing you of the legal aid process
• support you to complete your lawyer’s requests
• prepare you for meetings with your lawyer and in court
• discuss the steps to help keep your case on track
• go with you to meetings and to court if requested and depending on worker availability

For more information please call 519-252-1143

Fresh Start – Women

This service includes short and long-term group intervention for women who are victims of intimate partner violence.

The primary goal of the Fresh Start Women’s Group is to help you understand and take responsibility for your personal physical and psychological safety.

In order to meet the goal, you will:

• learn to identify and be accountable for your emotional needs
• participate in self-exploration
• learn about choices that are available to you
• learn to be assertive and to communicate effectively
• develop problem-solving skills.

The women’s program is offered in both the City of Windsor and three locations (Puce/Belle River, Amherstburg and Leamington) in Essex County.

Intervention is also provided to women being abused in same sex relationships.

For more information please call 519-252-1143

Fresh Start – Men

This voluntary service that provides group intervention for abusive partners.

The primary goal of the program is to help you to understand, to take responsibility for, and to end, abusive behaviour.

In order to meet the goal, you will:

• learn alternative ways of responding
• learn more effective communication and problem-solving skills
• learn to identify and express feelings and self-doubts
• learn new and more flexible attitudes and expectations towards women
• learn to express anger in non-oppressive and more constructive ways
• Identify the roots of anger and its impact on others and yourself

The program is also provided to men in same sex relationships and men who are victims of abuse.

*There is a fee for this service in order to ensure that we can continue to run the program.

Fresh Start School-Based Program

The Fresh Start School Based Program provides individual and/or group counselling in schools for elementary students (JK to Grade 8) who have witnessed or experienced domestic violence.

This psycho-educational program is designed to help children begin to heal from the effects of abuse. The counselling sessions are play-based in nature including games, stories, puppets, art activities,

music etc. Some topics include:

• feelings
• self-esteem
• safety planning
• conflict resolution
• healthy relationships

The program also provides support to parents and/or caregivers.

Eligibility requires families to be safe in order to participate.

For more information please call 519-252-1143

Mothers In Mind

Mothers in Mind is a mother and child program specifically designed to meet the parenting needs of mothers who have experienced abuse and trauma, including childhood abuse, neglect, sexual assault or woman abuse, and who are currently parenting children under the age of four.

The focus of this ten-week group program is to intervene early in the lives of preschool children and their mothers, who have experienced trauma, in order to strengthen parent-child relationships, enhance parenting skills/reduce parenting stress and improve parenting self-efficacy.

Mothers in Mind is an ongoing research project that provides a trauma-informed, relationship-focused, mother-child intervention program. It was developed by the Child Development Institute in Toronto.

Mothers and children must be separated from the abusive partner to be eligible for this program.

For more information please call 519-252-1143

Crossroads Program

The Crossroads Program is a specifically designed ten-week psychoeducational group program for children and youth, ages four to eighteen years old, who have witnessed or been impacted by domestic violence.

The focus of this short-term program is to provide confidential and age appropriate early intervention, information and support to children and youth. Group topics include: Recognizing Violence, Safety Planning, Protecting Yourself, Responsibility for Violence, Conflict Resolution, Healthy Relationships, Self-Esteem, Feelings, Stress Reductions, Family Challenges and Changes.

For safety reasons, eligibility requires families to be safe in order to participate including separation from the abusive partner. The Crossroads Program is offered throughout the year and is available to residential and community clients from Windsor-Essex County. There is no waitlist or fee for this program.

For more information please call 519-252-1143

TRAINING

Hiatus House provides community consultation, public speaking engagements and professional development training opportunities upon request. For further information, please contact admin@hiatushouse.com

Language Services

Hiatus House offers interpreting services, including over 75 different languages, through the Multicultural Council of Windsor and Essex County.

Violence Against Women Prevention (VAWP) Interpreting Services

The Multicultural Council of Windsor and Essex County is the only organization in Windsor and Essex County funded by the Ministry of Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada to provide free interpretation for service providers working with victims of domestic violence, sexual violence and human trafficking.