Overwhelmed in #MeToo era
The calls for help keep coming in to the Sexual Assault Support Centre of Waterloo Region at a record level, but without the province’s promised funding, the wait-list just keeps growing
WATERLOO REGION — The pungent smell of cigarette smoke used to be a trigger for Alecia Juvatopolos. Sometimes she still feels uncomfortable around strange men.
More than 20 years after she was sexually abused by her stepfather, the fear and anxiety of that childhood abuse will never go away.
“You can’t fix it, you don’t get over it, but you can learn how to put it into context,” she said.
For 30 years, Sexual Assault Support Centre of Waterloo Region has helped survivors of sexual assault get the support they need. Juvatopolos learned how to cope with her trauma and was able to take her accuser to court with the help of the agency.
But lately the centre — the only one of its kind in the region — is drowning.
“We are flooded with calls,” said executive director Sara Casselman.
There was a time when a typical wait-list would have between 10 and 20 people. Casselman said a wait-list of 60 people would have been considered overwhelming. Now the wait-list is up to 170 people.
“That could be up to a year-long wait, if not more,” Casselman said.
If you ask any of the counsellors at the centre about why the number of calls has been rising, they will say the same thing.
“It all started with (Jian) Ghomeshi,” Casselman said.
Allegations against the CBC radio host surfaced in 2014, leading to sexual assault charges and a highly publicized trial the following year. Around the same time, Bill Cosby’s comedy tour came to Kitchener’s Centre in the Square in the midst of dozens of sexual allegations.
These high-profile stories sparked conversations around offices, in people’s homes, on social media and at rape crisis centres across the country. It was a difficult time for survivors of sexual abuse and for front-line workers at the centre.
“It has always been busy here,” said Andrea Arthur-Brown, manager of counselling services.
“But with Ghomeshi and Cosby I saw an increase,” she said. Three to four years ago, a typical wait-list had about 10, maybe 20 people on it and
To tell someone they may have to wait for up to a year when they finally got the courage to call us, that is the piece that makes me feel sick.
ANDREA ARTHUR-BROWN Sexual Assault Support Centre
these survivors would be seen by a counsellor within months.
Then #MeToo hit last fall.
“Now we just can’t catch up,” ArthurBrown said.
“We have never experienced this level of demand,” Casselman said. “The need is growing but the funding is not growing with it.”
The province committed to a 33 per cent funding increase to sexual assault centres across Ontario last March.
The commitment was part of the previous government’s new strategy to end gender-based violence, but the new government has been silent on when and if the new funding will be delivered.
Casselman said budgets were written and job postings drawn up to hire two new counsellors and a court support worker with a promised $150,000 boost.
Those new hires would have been able to bring down the centre’s backlog.
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In the centre’s main office in downtown Kitchener, the waiting area has a clipboard full of colouring sheets and a box of crayons. The black-and-white pages have whimsical patterns of flowers and phrases like “We believe you” and “I have a right to feel safe.” There is a small pantry where survivors can help themselves to toiletries, canned food and other necessities donated by the public.
Arthur-Brown’s office is dimly lit with a large plant in one corner. A few stuffed animals sit in a large bowl on a side table. She has worked at the centre as a counsellor for 18 years and said the hardest part of the job is having to turn people away. Her voice cracked slightly as she said she gets three to six calls for support on a daily basis and all she can do is put them on the growing wait-list.
“To tell someone they may have to wait for up to a year when they finally got the courage to call us, that is the piece that makes me feel sick.
“How do you say, we’ll see you in a year? What happens in that year? It is horrible. People get informal help or are told to just get over it.”
Arthur-Brown said she recently spoke to a 67-year-old woman at the centre’s Cambridge office. The woman was visiting her doctor’s office in the same building when she noticed a sign and phone number for the Sexual Assault Support Centre. She went home and called ArthurBrown and told her she was sexually abused as a child and it still haunted her.
