Vancouver domestic violence crisis line needs more volunteers amid COVID-19

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — For Battered Women’s Support Services the new normal brought about by COVID-19 means more calls to their crisis line and operating 24/7 — which has led to an increased need for volunteers.

Noting that domestic violence thrives in conditions of isolation, Executive Director Angela Marie MacDougall says when the pandemic was declared they recognized the need to be available outside of business hours.

“What we noticed was that with quarantine, social isolation, and social distancing we saw that victims were experiencing an impact,” she says.

“In some instances, victims were not able to access services. In some places throughout the province demand actually went down.”

But in Metro Vancouver the demand went up.

“We’ve managed to weather the first few months of what was for us a massive undertaking in the amount of calls that we’ve had. Now we’ve plateaued to what we understand is likely to be our new normal, which is a lot more calls than we were getting before,” she says.

MacDougall says despite the additional challenges posed by COVID-19 women continue to call, and they continue to leave abusive partners.

The organization has been training volunteers since it was founded 40 years ago

“We couldn’t do our work without volunteers,” MacDougall explains.

“It is a great way of engaging with the work of ending gender-based violence. It is frontline work, it is a first response.”

The group is looking to increase the number of volunteer call-takers from 50 to 70.

Like most things, the 12-week program has moved online.

“We’ve tailored and tinkered with our training program and our frontline work in light of some of the differences for women right now,” MacDougall says.

She says one unexpected advantage of socially-distanced training is interest from prospective volunteers from farther away.

“That’s a lovely problem to have,” she says, adding they are trying to think of new ways to get those women involved.

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