Phoenix Transition Society is celebrating 50 years in the community.
The society has opened its doors to provide safety to women and children in Prince George and area since 1974.
With about a dozen women around the table, The Citizen sat down with the helpers, the drivers, the chief cooks and bottle washers, the guiders, and the knowledge sharers – all the frontline workers who keep it together in a society that has seen more than 37,500 women and children come for shelter in their time of need as they escape domestic violence, homelessness and substance misuse.
The staff around the table agreed that it takes a community to do this work.
Karen Underhill has been at Phoenix for the last 44 years, which affords her a unique perspective on the society.
“Women aren’t alone, children aren’t alone, staff members aren’t alone in this,” said Underhill, executive director at Phoenix Transition Society.
"We've met the needs of women coming from the worst situations."
The society offers services that include shelter, meals, counselling for women and children who have experienced domestic violence, counselling for women experiencing mental health and addictions as well as homelessness prevention. There are two streams of housing and support including Phoenix House, providing safe haven for women and children escaping domestic violence, and Harmony House for women who are pregnant or have a newborn who are struggling with mental health and addictions who may be at risk of losing their children to the Ministry of Children and Families.
“It’s like a big community and it’s like family here,” said Dawn Scarf, nutritional provider at Phoenix House. “Each person here is treated with the respect and dignity they deserve.”
The humanistic approach offered at the Phoenix Transition Society is important.
“We walk with a woman through her journey wherever she’s at,” said Kyla Laferdy, team lead.
“I think it’s a home atmosphere and people feel like they can relax here,” said Joanne Hawkins, homeless prevention co-ordinator.
Residence at Phoenix can find answers and support and get help accessing the resources they need to move forward, Hawkins added.
“And there’s no rush to make any decisions,” Underhill said. “I think of all the reasons a family would come here in crisis - fleeing abuse, trauma, addictions, homelessness and for her to make that decision to go back and try counselling or family support that’s not enough. We are listening to her, supporting her, we always say we plant seeds and at one time she may come back and it will be like it’s the first time.”
There’s no judgment at Phoenix Transition Society.
Most women who come into Phoenix will share only bits and pieces of their stories until trust is established.
Underhill recalls one woman who arrived with a broken arm, her children in tow. It wasn’t until two days later the woman told staff that her partner had broken her arm. Then frontline workers knew that perhaps the children needed some counselling if they had witnessed the violence in their home or if they had been victims themselves. It all takes time.
“Sometimes people have to come back three or four times before we hear the whole story,” Hawkins said.
"It’s like peeling an onion,” Underhill said. “Lots of layers.”
We all learn by connecting with others going through similar things and that’s when people learn to open up about their journey, added Laferdy.
“When we come to this space, and I’m talking about all women in general, there’s something so uplifting and empowering that happens because of the feeling of safety that women feel here."
They feel they can then open up as they begin to trust those around them, she added.
What Scarf has noticed during her time at Phoenix House is that it doesn’t matter what walk of life the women have come from there is a sense of solidarity.
“They are so supportive of each other,” Scarf said. “It’s amazing to watch as strangers become this little family.”
It’s also nice to see personal growth, Hawkins added.
“They discover they’re not alone in this and it does happen to other people,” Hawkins said. “Watching them go through the counselling process people are very closed to begin with and then as they hear more and start sharing more they start opening up – like a flower blooming.”
Once the initial crisis is over and women start to heal, thoughts turn to the future. There have been women who have gone back to school and then come knocking on the door of Phoenix for a different reason.
“They come back and say they want to work here,” Underhill said. “They want to give back and that’s exciting to see.”
Within the housing aspect of the society Hawkins said she’s seen women return as employees. These are women who are now thriving and in one case had adopted children to give them a better life and now her career is spent serving those in need just like she had once been when Hawkins first met her in crisis.
“It’s amazing to watch that happen,” Hawkins said.
“Watching a woman rise above her situation, after seeing what she had been through, and to be able to build up her capacity to leave here better than she was, is profound,” Laferdy said.
“Just being witness to the process – and it’s not all pretty – I think that in all the work that I’ve done over the last 20 years in community, where you see it the most is here. I think that’s because we’re so immersed in their lives every day that we really get a sense of what they’re going through and how to walk with them moving forward and just being a guiding light for them. I think that’s such a beautiful gift in this life to be able to do that. It’s very humbling work.”
Scarf said the women that come through the doors of Phoenix are the staff’s best teachers.
“You learn so much from them – their resilience, their fight,” Scarf said. “You take a deeper look into yourself – and you find the thought crosses your mind – that could’ve been me. It’s so uplifting to see residence succeed and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.”
For more information about Phoenix Transition Society and all they do in the community visit www.phoenixtransitionsociety.net/
