Fort Garry Women's Resource Centre

Charitable Donations can be made by cheque to the Centre or via credit card through CanadaHelps.

Fort Garry Women's Resource Centre is a not-for-profit, feminist organization supporting women to engage in healthy life choices for themselves and their families through innovative and responsive programming and excellence in service.

The object shall be the operation of a Centre for women providing information, referrals, outreach, supportive counselling, and public education workshops. Without limiting the generality of that, more specifically the objectives of the Centre shall be:

1. To provide a central place where women can meet, discuss ideas, concerns and needs, receive supportive counselling and referrals to specialized services as required.

2. To offer information, education, services and support by telephone and through programs / workshops designed to meet the needs of women in Winnipeg and surrounding areas.

4. Liaison with elected government representatives and community workers regarding the needs and concerns of women.

1. It shall be the policy of the Centre to incorporate a feminist philosophy, i.e., supporting the rights of women to be full and equal members of society.

2. It shall be the policy of the Centre to promote tolerance within its sphere of operation. Discrimination based on employment status, ancestry, citizenship, age, race, creed, socio-economic status, religious or political affiliation, marital status, family status, physical or mental capacity, sexual orientation or sexual identity is prohibited.

3. It shall be the policy of the Centre to ensure that all women share an equal opportunity to access services. Furthermore, no woman will be denied serviced based on her ability to compensate the Centre.

4. It shall be the policy of the Centre to design and deliver services and programs in a manner that promotes self-esteem, independence, individual decision-making, and recognize the individuals' own declarations of needs and preferences.

5. It shall be the policy of the Centre that people who use the Centre have the right to confidentiality and privacy with regard to any type of contact with the Centre. The Centre shall have written policies and procedures in place to ensure that the confidentiality and privacy of women is respected.

Programs & Services

In keeping with a feminist philosophy of supporting women and their right to be full and equal members of society, our aim is to provide women with information, referrals to appropriate services, supportive counseling, opportunities for personal growth, and sharing with other women in your community.

The Centre is open to all women regardless of their cultural, racial, economic, social, religious and spiritual backgrounds. We are welcoming of individuals with differing experiences and those of differing abilities, ages and sizes. We welcome women who identify as either heterosexual, lesbian, bisexual or trans.

The following services are offered at the Fort Garry Women's Resource Centre located at 1150A Waverley Street. Our Outreach Centre (located at 104-3100 Pembina Highway) and our Ellen Street Centre (located at 104-210 Ellen Street) both provide additional programs and services.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE INTEGRATED SERVICES (D-VIS)

The Fort Garry Women’s Resource Centre (FGWRC) has been a community leader in providing services for women that are empowering and supportive. With support and encouragement from the Family Violence Prevention Program, the FGWRC is pleased to present an encompassing model of service delivery for women and children healing from domestic violence; the Domestic Violence Integrated Services model (D-VIS). The counseling done within this model at FGWRC is unique and effective in that the focus is on achieving freedom from violence through PII : prevention, intervention and integration.

The Centre is currently offering the following programs & services:

INDIVIDUAL COUNSELING:

There are two main types of individual counseling available free of charge:

One-time Counseling
• Offered for women who want to connect with a counselor relatively soon about current issues and/or resources in the community.

Ongoing Counseling
• Offered for women who need from 1 – 12 months of support to deal with issues of domestic violence and other related issues.

Our clients have provided us with the following feedback on our counseling services.

GROUP COUNSELING:

Group counseling sessions involve focusing on issues within a group setting. Group topics may include “Healing from Abuse”, “Self Esteem”, “Healthy Relationships”, “My Mother, My Childhood & Me”. The purpose is to connect women with similar experiences to one another and to start understanding the connection between present day issues, family of origin experiences and domestic violence.

See our Upcoming Events page for information on current groups.

CHILDREN'S COUNSELING PROGRAM

This program offers children who have witnessed and/or experienced domestic violence individual counseling in Art, Play, or Music Therapy for children ages 2-12 year. Services are currently running in Winnipeg’s North and South End and are open to the community at large.

For more information, please call 477-1123.

Auricular Acupuncture Clinics for Women

Auricular (Ear) Acupuncture: Great for stress release & relaxation! See Upcoming Events page for current dates and times.

HEALTHY COPING PROGRAM:

This program focuses on supporting women who have experienced domestic violence who are coping with the impact of effects of abuse in their lives. The goal is to move towards healthier coping strategies. This program includes individual counseling and group counseling sessions. Topics have included “Positive Coping”, “Anger”, “Assertiveness”, “Coping with Grief”, “Dealing with Strong Emotions”, “Change and Transitions” and “Mothering”.

SELF DEFENSE COURSES:

Learning how to protect oneself from attack and having permission to use these techniques allows women to feel empowered about protecting themselves and their children from physical attacks. Courses on Women’s Self Defense will be offered for six week sessions. The classes are led by a female instructor and all participants are female for an extra feeling of safety and comfort. These classes are open to women and girls.

Read our media release or view a video clip about the Fort Garry's Self Defense courses.

PRACTICAL & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT:

Women living with or escaping from domestic violence need emotional support as well as practical support. Food hampers are available to women due to a partnership with Winnipeg Harvest. Free clothing for women and children is available through our Clothing Exchange. And money for special purchases can be obtained by participating in a Savings Circle; a partnership with SEED Winnipeg.

LEGAL SERVICES

LEGAL CONSULTATION CLINIC: The Centre will be offering free legal consultations (up to 30 min). To book an appointment, please call the Centre at 477-1123. Walk-in appointments will not be available.

Through this program, individuals in the community are provided with resources and information appropriate with their needs. Resources include, but are not limited to, other family violence resources, legal, housing, social services, counseling, finances, day care, parenting, seniors, and health. The website also provides links to external resources that are available.

One-time counselling appointments are available to women who are needing support on any of the above issues. Please call the Centre at 477-1123 to make an appointment.

In addition, we maintain an on-site library containing diverse resources. The website provides links to some of the fact sheets we have available at the Centre.

For a $20 annual membership fee (income adjustable) you can take books out of our library. Our library is full of wondering reading material that will help you along your journey of real life or take you to another place and time on a fictional journey.

Do you like a good novel with strong female characters? Do you want to learn more about coping with depression? Are you juggling parenting your own kids and caring for your aging parents?

This program provides an added level of protection to people who are at high risk of violence in relationships and stalking. The program lends victims free cell phones at times of extreme risk.

The phones are pre-programmed to dial emergency services. Victims of domestic violence and stalking who receive the phones must also have a protection plan in place.

The CELL Program is a co-operative effort between MTS, Nokia, social services agencies, police services and Manitoba Justice. It is available to clients of Fort Garry Women's Resource Centre. Please call 477-1123 for more information.

**Some people may have allergic reactions to perfumes and scented products. Thank you for helping us be a "scent sensitive" environment by reducing or avoiding the use of these products while at our centre.