Mental health issues, alcohol and drug addictions and domestic violence involving women are almost inextricably linked.
The findings of medical researcher Jill Cory's studies of women's experiences in the past two years back that
statement up.
But despite what women are telling her, in most cases, violence against women is overlooked as a health issue. Having spent more the past two years studying the topic as manager of the provincial women abuse response program at BC Women's Hospital, Cory aims change that way of thinking in our health care system.
She interviewed close to 500 health care providers from the mental health, addictions and anti-violence sectors in focus groups and their response sent a clear message.
"Overwhelmingly, the providers see the services as connected, but the policies that set up the services see them as separate, and there are lots of problems when the services are separated," said Cory, who will advocate for a multifaceted health-based approach to treating female victims of violence in her presentation at the Humanizing Harm Reduction conference in Fort St. James, March 7.
"Service providers are personally very distressed," she said. "They're turning them away and they know they're not serving them appropriately. They don't feel they have the mandate to serve them in a holistic way."
She said what happens when women seek help is they often encounter barriers. Women's shelters that protect them from their physically abusive partners won't allow them to stay if they are unable to remain sober. Or women being treated for mental problems become addicted to the prescription drugs given to help their conditions.
"We're way overfocused on getting women sobering up and we're not looking at the harms they're experiencing from trying to get help," Cory said. "We need to get back to the basics, which is supporting women and listening to them in their own voices and own languages and finding support for them."
Interviews of about 180 women around the province revealed to Cory violence almost always precedes development of substance abuse and mental health issues. While there are programs in place in most areas to help women break their drug habits or improve their mental states, she says it is very rare for the health care system to make the
connection to domestic violence.
"Many women have a mental health diagnosis and that's what you could expect of any human being in their response to living in that level of fear and distress," said Cory. "It's actually not a mental health issue, it's a pretty normal response to circumstances.
"Mental health programs are misdiagnosing them because they haven't had the education to really understand violence against women issues. They're not equipped really to appropriately assess women and give them the right kinds of services."
Cory is the author of several publications to help women cope with violence in relationships and at the conference will discuss her Safety and Health Enhancement (SHE) Framework for
Women Experiencing Abuse.
Funded by a $60,000 grant from Canada Post, Cory's harm reduction study brought together women in Dawson Creek, Trail Vernon, North Vancouver, Vancouver, Port Hardy, and the Fraser Valley and found many women turn to substances to help them escape domestic violence and cope with the problem.
They also use drugs or alcohol to temporarily help calm down their partners, who often are the people who introduced them to those substances.
To help ensure better participation in the 12-week study, women were provided with food, transportation, and child care.
Being sober, clean of drugs or mentally stable was not a requirement. What Cory found was that simply by discussing problems in a group of their own peers, away from the so-called "medical experts," the overall health of those women improved noticeably.
"There was incredible change for women in 12 weeks," said Cory. "All we talked about for 12 weeks was women's experience with violence - understanding the cycle of violence, looking at the impacts of violence and why their partners are abusive.
"Their mental conditions changed dramatically. Substance abuse was reduced pretty significantly for a lot of women, sleep problems were reduced, social connection was much higher and
empowerment scales were way up.
"In a women's group, they felt like their experiences really mattered. In a 15-minute doctor's appointment, people don't get to know enough to really do the right thing for women. Violence against women is a social problem and you can't treat it in an individual counselling session. It's not the individual provider's problem, it's the system, which is so driven by the lack of scarce resources and mandates that aren't gender-sensitive."
