About Us

NSCSS looks forward 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

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 counselling 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.

OUR HERSTORY

During 1977, a small shelter service was operating in North Vancouver on the second floor of Chesterfield House, providing emergency accommodation to those in need. Originally, under the auspices of the Chesterfield House Board, management responsibilities were later transferred to the North Shore Family Emergency Shelter Committee. This service was closed in August 1978.

In the fall of 1977, the North Shore Women’s Centre conceived the idea for a transition house exclusively for battered women and their children.

The United Way, North Shore Division, organized a meeting between these two groups as well as other interested parties on the North Shore to discuss the needs of people in crisis and the services required to meet those needs. From these initial meetings, the United Way Transition House and Emergency Shelter Committee was born.

The initial thrust of this group was to obtain funding from the Provincial Government. Funding for one service was tentatively promised. When it appeared that service would be a general emergency shelter, a proposal for a demonstration grant from Health and Welfare Canada for a Transition House was prepared.

Negotiations with Ministry officials were conducted through 1979. We were eventually successful in receiving funding for a Transition House and the North Shore Crisis Services Society was born.