Healing circle at centre of Calgary shelter

Page S12

Crayons and felt pens at the small playschool at the Awa-Taan Native Women's Shelter in Calgary are for healing as well as fun.

Regularly, Karen English, the shelter's Native child and youth support worker, gathers children together in a circle to share their pictures.

"They like to express themselves in drawings," says English. And what they express, such as daddy hitting mommy, she adds, is often something they want to get over.

"Basically, the purpose of the circle for me is to see where the children are at," says English. "If we see a serious problem, we can go from there." For example, a woman may be referred to long-term family counselling after she and her children leave the shelter.

The children, English adds, accept the healing circle because they have seen their mothers sitting in a similar circle just beyond the door of the bright, well-equipped playroom. "There is never coercion," Josie Oltrop, Awa-Taan's acting executive director, says about the healing circles. "If people don't want to sit in the circle, but sit on the side, we're OK with that."

Eventually, however, many women on the sideline do join the daily healing circle and do being to talk when they are handed the healing rock.

"Healing circles and the Elders are critical to the well-being of our people," says Oltrop.

"I believe that with Native healing and healing circles, it begins from the spirit, then goes to the brain, " she explains. Typically, non-Native counselling often begins with the brain before touching the spirit, adds the University of Calgary sociology major.

The lack of culturally sensitive supports, such as healing circles at the city's three other existing women's shelters, prompted the creation

of the Calgary Native Women's Shelter Society in 1987. Ruth Scalp Lock, formerly a crisis worker at a local shelter, was a key society organizer.

After several years of lobbying, Awa-Taan (meaning shield in Blackfoot) became Alberta's first urban Native shelter when it opened in march 1993.

On Jan. 9, 1995, the CNWSS shelter moved into its new 24-bed three-storey home.

"It's really important that a woman walk into a cheery place where there are people who are going to make her feel safe and comfortable," says Oltrop, commenting on Awa-Taan's home-like decor.

The new facility is wheel-chair accessible and has one wheelchair-accessible suite.

For up to three weeks, a woman who considers herself physically, emotionally or sexually abused can find accommodation, one-to-one counselling, and support at the shelter as she considers her options. Awa-Taan also provides follow-up help to clients and referrals to other city agencies, such as Calgary Housing. The shelter also serves as an advocate to such agencies as family court services, hospitals or legal aid.

Since March 1993, about 40 per cent of the more than 750 families served by the Awa-Taan shelter have been non-Native.

"It was a consensus decision (of the board) to allow any battered women through our doors," says Rachel Hof, vice-president of the shelter's board. "When a woman is battered she experiences the same emotions as any woman of any culture would."

At the same time, Oltrop adds that Awa-Taan cannot help everyone. "We turn away 200 to 250 people a month."

Given the shelter's mandate, "helping families heal," the shelter society now is investigating starting a program for men.

"Most women do go back to their partners -- 90 per cent of women do go back. But they don't want the violence. The women love their partners and the children love their dads.

"I believe that in order to heal the community, we need to heal all family members involved."