Purple ribbons will be displayed around the community for Family Violence Prevention Month. (CHAT News Photo/Bob Schneider)

By Chris Brown

Family Violence Prevention Month

Purple ribbons help bring community together against family violence

Nov 2, 2020 | 4:55 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – The Medicine Hat Women’s Shelter Society has big plans to raise awareness and encourage people to speak up against family violence.

November is Family Violence Prevention Month, which was first marked in Alberta in 1986.

This afternoon people began tying and placing purple ribbons at different locations around Medicine Hat. There will be more than 8,300 feet of ribbon strung in Medicine Hat and Redcliff by participating schools organizations and individuals.

Natasha Carvalho, the executive director of the Medicine Hat Women’s Shelter Society, says the ribbons are a visual for people to see and remember and to start those conversations.

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“I think that’s the important piece is if you can start having those conversations it just doesn’t remain hidden and it doesn’t remain behind closed doors and I think then people feel more comfortable reaching out and figuring out where they need to go.”

Raising awareness about family violence has become more important this year with COVID-19 exacerbating issues, says Carvalho.

She says shelter officials are fearful that because people are staying home more some issues are being hidden.

“It’s really important right now that we’re really encouraging people to reach out for the help that they if they can and if you know someone who is experiencing it or has been experiencing it in the past to really reach out and make sure if you haven’t heard from them in a while maybe figure out what’s going on there,” she says.

“I think it’s too easy right now with COVID and recommendations of staying home for people to be hidden and I think that’s exactly why we’re calling it a ‘pandemic within a pandemic’ because we’re worried that there’s a lot of things that are happening that haven’t even come to the surface yet.”

Carvalho says the shelter saw an increase in calls when the pandemic first hit in March and people were forced to stay home more.

Whereas most of their work is typically done face-to-face, they adapted their services to meet people wherever they could.

“They wanted to sit and visit and talk and really do some safety planning and figure out what was going for them in their lives. We did phone, we did zoom, we did texting, whatever was comfortable for people,” she said.

In the 2019-20 year, 262 adults and 153 children were admitted to shelter in Medicine Hat. Outreach services were provided to 688 adults and 118 children and nearly 1,490 crisis calls were received.

Other events planned include a virtual pet walk, free webinars and the launch of the adopt a family program.