A New Day under review
Program set to end Dec. 31; Justice Department says it could come back in different form
Kirsten Fenn
Northern News Services
Wednesday, November 2, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The deputy minister of justice says a pilot healing program for men that is set to end on Dec. 31 will likely continue in some form in the future.
The Tree of Peace Friendship Centre's program A New Day provides free therapy to men 18 and older who have used violence in relationships and want to change their ways.
Funded by the Department of Justice and designed in collaboration with indigenous partners and NGOs, the two-year pilot project helps men build their strengths, develop prevention plans and address the effects of childhood trauma stemming from experiences like residential school.
"The pilot project always had a set term and recognition that there would be an evaluation period to learn some lessons and make some evidence-based decisions on how it might continue," said deputy minister of Justice Martin Goldney. "Our expectation very much is that there will be A New Day program delivered in the future. We just don't have at the moment answers to the 'how.'"
Goldney said he believes 16 men have completed the program so far, although the full scope won't be known until the evaluation is complete.
The program's two co-ordinators and Tree of Peace executive director said they were not permitted to speak to the media about A New Day.
But according to a February 2016 community engagement report on the program, more than 138 clients accessed the program in 2015 - 60 per cent by self-referral. Of those clients, 85 per cent returned for more than three sessions and the average number of sessions per client was 10.
Last week in the legislative assembly, Kam Lake MLA Kieron Testart raised concern about the fate of the program, which he said has helped nearly 350 clients in its two years of existence and is the only kind in the territory that allows men to self-refer.
In a jurisdiction where the rate of violence against women is at least nine times the national average, Testart said the program is critical.
"If we're going to continue to tackle this problem - this crisis of family violence - and change our dubious distinction as the second worst in Canada, we need to continue to support healing programs like this," he said.
"A New Day is a great place to start."
More than a dozen community organizations have worked in partnership with A New Day, including the John Howard Society, the Native Women's Association of the NWT, Vision of Hope, Salvation Army, the Status of Women Council of the NWT and the Centre for Northern Families.
John Howard Society executive director Lydia Bardak, who was on the original steering committee that came up with the program's current model, said the co-ordinators are wondering what is going to happen come Jan. 1.
"I frequently refer guys to the program and see it as a vital part of our community for women and children," Bardak said. "Women in particular have been asking for help for their men for a long, long time, so to be able to do that is really critically important."
Any gap in service could have a detrimental impact on clients, she said, as wait times for counseling in Yellowknife can be two to three months long.
That's exactly what happened a few years ago when the Healing Drum Society - which provided support to residential school survivors - was shuttered, Bardak said, leaving clients wondering where to go.
Victim service co-ordinator at the Native Women's Association of the NWT Hawa Dumbuya also points clients to A New Day and encourages women to refer their partners.
"Sometimes they need help for their spouse," Dumbuya said.
"Then we refer them to A New Day."
Goldney said the evaluation results are expected "in the very near term" and that there is "absolutely" a need for more people to benefit from the program.
"The Northwest Territories has the unfortunate distinction of having very high levels of family violence and that's something that we recognize we should be doing all we can to address," Goldney said.
The goal is to create as short a gap in services as possible, although "we do have to wait for that evaluation and make decisions based on it," he said.
Funding is available for those services, Goldney said. What may change is their delivery.
Yellowknife resident and Aurora College social work student Shelby Clarke told Yellowknifer she has seen the positive work the program's co-ordinators are doing through A New Day and wants to see it continue.
She said she knows someone who is in jail and that, once they are released, a program like this could be a huge help in steering them down the right path.
"Where's he going to go if you can't get in with counselors here? It's so packed," she said. "This program would help. They don't turn away anyone."
