Calgary Counselling Centre receives Safe Communities funding for new program

On Thursday, June 10th, Calgary Counselling Centre (CCC) was honoured to receive $750,000 in funding from the Alberta Government through the Safe Communities Innovation Fund. Minister of Justice and Attorney General Alison Redford and Child and Youth Services Minister Yvonne Fritz announced the funding at the 2nd Annual Canadian Domestic Homicide Prevention Conference.

“We need to all work together,” says Alison Redford. “Partnerships are key to ending domestic violence.”

The funds will go toward the Strengthening Families Project: Couples Treatment for Domestic Violence and Substance Use. The project helps to address the complex relationship between substance use and intimate partner abuse.

“Working with both violence and substance abuse is a very challenging problem, one that’s very difficult to solve,” says Robbie Babins-Wagner, CEO of CCC. “But we are really optimistic this project will make a difference.”

The Strengthening Families Pilot will be delivered in a 12-week treatment program to couples married or living together, who have had at least one incident of intimate partner violence and where at least one partner has a substance use problem. The program offers treatment to both partners to help start and maintain abstinence for the substance user, while teaching the other partner coping skills to increase safety.

The Safe Communities Initiative is a partnership of nine government ministries working closely with police, community groups, municipalities, businesses and social agencies. Their goal is to find meaningful and long-term solutions to address crime in communities, thus making communities safer and stronger.

CCC is excited to be a part of this new program, to further help our clients see an end to domestic abuse. With the help of our partners, the program will launch in September and will have an external evaluator to ensure it meets the needs of our clients.

Click Here for more information about the Safe Communities Innovation Fund.

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