Most women supported by the Elizabeth Fry Society’s mainland Nova Scotia chapter have experienced gender-based violence.

That’s according to Abundance program manager Kylee Nunn.

She says many face barriers when they try to get help for intimate partner violence.

“There’s very few spaces where people can can reach out for help without experiencing stigmatization. And stigmatization is a deterrent for people to ask for help,” says Nunn.

But many women also decide to retaliate, which brings them into the criminal justice system.

The Elizabeth Fry Society provides housing for women after they were incarcerated or were involved with the justice system.

Other barriers

When people can’t access therapy, she says, that makes it harder to break the cycle of violence.

She says a lot of people experiencing intimate partner violence would rather not call the police but instead want their partner to receive therapy and for the the violence to stop.

Intimate partner violence varies based on people’s culture, and the response to it varies because of culture, too. Nunn says there aren’t enough services that recognize that and understand how to deal with it.

It’s also very dangerous for people to leave a relationship where they’re experiencing coercive control, she says. That means systematic abuse where they other person wants to control their partner by doing things like degrading them, taking away their agency, isolating them, and sometimes using physical violence.

“Coercive control significantly increases the risk of intimate partner homicide,” says Nunn.

Seven Maritimers have been killed as a result of intimate partner violence in the last few months.

The most recent case comes from Mahone Bay. Police found the bodies of a 60-year-old woman and a 75-year-old man on Sunday. Officers say the man murdered the woman, who he had a relationship with, and then killed himself.

Experts who deal with intimate partner violence are working to better understand coercive control, says Nunn, especially after the Portapique mass shooting. The shooter had abused his wife for years and assaulted her shortly before his rampage that left 22 people dead in 2020.

“What we really need is an investment into services for prevention and services that interrupt that cycle of violence earlier on in relationships. So therapeutic services, supports, programming, and a way for people to reach out for help when they see that there are unhealthy patterns within their relationships.”

Nunn says intimate partner violence is on the rise, and that coincides with a lack of resources.

She says people misunderstand intimate partner violence across the country, which prevents people from talking about and seeing what healthy relationships look like.

“We need to shift that narrative from this being, you know, a very personal, private issue that we tend to minimize, to talking about it openly and building healthier communities together,” says Nunn.