About Us

NSCSS looks forward to achieving 3 core goals this year that addresses Safe & Affordable Housing on the North Shore, stronger Financial Stability for the agency, and Increasing Access & Awareness about gender-based violence in our community. We invite you to learn more and to download our Strategic Plan (pdf).

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

Contact Us

For general inquiries, please contact Cindy Maedel at 604-987-0366 or email admin@nscss.net.

For general inquiries regarding our Social Service Programs, please contact Saghar Derakshany, RPC, Community Program Coordinator, at 604-987-0366 Ext 110 or at saghar@nscss.net

For Laura Reynolds, Executive Director, please call 604-987-0366 Ext. 103 or email lreynolds@nscss.net

For Connie Bonsteel, Manager, Administration, please call 604-987-0366, Ext 105 or email cbonsteel@nscss.net

For Ruth Boogert, Manager, Finance, please call 604-987-0366, Ext 101 or email rboogert@nscss.net

For Sandra Lee, Manager, Communications & Development, please call 604-307-1329 or email slee@nscss.net

For general inquiries, please contact our office at 604 987 0366 or at admin@nscss.net

To contact SAGE Transition House directly:

Email: sage@nscss.net | Phone: 604-987-3374

To contact NSCSS Program Coordinators at SAGE Transition House, please contact:
Froozan: fgsage@nscss.net | Frances Robinson: frsage@nscss.net

For portable rent supplements and support services to individuals in identified at-risk groups facing homelessness, please email Shona Johnston at 604-987-0366 Ext. 111 or email hpp@nscss.net

For services for children between 3 & 18 years of age who have witnessed or experienced abuse, threats or violence in the home, please contact PEACE Counsellors

Christina Vasak 604-987-0366 Ext 108 | christina@nscss.net

Brooke Hogan 604-987-0366 Ext 106 | brooke@nscss.net 

For support for women and their children who have escaped or who are at risk of abuse, violence or threats, please contact Pantea, Outreach & Multicultural Outreach Worker, at 604-987-0366 Ext 107 or email outreach@nscss.net

For information about Good Stuff Connection Thrift Store and donations to the store, please contact Manisha Dadlani at 604-987-1773 or email gsc@nscss.net

Online Store: goodstuffconnection.ca

Store Address: 154 West 3rd Street, North Vancouver, V7M 1E8 (Google Maps)

Land Acknowledgements

NSCSS respectfully acknowledges that we work on the unceded and traditional territories of the Coast Salish people, including the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), St’at’imc, Sḵwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.

Our Funders

NSCSS is generously funded by:

NSCSS also gratefully acknowledges the generous contributions from many service clubs, groups and individuals in our community.