Council learns more about Rowan House and its services

By Rob Vogt
When a woman is experiencing domestic violence or abuse, there is help available.
At its April 11 meeting, Claresholm town council learned more about Rowan House when two of its staff appeared as a delegation.
Linette Soldan is the executive director for Rowan House and Kelly Smit is the resource development team lead.
Smit explained Rowan House has been in operation 23 years, moving from a two-bedroom basement suite near Black Diamond, to a 24-bed facility in High River.
She stressed the supports they offer are available to people in Claresholm.
Soldan said Rowan House services the second largest geographical area in Albert, encompassing Foothills County, the Municipal District of Willow Creek, and Vulcan County.
Rowan House provides a continuum of trauma-informed programs and services to help break the cycle of domestic violence and abuse.
They provide crisis intervention; long-term support; and prevention education and awareness.
They have an emergency shelter for women with or without children who have left violent and abusive situations and are in need of a safe place to go.
However, Rowan House has grown to become much more in addition to a 24-hour shelter with 24 beds.
They have a 24-hour support line providing phone and text responses for those seeking crisis support, information, or referrals to Rowan House programs or community resources best suited to their needs. This is also available in multiple languages.
There is a specialized children’s program that Soldan said allows kids to be kids again. Trained staff provide tools to help children understand their emotions and strategies for coping and healing.
One-on-one support is available in a community setting through an outreach program for individuals who may need services but not necessarily the shelter. This is open to anyone regardless of gender or sexual orientation.
There is preventive education and awareness for youth in schools, healthy relationship groups and training and workshops for the public.
Soldan said they are pleased to provide presentations at West Meadow Elementary and Willow Creek Composite High Schools.
Rowan House also offers the Safe at Home pilot project, where the abuser is moved out of the home to a cool-down location and engages in programming. That allows the woman and children to stay at home, maintaining the stability of home supports.
Soldan thanked the Town of Claresholm for their support because initially Rowan House had a facility for Safe at Home in Claresholm before recently changing their model.
Smit said these services are in demand because police report family violence increased for the fifth year in a row, and intimate partner violence increased for the seventh year in a row.
The Southern Alberta RCMP district reported that in a seven-month period in 2021 officers responded to 2,300 occurrences in their area.
Smit pointed out what is not included is the occurrences that were not reported.
In 2022, Rowan House received more than 2,100 calls to their 24-hour support line, up from 1,500 the year before. A total of 216 women and children were admitted to Rowan House, up from 130 the year before.
Smit noted that increase was due in part to returning to full capacity after the pandemic. Still, that number is up from 176 in 2019 which was pre-pandemic.
“We are seeing a growing need as well as a growing severity,” Smit said.
Soldan said Rowan House received a grant enabling them to have a dedicated court support worker to assist clients through the court process and help them understand protection orders.
They also have a research and evaluation lead helping ensure all work Rowan House is doing is having an impact, and they have a shelter facility and safety advisor dedicated to enhancing safety of all staff, clients, and the community.
Soldan noted they will continue to expand their previous program to empower the community to recognize the signs of domestic violence and abuse among friends, family and co-workers so they can support and direct them to the services they need.
She said they are pleased to offer lunch and learn workshops to anyone interested, and training to individuals.
Because not everyone has time to take training, a podcast has been developed that people can access at anytime.
Smit said everything Rowan House offers is accessible and at no cost.
They receive an annual grant from the provincial government, but this is for the shelter. Everything else is supported through fundraising.
Smit noted the shelter sector has not had an operational funding increase in eight years, and no staff and cost increase in nine years. The 2014-2015 year was the last increase in wages, and the 2015-2016 year was the last operational funding increase.
She said the fundraising is focused on collaborating with the community.
Smit added Rowan House is part of Alberta Health Services domestic abuse response team or DART, which includes the Claresholm General Hospital.
She concluded by saying everyone’s path is different, which is why Rowan House has so many options for help.