Our Mission: To promote a secure and abuse-free environment for women and children.

Our Origins

Leading to our inception in 1979, our founding partners at United Way (North Shore Division) and North Shore Women’s Centre set out to establish emergency safe accommodations for battered women and their children in North Vancouver. Throughout our 43 years of service, attitudes and assumptions towards domestic abuse evolved. Advocacy for women’s right to safety galvanized more of our community, resulting in more public awareness, funding, and opportunities for our agency to grow. Our objectives then expanded to providing wrap-around support services in conjunction with emergency housing.

We provide services for survivors of gender-based violence in 2 ways: directly, for thousands of women and children each year who access support from our Program Coordinators, Women & Child Advocates, Outreach Workers, and PEACE Counsellors; and from a distance, alongside other social service agencies within our close network of referrals.

We Believe:

• Violence against women and children is a societal issue
• Equality for women is at the heart of a healthy society
• Information and education are fundamental to ending violence and abuse
• Everyone has a right to live in a safe and secure environment
• Everyone deserves to be treated with respect and dignity

Our Objectives are:

• To provide safe and secure shelter for abused women and their children
• To offer holistic counseling and support services to women and children fleeing from or living with abuse
• To foster self-esteem and self-determination in women and children
• To work toward ending violence against and abuse of women and children through public awareness and education