Voices from the front lines

I felt it would be important to contextualize the gaps in services in the rural areas of Middlesex County by examining these rural services against the background of those available in London, the urban centre of the county. [...] Individuals who wished to be named in the report and the organizations they represent are included in Appendix 1. What is presented in the following pages is a snapshot of the movement to end violence against women in London and Middlesex County at a particular point in time. [...] A narrow definition of woman abuse obscures the connectedness of different forms of violence against women and ignores the fact that the roots of the problem may lie in childhood victimization. [...] For the most part, there was strong agreement that the growing needs and the bigger and bigger crises facing abused women and their children, and sometimes the men who abuse them as well, are related to poverty and cutbacks. [...] Despite a growing understanding that woman abuse is intricately linked to mental health problems and addictions in the lives of women, none of the sectors are fully prepared to deal with women whose lives are complicated by all of these factors A study conducted by the Family Consultants of the London Police Force demonstrates that in the absence of appropriate support for people with mental healt