A career dedicated to helping children
Janet Handy retiring as head of Kristen French Advocacy Centre for abused children
Janet Handy knows at least one thing she will do after she retires next month from the Kristen French Child Advocacy Centre in St. Catharines.
She will paint. Her art has seen her through her darkest times; now it’s something she looks forward to.
As executive director at the centre, the abuse she suffered as a child has helped her empathize with the children and teenagers who came there after being abused themselves.
“I think my art probably saved me, for sure. I had an outlet to think about the world creatively,” said Handy.
“I had a really good ability to imagine a greener pasture someplace else. So that was certainly part of my survival.”
Time and a lot of counselling helped her deal with the physical and psychological abuse she suffered.
“I will always be affected by it, I know that,” she said. “I live with the results of that, that still come up from time to time. But overall I’ve reclaimed my life, so that’s the balance I seek.”
“Eclectic” is how she describes the life experiences she brought to the job.
Handy is an Anglican priest who published her autobiography recounting the abuse she suffered early in life. She’s an advocate for young people who have been abused and has a lengthy resume in social justice spanning decades.
Mark Doyle, president and board chair at the Kristen French centre, called her “an unbelievable personal success story.”
“When your personal history combines with your professional abilities and you’re able to just do things at a different level, I think that’s who we had in Jan.”
The work people do there, he said, involves a delicate balance — trying to be positive for young people who are going through a very negative experience.
“Jan is an unbelievably positive force in doing that,” he said.
Her last day is Dec. 31. Now that she’s ready to retire, art has a different place in her life.
“Now it’s more fun,” she said with a laugh. “Now it’s like painting things for people for
Christmas.”
She retires after six years as the top staffer at the Kristen French centre, which opened 12 years ago on Forster Street.
It provides a safe, neutral site for young victims of abuse to speak with professionals from the police child abuse unit and Family and Children’s Services of Niagara.
The key, said Handy, is it limits the number of times the kids have to be interviewed.
“We feel if they can disclose once — instead of multiple times, like they used to have to do in the system — then that reduces the trauma of disclosure,” she said.
“And if we can do that well, maybe we can change the trajectory of a child’s life in terms of recovery and strengthening their natural resilience.”
Unfortunately, the centre remains busy. When it opened, there were about 50 cases per year. In 2019, FACS managed 374 cases involving 722 children and youths, Handy said.
As well as police and FACS, the third partner is Family Counselling Centre Niagara, which offers followup assistance.
“When we talk about numbers, we’re talking about human trafficking, the internet stuff that’s expanding, certainly children who may be chronically or physically abused at home being isolated — those are the ones we have particular concerns about,” she said.
While she has been executive director, the centre was able to retire its mortgage and has expanded its fundraising.
She has also helped to grow its post-investigation support, like offering art or yoga sessions.
“Recovery, to me, is like a holistic thing,” Handy said.
“The more we can offer avenues so people can choose what path they want to take to strengthen their resilience in the face of this experience is really important.”
She’s asked: Does trauma ever really go away?
“I definitely think it’s something you hold, but you have to work with it,” she said.
“At least in my experience … I think it’s really important you develop a sense of something beyond yourself, something bigger than yourself.
“I know a sense of humour has always been really helpful in down times for me.”