November is now over but as far as St. Albert Stop Abuse in Families is concerned, every month is Family Violence Prevention Month. For nearly three decades, the organization better known as SAIF has been helping people with free counseling, free group support, free violence prevention education, free family supports and even free elder abuse supports. There’s a common theme to all of the work that they do. That’s why it is so appreciative to those people who contribute donations to help them to help others. “The big story for us is that all these kinds of support means we can continue to offer free programs and services … without people worrying about how they’re going to pay for it. It’s one less barrier for them to overcome,” said executive director Caroline Smigielski. SAIF is an organization that is aware of the community’s psychological and emotional well-being. It sees the ebbs and flows of financial and other stresses. It sees how the economy and job losses can translate into a greater number of phone calls for assistance. This year is no different. “Certainly things have been busy. It’s been a busy month. Generally speaking around family violence issues and people reaching out for support, we find the fall is busy. This isn’t unusual. This is typical. I would say that the trend we see is more complex issues: families dealing with a lot. The cases are fairly complex … just a lot going on for families.” She brought attention to the Government of Alberta’s informational campaign surrounding Family Violence Prevention Month with its “Speak Out, Reach Out. It Takes All Of Us.” “That’s a theme that we’re talking about more and more. That family violence isn’t a women’s issue. It affects all of us. It impacts all of us. I’m seeing that there are more men in the community who are even organizing events to raise money for SAIF.” One such organizer was Michael Cameron who put on the Ignore No More Run for Respect back in October. He was also their special guest speaker during their main spring fundraiser called the Red Shoe Gala. He spoke about his white ribbon pledge campaign that he started in the wake of his girlfriend being killed by her ex-partner. That one event brought approximately $3,000 for the SAIF Society, which then was able to use that money towards 30 hours of counselling (using their estimate of $100/hour), or one week’s worth of time for one of SAIF’s psychologists. Every year, it offers 3,500 hours’ worth of individual counselling alone. Cameron’s work also included public calls to action that are helping more people to be aware of problems and to take action. Right now, he’s in the middle of another public campaign of 16 days of activism against gender-based violence. “He was really encouraging all people who have an interest in running but one of his focuses was on sports teams, trying to encourage sports teams to be more aware of the issues surrounding family violence.” Now that it’s December and the season of giving, SAIF has a wish-list that people can refer to in case they can help the organization to serve the community. It asks for items like journals, gas cards, grocery cards, and entertainment vouchers that it can give to its clients to help them through their difficulties. It also suggests monetary donations. Smigielski reiterated that $100 pays for one hour of counselling, while $250 pays for safety planning for one client. To learn more about SAIF or to access their services, people can contact the organization by calling 780-460-2195 or by visiting www.stopabuse.ca. It’s located in Grandin Tower in Suite 402, 22 Sir Winston Churchill Ave.
