Women's shelter executive director Natasha Carvalho shares a presentation with councillors Monday at city hall.--NEWS PHOTO BRENDAN MILLER
bmiller@medicinehatnews.com
Throughout 2024 and 2025 the Medicine Hat Women’s Shelter Society helped 565 adults and 185 kids impacted by family violence despite ongoing renovations to the new Phoenix Safe House, which officially reopened its doors in September.
Executive director Natasha Carvalho told city councillors Monday that the MHWSS will continue to advocate for funding from governments and other sources in the community for its emergency shelter, long-stay, outreach service and support programs.
She asked the new city council to provide advocacy in those efforts.
“We’re not asking you for any money, but we are asking you to just remember to please continue to advocate for us,” said Carvalho. “That would be my only ask for you, when you’re sitting at those municipal and provincial tables and federal tables and all the things you go to … I think it’s just great for the ministers to hear about the great work that we’re doing.”
Carvalho provided councillors a presentation on the role of the MHWSS in the community and highlighted events the society is hosting to support Family Violence Prevention Month.
She spoke on the reopening of the 25-year-old Phoenix Safe House, which now has 30 emergency beds in 15 bedrooms and provides one-on-one support, basic needs and referrals for community support programs.
“… as well as the ability to offer dignity to families by providing them with a bathroom in each one of the bedrooms,” said Carvalho. “We were talking about how it’s just about basic human needs and what we wanted to provide for them was an ability to come into shelter when you’re in crisis, give your kids a bath and put them to sleep.”
Clients who visit the Phoenix Safe House typically stay for 21 days on average, however to support adults and children for a longer period of time, the MHWWS can also house families at the Musasa House, which is the only long-term or “second stage” shelter south of Calgary and allows families to live in a townhouse-style unit for up to one year.
“Giving people that much more time, they stay with us for about a year, just gives them time to get back on their feet,” explained Carvalho. “And make sure that they’re being able to make choices they want to make, not just because of urgency or lack of time.”
Child support programs were also highlighted in Carvalho’s presentation, including individual and group support, intervention, camps and daycares.
“They’re innocent and growing up in these really crisis, trauma-filled environments, and we know that it affects brain development and we know it affects so many things for their future success.”
Local programming for Family Violence Prevention Month continues today with a partnership for International Men’s Day at Medicine Hat College from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
On Thursday members of MHWWS will join police to host a senior safety series at the Unison at Veiner Centre in the North MP Room from 9:30 a.m. to noon.
Friday the society will have a table at the annual Midnight Madness downtown and will be selling toques.
Next month, on Dec. 6, members of MHWWS will host the annual memorial at MHC to honour victims of the Ecole Polytechnique massacre in 1989.
