​
SAGE | ​Skills + Support

Services

Our groundbreaking SAGE PROGRAM gives abuse survivors equitable access to mental health support, valuable life skills, and resources. Read through the descriptions below and direct your donation towards whichever services resonate for you. Together, we can help vulnerable people (re)claim their voices, heal from repeated trauma, and make meaningful contributions within our community.

Read through the descriptions below to learn how these services are essential for abuse survivors

---

SAGE clients in need of trauma therapy will work with a trauma-informed Registered Therapist to address their mental health needs.

Choose SAGE | Therapy from the dropdown menu when making your donation.

Confronting trauma from a violent relationship can take a great deal of time, money, and emotional energy – an impossible combination for someone struggling to make ends meet after finally finding the courage to flee an abusive relationship. Trauma-informed therapy is an intense form of mental health support tailored to an individual's trauma history, triggers, and specific needs.

​Obstacles such as systemic barriers, lack of knowledge, and confidence/skills/abilities that have been deliberately destroyed can prevent abuse survivors from accessing the necessary, specialized support they need most. Together, we can give abuse survivors the help they need to begin to heal.

---

SAGE clients in need of parenting support will work with a Certified Parenting Expert to learn strategies for healthy parent-child relationships after violence.

Choose SAGE | Parenting from the dropdown menu when making your donation.

Family violence and childhood mistreatment are intrinsically linked. If we want to help the children, we need to help their parent. Children who have experienced abuse in the home are 50% more likely to develop challenging mental health issues. They are also more likely to become a victim, or perpetrator, of violence in the future. Parenting (and co-parenting) after abuse can be a truly challenging struggle. Years of victimization can erode an abuse survivor’s parenting skills and confidence. By donating practical parenting skills, you are helping families unlearn intergenerational patterns of abuse and become productive members of our community.

---

SAGE clients in need of Career Counselling will work with a Social Worker or Ontario Certified Teacher to identify their strengths and talents and learn about job requirements, salary expectations, interview preparation and more.

Choose SAGE | Career from the dropdown menu when making your donation.

Barriers to employability unique to abuse survivors include: personal safety, identification papers, insufficient education and work experience, boundary issues, lack of conflict management skills, scarce resources like transportation and office clothing, emotional distress, and access to childcare. When these barriers are addressed, abuse survivors are less likely to return to their abuser and more likely to thrive and become financially and emotionally independent.

​Employability is a pivotal step in an abuse survivor's journey towards freedom and security. As part of the abuse and control, survivors are often forbidden to get a job or pursue a career. This leads to large gaps in their employment history which creates an obstacle to securing work once they flee the abuse. Equipping abuse survivors with the skills and tools needed to obtain and maintain gainful employment increases the likelihood of financial stability.​

---

SAGE clients in need of financial guidance will work with a proven Financial Expert to learn money management skills and financial literacy.

Choose SAGE | Financial from the dropdown menu when making your donation.

99% of domestic violence cases involve Financial Abuse. Financial literacy – including learning how to recognize the signs of financial abuse – is critical to our safety and security. Financial abuse involves: controlling access to money (spending and saving), denying food and other basic necessities, preventing the ability to work and earn money, sabotaging or destroying credit histories, stealing a partner's identity and other devastating tactics. Part of escaping an abusive relationship is learning to navigate the financial world independently. Economic self-sufficiency can mean the difference between violence and safety

---

SAGE clients will work with a Certified Personal Trainer to assess ability, identify goals, and design a customized fitness program with built-in accountability.

Choose SAGE | Physical Training from the dropdown menu when making your donation.

Personal training sounds like an indulgence – even for those who have never been personally affected by violence in the home. But for abuse survivors, it is not a luxury, it is an essential tool for recovery. When a person's mind and body have been repeatedly violated, they will often develop an eating disorder as a way to establish some sense of control or as a way to deal with the overwhelming shame and guilt they experience.

Abusive relationships are all about power and control – abusers gain control of their partners by making them feel worse about themselves, limiting their movements, and physically harming and degrading their bodies. Chronic violence and distress lead to obesity, anorexia, depression, and other health challenges. Personal Training is an effective and powerful way to help abuse survivors strengthen their mental and physical wellbeing.

---

​SAGE clients in need of Life Coaching will work with a Certified Life Coach to identify and achieve their goals, reach their full potential, learn time management and motivation strategies, and build skills for organizing their life and home.

Choose SAGE | Life Coaching from the dropdown menu when making your donation.

An abusive relationship can destroy a victim's sense of identity. So much so, that they often don't even recognize themselves in the mirror. Working with a Life Coach is a powerful way to rebuild that sense of self and make positive, lasting change in an abuse survivor's life. It is about bridging the gap between an abuse survivor's existing circumstances and the life they imagine for themselves in the future.

Life Coaching is not about looking back, it is about looking forward. It is an action-oriented and solutions-based approach to helping abuse survivors reach their goals. Life Coaching involves exercises, techniques, and strategic questions that can help identify and break negative thought patterns, clarify intentions, develop confidence, and restore self-trust. For people who have been conditioned to believe they are undeserving of a happy and fulfilling life, it is a refreshingly positive and encouraging system of motivation.

---

SAGE clients will work with Registered Dieticians and Nutrition Counsellors to learn basic food knowledge,  grocery shopping skills, and practical meal planning strategies to reduce food insecurity and improve their relationship to food.

Choose SAGE | Nutrition from the dropdown menu when making your donation.

Nutrition Counselling is a valuable tool for helping abuse survivors – especially those who are pregnant or raising children in the shadow of food insecurity. Long after fleeing abuse, unhealthy eating patterns can persist. Survivors may struggle with compulsive overeating, not eating, guilt eating, rage eating, and lack of knowledge or access to healthy food choices - fast food is simply cheaper than healthy.

​Abusers will often intensify their abuse when they discover their partner is pregnant, leaving many abuse survivors pregnant and alone with little knowledge of their baby's nutritional needs during and after pregnancy. Other abuse survivors may lack an understanding of the nutritional needs of their growing children and teens. When we place a high priority on nutrition for our clients, we are actively giving them a chance to regain hope and health for the future.

To maximize your giving impact, choose GENERAL from the dropdown menu when making your donation.

We are meticulous and mindful about how we spend your money, and are proud to be the kind of charity that prioritizes our clients and our donors.

SAGE | a healing framework for bouncebackability