Bridging Aging and Women Abuse: A Toolkit

Bridging Aging and Women Abuse was a two year participatory resource development project run through the National Initiative for the Care of the Elderly and supported by financial assistance from the Women’s Program Status of Women Canada. Older women often fall through service gaps all the way down to the streets. To bridge these gaps a team of older women, who know first hand what it is like to experience abuse in later life, came together to produce two unique resources: 1) a wallet sized information card for older women in the community who have not yet made contact with service providers regarding their abuse and 2) a toolkit for use by service providers working with older women experiencing abuse. The first resource - a wallet sized information card to assist older women in identifying their experience as abuse, in taking some initial steps to be safer and in accessing services and supports in the Greater Toronto Area – is available in English and French but only in hard copy. Please contact NICE directly at nicenetadmin@utoronto.ca to request this tool. The aim of the second resource - a toolkit for service providers who work with older women experiencing abuse - is to promote a more coordinated response across 3 service systems: aging/elder abuse, violence against women and homelessness and women’s housing. THIS IS NOT ANOTHER MANUAL but a collaborative/interactive toolkit to be used by service providers and older women working together. The toolkit (available in English and French; only in electronic format) includes information about the unique needs of older women experiencing abuse; ideas for how service providers might better support them; useful templates and tools for collaboration; and a directory of relevant services in the Greater Toronto Area.

Publication Date: 
2009