They want to be there for everyone who experiences abuse in the community.
The Envision Counselling and Support Centre has always been a welcoming presence to those in trouble, but they are now focusing more on men's issues, considering that the majority of the population in the area is men.
Sheena Wock said Envision's work with men has been ongoing, but they haven't promoted it the same way they have branded themselves as a centre for women. They want to change that.
"We have been known as the agency that helps out women in our community. That has been wonderful, but we have opened our doors to families, children, males, seniors. It's a healing place for families to come," said Wock. "With that we have more males coming in the door, and it's just the right time. We've always kept it very female dominated among the clients because of the nature of survivors of domestic violence is 97 per cent of the time women."
Envision will be recognizing its 20th year in the community in 2014. The centre has never really had many males come in, but with the children exposed to violence program, which invites in those aged five to 18, they have had more teenage males coming in, and with Envision's family intervention program, they have had more couples coming in.
"It's just the right time to really target the male population," said Wock, noting the high density of men in the Estevan area. "These are men coming in, and they're dealing with some things like self esteem."
She said they aren't taking on issues that are covered by other programs in the community like anger issues, which is handled by counselling in alternatives to violence programs. She said the other agencies in the city are very important as well and know how to deal with certain problems.
"But there's a gap for just the male who is dealing with self esteem. The male who is dealing with assertiveness, be it a passive or more aggressive - how to be assertive. And it can be dealing with his boss on the site."
Wock said they help men who are survivors of childhood abuse as well as sexual assault survivors. Communication is also an issue many need help with, particularly men who have left their homes and family behind to work in Estevan for a period of time.
"These males are taken away from their home community, a lot of times their partners, maybe their families," she said of men working long hours in the Estevan area. "The breakdown with their partner from that distance, the communication of what his needs are and what they were before, what he needs now, he's not able to really express that. That's where another part of our counselling can come in to help these males."
A lot of men in the area are working long hours or shift work and are unable to approach Envision during their regular hours. Wock said Envision has changed their hours and have counsellors who work more flexible hours.
She said Envision hired a male counsellor who works out of the Weyburn office who handles cases in the family intervention program, working with couples and parenting and child relationships. She added that she has found that men aren't necessarily looking to speak to a peer about their issues, however.
"I've been told they come in and they feel comforted with a woman's voice and having a woman's listening ear. That has been working for us so far," said Wock.
If someone requests to speak to another man, she said they would be able to speak with the counsellor in Weyburn.
"There's a huge boom going on in the energy industry, and we have been talking about this for a long time. We have offered programming to males in the past," said Wock, noting male victims of sexual assault have always been welcome to seek help at Envision.
She said the number of sexual assaults grew in Estevan by 156 per cent in one year, according to Estevan Police Service figures.
"We have to really look at that, because it's not all women. It's happening to everybody, and we have to be aware of that, too," she said.
Wock said in 2010, Envision started developing the Family Violence and Its Effects in the Workplace toolkit. A manual under that name was published in November 2012. The document is a manual that was distributed to businesses to help them identify if there is violence in the workplace or if a co-worker or employer is dealing with violence in their home life that may be impacting their work life.
The demographics have changed in the past 20 years in terms of who seeks help through Envision. In the first decade, Wock said more women between 40 and 60 years old were coming in who had been in abusive relationships for years. Now more young women and families are receiving help, and she hopes they can continue to serve the community by welcoming men into the centre.
"We hope to target this niche and give better supports, because they're the majority of our population, and if they're hurting it ripples out to everybody," said Wock. "We are known as that place where people go to seek out help."
