Bridges to a better future for those impacted by domestic violence The Central Alberta Women s Emergency Central Shelter Society Annual Report 2017-2018
Our Board of Directors President & Board Chair Jerri Taylor Vice Chair Suzanne Alexander-Smith Co-Treasurer Janel Lockhat Co-Treasurer Ngoc Pham Secretary Lynette Grose Director Joanne Crook Director Lana Kennedy Director Iris Steinley Director Karen Tingley Executive Director Ian Wheeliker
Message from the President & Board Chair We once again have the honor to present the Annual Report for the Central Alberta Woman s Emergency Shelter (CAWES) for the fiscal year ending March 31. 2018. Fiscal year 2017/2018 has been a year of growth and CHANGE for CAWES. With CAWES our ability to fund all that we do comes with a great deal of effort careful spending. We have completed the year with a small surplus thanks to our generous funders and donors. We have now completed a full year of Trauma Informed Care that has greatly impacted our volume of clients. The number of clients served in shelter is woman 484, children 213 and outreach clients 358 so a service volume of over 1000 clients so a significant increase over previous years. Trauma informed care has been a challenging change with many hurdles and many rewards. The most significant outcome is a more client centered inclusive service to the woman and children of Central Alberta impacted by domestic violence. As a result of funding from the Anonymous Donor we have proceeded with a transformation project measuring the impact of implementing the Trauma Informed Model of Care the results of this project will be shared with shelters across the country. Nurturing Parent Program has been another great success and will run until November 2018 this program was available thanks to the Anonymous Donor funding. On behalf of the Board, we would like to say Thank You and commend the staff for all of their hard work through a very demanding and challenging year. A special Thank You to all our volunteers and our very special management team. Change is inevitable when we are: Building Bridges to a Better Future Jerri Taylor Board Chair
Executive Director Report I am pleased to offer the year-end report for the 2018 Annual General Meeting. The 2017/18 year was a year of growth and change. The Nurturing Parenting Program (NPP) grew to four full-time employees and expanded to Central Alberta communities. While the number of participants was low in the communities the parents that did participate rated the program very highly. Our NPP staff did a number of presentations throughout the year on the program. The data collected during the program shows significant change for parents in parenting capacity, parenting capabilities and the parent-child attachment. CAWES is on a transformational journey. We are becoming a trauma-informed agency and reducing our barriers for women experiencing complex trauma including mental health concerns and addictions. This work has included extensive training for all staff in trauma, emotional regulation and harm reduction. We began building an evaluation framework in December 2017. CAWES will learn how we changed, the impact on the organization, the impact on staff and how the changes impacted outcomes for clients. The evaluation will allow us to measure the changes and report to funders and shelters across the province on the challenges, successes and process of change. As with all big change initiatives there are internal and external stakeholders that experience the challenges change brings. We met with community partners to talk about our changes and we continue to share information with partners on the changes at CAWES. When I started with CAWES ten years ago we did not provide services to women with mental health problems or active addictions. I often thought we needed to figure out how to serve women who most need the services of a women-centered shelter. To see CAWES now serve complex clients with skill and compassion shows how far we have come. The changes now and over the years reflects the dedication and commitment of the staff and board of directors at CAWES. The staff is driven by the desire to serve women and children to the best of their abilities. The board is forward thinking, committed and determined to see CAWES learn and grow. CAWES served 200 more women and children this year compared to the previous year. The increased clients did impact the budget. Thankfully our fundraising efforts also saw an increase in revenues this year. Roxanne and Judy worked very hard to make each event and campaign a success. The work they have done with the donor database will only enhance CAWES ability to raise funds and support volunteers. I resigned from CAWES on May 31 st. I will miss the wonderful people I have worked with through the years. From volunteers, to incredible staff and board members in have worked with the best. I thank CAWES for ten very fulfilling years and wish CAWES every success in the future. I know CAWES is in good hands. Ian
