Domestic violence a growing trend in Grande Prairie

Oct 26, 2018 | 4:28 PM

Officials say domestic violence is becoming a more common occurrence in the Swan City.

Grande Prairie’s Odyssey House shelter supported 438 women and 201 children last year.

Public Education Manager Madi Wrzosek says one in three women have experienced domestic violence in their life. She thinks there needs to be a better understanding at the workplace.

“Work should be a place they can go and feel safe and be safe. I think in order for that to happen co-workers and organizations really need to understand what it means to experience domestic violence, how we can keep them safe, and ways we can do that.”

Wrzosek adds while steps have been taken, such as a workplace program, more can be done to help those in need.

“I also think that we have also a lot of work to do with believing people and not having that stigma around it still. So, yes we are having more people saying they are experiencing violence, but we need to move the needle a little bit with what happens after.”

Wrzosek says her organization is really proactive in the community on the topic of domestic violence.

“Anything I think we can present ourselves at (we will). We are really present in a lot of government detox. We go to the hospital and talk, we go to Pregnant and Parenting Teens. There are lots of programs, local programs that we definitely want to be at. We make sure we are at all the schools. We have programming for Grades 3 through 12.”

Last year, the Odyssey Community Support team was accessed by 320 people, up from 138 people the previous year.

by Brady Ratzlaff