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Educating the
Professionals
by Janice Gingell
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We provide
workshops to
professionals
who are likely
to see, but not
recognize, a
significant
number of
abused
women. |
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Violence against women has
recently received increased public attention. For people working to educate
professionals about the realities of women who live with violent male partners,
this attention has increased the challenge. Every participant at a workshop
comes with beliefs about the causes and incidence of male violence. Everyone
has an opinion about what should be done and who should do it.
The Provincial Association of Transition Houses of Saskatchewan
(PATHS) is a network of sheltering and counselling services for abused women.
It is staffed by a job shared position of coordinator. One of the coordinators'
duties is to augment the public education which is provided to the community by
individual PATHS members. In doing so, we have recently begun providing
educational workshops to professionals who are likely to see, but possibly not
recognize, significant numbers of abused women. These workshops have been
presented to nursing and legal professionals, social workers, mediators and to
students in professional colleges.
As educators, we must be careful to impart information which
will assist these professionals to effectively meet the needs of the women they
see, while, at the same time, overcome any disbelief and bias about women who
have experienced violence. Participants at workshops vary significantly in
their knowledge about male violence and often there is a split along gender
lines. Perhaps not surprisingly, women appear more open to receiving this
information.
The Workshops
To determine the knowledge level and
mindset of those in attendance, we begin sessions by describing a series of
scenarios which we then ask people to address in small groups. The scenarios
involve abused women in factual situations where members of the particular
profession are likely see them. Social workers may be given questions which
relate to a woman's application for financial assistance. Nurses might be
presented with a number of incidents in which a woman comes to an emergency
room or clinic for medical assistance. Mediators are asked to consider dealing
with a woman in an initial interview, proceeding through a series of questions
to determine if there has been abuse in her relationship.
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Éduquer les
professionnels
par Janice Gingell
L'Association provinciale des maisons de transition de la
Saskatchewan offre des ateliers éducatifs à des groupes
professionnels sur la violence dont sont victimes les femmes dans des relations
intimes. Les ateliers visent les avocats, les médiateurs, le corps
médical, les travailleurs sociaux et la police.
Le matériel de base des ateliers vise à
éduquer les participants à déceler des signes d'abus et
leur incidence, à comprendre pourquoi les femmes éprouvent des
difficultés à quitter un conjoint abusif et à leur
apprendre à aider les femmes maltraitées. Les ateliers se
concentrent sur des situations auxquelles les professionnels peuvent avoir
affaire tous les jours lorsqu'ils traitent avec des femmes maltraitées.
Les services que ces professionnels fournissent en général sont
ensuite analysés pour déterminer si leur réaction devrait
changer une fois qu'ils savent que la femme est maltraitée. Il s'est
avéré quelquefois plus difficile d'entrer en contact avec des
professionnels pour leur présenter le matériel que
d'élaborer le matériel lui- même. |
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