Even when it began, the group just barely fit in the space we chose. However, we were aware that our conversations disrupted the staff and at times theirs disrupted us. The feelings were getting tenser when a woman with a seven-month-old baby appeared in the group one day, wanting to join. She had no permanent home, and was being threatened with having her child taken away both by her estranged husband and by Children's Aid. For her to take part in the group, the baby had to come too. Even though I couldn't imagine physically accommodating them, I decided that we must if we were to be a truly woman-positive project. I was also driven by my emotional need to do something for her and her baby. Little did I know when we took her in what an impact it would have on the group, the staff, and me.

Some group members resented the baby distracting them from their study; and the staff found it impossible to get their work done while the group was going on; hearing the baby cry brought up some unwelcome emotions. I worked with the baby's mother to try to find a childcare arrangement that would please everyone, but it took a while. Meanwhile, baby or no baby, the group and the staff could not continue to work together jammed in the same small area. The space was too small for a women's group doing woman-positive programming because we were trying to create room for emotional needs, babies, etc. And there was nowhere else we could go. Would this have been different if it was a men's group?

Looking back, it seems like such a small request, four conflict-free hours a week - so why could we not manage to set aside four hours a week when the women's group could meet, without any conflict? We all underestimated the effect of the introduction of a women's group in the program. We are five women staff that either identify ourselves as feminists or are very sympathetic to the women's group. I didn't see until later how this project put current program practices into question.

Starting a woman-positive group meant inviting in six women's very complex lives and needs. As staff we did not have the contextual understanding and supports structured into our work that shelter workers might, which could, have made this period a little easier. Maybe because of this, the space issues got translated into a conflict between staff which delayed our abilities to deal with the real issues at hand. We underestimated the power of starting a women's group and we needed some analysis to help us move through the issues that arose.

Over time, we did develop some ways of coping with the lack of space and the stress that women's personal stories were having on our work. We agreed that we needed to make a time after locking the doors at the end of the day to unwind so that we would not carry so much pain home - our own or other women's. Although we often had to leave at different times, it was a good attempt at acknowledging our needs. Some staff changed their schedules and tried to work at home during group hours. I realized I could not manage everything at once and asked another staff person to be around to assist me when extra needs came up in the group. She did this while trying to fulfill her own job demands; we had no funding for a second person to assist with the group.