How Family and Friends Can Help Stop the Violence

Making Changes: A Book for Women in Abusive Relationships lays out the steps to safety and freedom from family violence in Nova Scotia and now contains advice and information on what family and friends can do to help.

"Family and friends are often the first in line to help," said Carolyn Bolivar-Getson, minister responsible for the Advisory Council on the Status of Women. "This new edition of Making Changes has information about signs of abuse, how to offer support, and a list of dos and don'ts for families and friends."

The minister launched the new edition of Making Changes today, Nov.30, at Harbour House, a transition house in Bridgewater that provides services to abused women and their children throughout Lunenburg and Queens counties.

The book also contains information, advice and a directory of services for women seeking help for themselves and their children. The book is available in French under the title Changer pour le mieux: un livre pour les femmes victimes de violence. Free copies are available by calling 1-800-565-8662, and online at women.gov.ns.ca/pubViolence.asp .

One woman in 12 faces violence from an intimate partner, boyfriend or husband.

Personal safety and freedom from violence are one of the advisory council's four goals. Council members and staff work with government departments, women's and community agencies, anti-violence organizations, and other provincial and territorial status of women organizations to reduce violence against women and young women -- at home, at work and in the community.