About
Unsafe at Home Prescott-Russell is a secure text and online chat service for women who may be living violence and abuse at home during the pandemic COVID-19. Our residential counsellors and outreach workers provide emotional support, information, resources, and referrals.
We can help you:
- Talk about how you’re feeling
- Create a safety plan to reduce your risk of harm
- Get you the services you need for support
Connect with us
Our text and online chat service is available 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. Your conversations with our team are confidential and secure.
How it works
You can chat online with us or text us. We are here for you. Our trained team will give you support, information, resources, and safety planning ideas. There are two ways to reach us:
When you connect with us, the first few messages you receive from us will be automated. These will give you more information about the service and our confidentiality policy.
Stay safe and cope
For many, this challenging period of physical distancing means a rise in family violence and domestic abuse. This might mean verbal abuse, emotional abuse, or physical or sexual violence. So how can you stay safe at home or cope with your situation?
Here are some helpful resources:
- Safety planning during COVID-19 (Sanctuary for Families)
- How to use mindfulness to cope with trauma (Stop Domestic Violence)
- How to practice being mindful (verywellmind)
- Domestic Abusers Can Control Your Devices. Here’s How to Fight Back (New York Times)
Who we are
Unsafe at Home Prescott-Russell is managed by Maison Interlude House (MIH). Established in 1983, MIH has always supported women victims of domestic violence and their children who are at the core of its development efforts. As a result, nearly 30 years later, MIH has become a multi-service organization to better meet the various needs of women who use our services. MIH can rely upon its team of qualified residential counsellors and outreach workers who are devoted to the elimination of violence against women. All of our services are and confidential, and offered in French and English.
Unsafe at Home Prescott-Russell is based on a similar service offered in Ottawa. In 2020, The Ottawa Coalition to End Violence Against Women, Crime Prevention Ottawa, Interval House of Ottawa and the Eastern Ottawa Resource Centre launched Unsafe at Home Ottawa to offer women living with abuse or violence during the COVID-19 pandemic a safe space to reach out for help.
We would like to thank these valuable partners who did not hesitate to share their knowledge and material to make Unsafe at Home Prescott-Russell go online as quickly as possible.
We would also like to thank United Way East Ontario – Prescott-Russell for their financial support. They understood immediately the importance of this new project in this time of pandemic.
Finally, many thanks to Valor & Solutions who contributed to the implementation of this project.