Service Delivery The Central Alberta Women s Emergency Shelter strives to be a leader in the area of service delivery. With the inception of the Open Doors Project, a trauma informed, low barriers, harm reduction, initiative our organization has served more women and children than ever before. Our crisis line received 2,500 calls this past fiscal year. There were 1,194 requests for shelter stay and 975 crisis calls. Of those 1, 194 calls for residential stay, 522 clients where admitted into our residential program. CAWES had 105 clients stay an average of 6 10 nights, with our longest stay being between 31 62 nights with 68 clients. Our highest bed occupancy percentage was in the month of February where CAWES was at a 97.6%. February remains our busiest month in terms of residential clients. We have seen an increase of walk in day clients; an average of 4 to 6 clients access basic needs (shower, hygiene, harm reduction supplies or food staples) on a daily basis. CAWES will be applying for funding opportunities in the future to address these needs. Open Doors Project The Open Doors Project has had a profound impact on service delivery. CAWES is now in its second year of this national shelter project. Clients are able to access services in a low barrier setting within our trauma informed framework. Changing our framework has meant intensive training and education for our staff across departments in order to provide the best practices in service delivery. Staff has received in depth training on Trauma Informed Practices, Self-Harm & Emotional Regulation. CAWES also participates in a group purchasing program through the Alberta Council of Women Shelters that provides standardized training for all shelter employees on core competencies such as Ethics and Documentation and Decolonization. CAWES will continue to be a leader in the field of domestic violence. CAWES has continued its practice of using the ICAT model (Interagency Case Assessment Team) for high risk domestic violence cases that require a coordinated approach to high risk case management and assessment. Red Deer and St. Paul have been chosen by the Alberta Council of Women s Shelters Safety Committee as pilot sites for utilizing the ICAT model in Alberta. Collaboration CAWES remains committed to Red Deer s coordinated criminal justice response to domestic violence through the DV Court Management Committee. In partnership with Central Alberta s Women s Outreach Society, Domestic Violence Integrated Response Team was created to provide a collaborative response for victims of domestic violence.
The High Risk Case Coordination team has been trained in the ICAT (Interagency Case Assessment Team) model out of British Columbia. The Coordination Team will be looking at ways to utilize ICAT in their existing high risk case conference process. Volunteers Roxanne Kirton continues to lead our amazing volunteer team. CAWES would not be where it is today without their hard work and dedication. Volunteers have also contributed in other departments by assisting Child Support, Kitchen & Housekeeping, and donations. We are grateful for the time and effort that all volunteers have given to our organization. CAWES would not be the successful organization it is without the support of volunteers. Fund Development The CAWES Dinner & Auction, Christmas Gift Wrapping Booth and the Royal LePage Network Realty Charity Golf Tournament were successful fundraising endeavours in our community. CAWES is grateful for the generous financial support from our funders and the community at large. The Nurturing Parenting Program funded by the Anonymous Donor has proven to be a successful support for parents and families connected to CAWES. The program has been working with intact families, mothers, fathers and children. The program provides group facilitation, home visitation and one on one connection for families in Central Alberta. CAWES as an organization appreciates and values the funding commitment and support of the Province of Alberta, Human Services, Victims of Crime, Alberta Health Services, Shelter Enhancement Initiative, Senior s and Housing and the Anonymous Donor. Change CAWES is committed to providing excellent service and best practices to the families in our community that are impacted by domestic violence. Since we have changed our daily way of doing business by adopting the Open Doors trauma informed framework, we have been looking at ways to capture, connect, and learn from change. We have received funding from the Anonymous Donor to create a Transformational Change Framework Navigation and Measurement Service. There have been a Project Charter adopted with an Advisory and Working Committee attached. We are excited to share our resources with other shelters and organizations who support and recognize the value of working within this framework.
Admitted April 1 2017-March 31 2018 1400 1200 1,194 1000 800 600 522 400 200 0 Residential Admisson Request Admitted Into Program Length of Stay April 1 2017-March 31 2018 2 or Fewer 3-5 Nights 67 68 6-10 Nights 105 11-15 Nights 48 16-20 Nights 36 21-30 Nights 31-62 Nights 68 68 63 Nights or longer 8 0 20 40 60 80 100 120
1,400 1,200 1,000 800 600 1,194 Crisis Calls April 1 2017-March 31 2018 975 400 200 82 249 0 Residential Admisson Request Information Request Crisis Support Other Daily Occupancy Percentage April 1 2017-March 31 2018 120 100 80 82.6 75.5 75.5 90.7 8584 79.4 76.9 82.9 89.4 93.3 92.3 87.6 76.7 74.1 72.8 95.3 94.7 97.6 93.6 86.5 81.1 86.1 79.9 60 40 20 0 Percentage of Beds Used Percentage of Bedrooms used