“She said to me, ‘Is it too late? Am I too old to get help?’” Arthur-Brown recalled. “It’s never too late,” she told her. About 75 to 80 per cent of the sexual assault survivors supported by the centre have experienced historical sexual abuse.
Arthur-Brown said most people in the general population think a person walks into the support centre the day after they are sexually abused. She said that rarely happens because survivors don’t often disclose what has happened to them.
“Most survivors feel like it’s their fault,” she added.
Many don’t report incidents to the police. They fear not being believed. If they do muster the courage to report an incident to police, it can often go unfounded.
Sometimes people don’t know where to go for help. Like the 67-year-old woman Arthur-Brown spoke to on the phone, there was a time when there wasn’t an outlet for people to safely talk about what happened to them.
Juvatopolos did not have anyone to tell when her mother’s new husband sexually abused her from the age of 14 until she was 18.
It wasn’t until she heard that someone she knew was also allegedly sexually assaulted by him that she decided to go to the police.
After that, she sought counselling at the Sexual Assault Support Centre.
“I just blamed myself. My whole life I blamed myself,” she said.
Through weekly counselling sessions and group counselling sessions, Juvatopolos said she made friends, gained confidence and learned how to deal with her trauma.
“It was huge to just sit in a room with people who understand. I’m quite a different person than I used to be. I’m free and more relaxed.”
She also took her stepfather to court with Arthur-Brown by her side. It was a gruelling two-year process that ended in a conviction.
When Juvatopolos went public with her story she lost family members, like her mother and maternal grandmother, who did not believe her.
Now four years later, Juvatopolos is still a client at the centre and takes her healing one day at a time.
The centre offers a wraparound service that includes counselling, group therapy sessions, court support, a 24-hour help line and everything in between.
The centre does not limit people’s sessions. Counsellors will go to Pap smear appointments and dentist appointments with survivors.
They stand by their side and guide them as they go through the difficult process of taking an abuser to court. They offer them a safe space to talk or just sit in silence.
“The beauty of what we do is in the luxury of time. You’re done when you’re done,” Arthur-Brown said.
She said sometimes it can take several sessions for a survivor to even feel comfortable enough to share details of their story of abuse.
If a survivor decides to take his/her abuser to court, that process alone can take about two years.
Then there is the harrowing aftermath of those trials. Survivors bare all as they face their accusers and read victim impact statements out loud. They also rarely end in conviction, leaving many survivors powerless yet again.
“After the court process is over is usually when counselling is most needed,” Arthur-Brown said.
“The aftermath gets complicated. A lot of people are left in the dark.”
She said some of the centre’s clients feel guilty for taking up a spot when there are so many people waiting to get support. She said that should not be their burden to bear.
When Attorney-General Caroline Mulroney was asked about the status of funding to rape crisis centres in provincial legislature two weeks ago, she said it was currently under review.
Nicole Pietsch, co-ordinator of the Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres, said that was the most direct response the organization has received from the ministry since the previous government announced the funding in March.
The coalition has had one meeting with the ministry since Mulroney’s response in legislature. Now all rape crisis centres like the Sexual Assault Support Centre of Waterloo Region can do is wait.
“We think it’s time to see this increase,” Pietsch said, adding that rape crisis across Ontario have been operating at funding levels well below the demand for some time.
“We remain hopeful.” Casselman said the agency wants to find other avenues to increase stable, sustainable funding. The Region of Waterloo contributes $50,000 a year. She wants to see if that can be increased. Monthly donors are also a small way the centre can try to plan for its needs.
“We literally cheer when we get a new monthly donor,” Casselman said.
Even though community donations and fundraisers are a huge help to the centre, its main funding comes from the province, as does funding for rape crisis centres across Ontario.
“We’re not unique, it’s impacting every community,” Casselman said.
For more information about the Sexual Assault Support Centre of Waterloo Region, visit www.sascwr.org.