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w at er lo oc hr on ic le .c a W at er lo o C hr on ic le | T hu rs da y, N ov em be r 4, 20 21 | 10 cally see more than 100 women in a year," said Jen- nifer Hutton, CEO of WCS. "They will help with a variety of things, including supportive counselling, helping with housing, navi- gating the legal system, im- migration issues, they're a really great team and are accessible and flexible. They meet with women where it is safe to do so, whether a coffee shop, home, one of our locations. We don't have a wait list, so we can usually see women quite quickly." In fact, Hutton said, the organization is just seeing its numbers return to typi- cal pre-pandemic levels. Despite Statistics Canada highlighting increases in domestic violence rates during the pandemic, Hut- ton said WCS saw a decline in the uptake of its services. "I think even though we saw some people start to reach out, because so many barriers and challenges ex- ist for a woman to navigate leaving a relationship, you add in the pandemic and all the implications of it, the uncertainty attached to it, the fact that everyone in the household may be stuck in the home, finding the right opportunity to leave may be more difficult. It's a big de- cision for a woman and the children, so we think may- be women weren't making the decision to leave." What Hutton said her staff are seeing is an in- crease in the severity of is- sues. She said staff have women approaching them with more complex needs, worsened trauma, mental health and addiction is- sues. "It seems to be more complex and just more of all of those things we would see before." The organization is bringing awareness to the unique and shared strug- gles women face during the pandemic and beyond through two different com- munication campaigns. The Voices Empower: Walk to Break the Silence initia- tive in recognition of Wom- an Abuse Prevention Month invites people to join a six-kilometre walk on Nov. 20 to raise awareness about domestic violence and the increase in severity and frequency seen during the pandemic. "This past year has been especially difficult for women facing domestic vi- olence. During this time, domestic violence has esca- lated and rates of femicide NEWS Continued from page 3 Women's Crisis Services of Waterloo Region launched a second season of its podcast She Is Your Neighbour in 2021. Women's Crisis Services of Waterloo Region image 'IT SEEMS TO BE MORE COMPLEX AND JUST MORE OF ALL OF THOSE THINGS WE WOULD SEE BEFORE' See - page 11 SCAN FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT metrolandparcelservices.ca Metroland Parcel Services delivers packages for large-scale businesses to over 3.5 million Ontario households - without price hikes during peak season. If that, plus reliable, affordable and timely delivery sounds good to you, get on board. HIGH SEASON SHOULDN'T MEAN HIGHER RATES S1ABSO096TDB* nwohs ledoM9Z6 H1N NO ,hpleuG ,dR waletihW 0705 en with Air Fryer OvtoasT y ry a Danboblem! TNo pr ?esor Multiple Appliance fNo Spac .eenient appliancvontility in one cersaooking vc or options farm wor, etadryoil, pizza, deh, brookiec , et, bakoas, t air fryestureaen fver otoashis tT FFO %04 OT PU TCUDORP DEHSIMELB DNA DEHSIBRUFER SEDULCNI As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unfold, we will be making some changes to our website and newsletter. In regards to Canada's federal government advising against all unnecessary travel, we will not be promoting any flights, travel deals and travel packages until further notice. But, just because our travel deals have been put on hold, our team is dedicated to providing YOU, our amazing subscribers, with inspiring and informative blog content during this time! If you haven't done so yet, please sign up for our weekly newsletter so we can keep you up to date! Stay Inside. Stay Informed. Please Visit Travelalerts.ca for fresh travel content, exclusive tips and more!