BONNYVILLE – The Dragonfly Centre offers sexual violence services across the Northeastern Alberta region and recently held an open house at its office on main street in Bonnyville on May 14.
Greeted at the door by care and service assistant Breanne Croteau, attendees were welcomed into the office to tour the many counselling spaces available, enjoy refreshments, explore the building, and meet the staff face to face.
Peaceful rooms, with gentle lighting, art, and comfortable seating offers clients a safe space to seek support. The counselling services offered are confidential, non-judgmental, and free of charge.
The Dragonfly Centre offers not only crisis support, but can assist clients with system navigation, helping them connect with the services they need.
The Dragonfly Centre is a non-profit that is funded through Alberta Health Services, grants, and lots of fundraising efforts.
Jessie Heisler, community engagement and prevention manger, explained that the open house was not only a way for people to learn about the services offered, but to visit the space and understand that it is a welcoming and supportive environment open to anyone effected by sexual violence.
Getting to personally meet the staff and see their friendly faces can alleviate the fear that their services are something to be intimidated by.
“I think one of the big misconceptions tends to be that we are only serving women, or that we only serve either children or adults, but our services are for the whole community. We are available for anyone who's been directly or indirectly impacted by sexual violence, and we do that through any service that works best for that person,” said Heisler.
The office is available to accept walk-ins, and phone calls during their business hours of 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. They can be reached at 1-866-300-HEAL. After hours, Heisler said they refer people to the Alberta One-Line for Sexual Violence at 1-866-403-8000.
“Sometimes we don’t have a counsellor in the office because they might be in Cold Lake, St. Paul, Athabasca, because we have those satellite office, but they can always call . . . If someone has experienced something and they just don’t know where to go, which is very common in rural Alberta, we can help figure out where they fit the mandate to get a service they’re looking for,” said Heisler.
As a non-profit, the Dragonfly Centre has more flexibility when it comes to its services.
“Our services include things like crisis support and court support. We can support someone when they’re going to make a report to the police. We work collaboratively with Victim Services, but at Dragonfly we don’t require a case file number for our services, so there is some flexibility around a situation where someone is looking to report, but hasn’t yet,” said Heisler.
The staff at the Dragonfly Centre take the client’s lead when it comes to seeking legal action in when the situation does not call for mandatory reporting
“We don't have a bias if someone needs to go to the legal system or not, when it's not a mandatory reporting situation. So, we are supporting them however they see fit. If they want to go to the legal system, we'll support them with that. If they don't, it's very valid to not want to and we can support them in how they see closure and justice for themselves,” said Heisler.
Heisler wants the community to understand that the Dragonfly Centre is focused on being a supportive and healing service, not a daunting or scary place where there is pressure to divulge details.
“When it comes to counselling, a lot of people think they have to sit here and relive or restate that experience, but we're more focus on how it impacted you . . . We make sure to match you with someone you feel comfortable with, because it’s so personal – it really can impact every aspect of your life – spiritual, personal, sexual, or mental,” said Heisler.
When it comes to working with children, Heisler said Victim Services works more closely with the adults around the child, and not as directly with the child.
“We come in to fill that gap - I joke that we are like henchmen. We will go and get the child water or juice, bring them an iPad, and make sure they’re comfortable. Anything to help them with what they’re dealing with in that moment.”
Heisler explains that the Dragonfly Centre also helps people who have been indirectly impacted by sexual violence
“For example, if you have a young child who has experienced child sexual abuse or sexual violence of any kind, their [family members] can come and get counselling,” said Heisler.
The Dragonfly Centre offers educational programs as a method of primary prevention, including child and youth, caregiver, and professional programs
“We always say that it's evidence based, trauma and violence informed education,” said Heisler.
The child and youth programs offer age-appropriate education to reduce the likelihood of victimization (including online), and discuss topics such as consent, body awareness, and knowing when to ask for help.
Heisler commented that there is a misconception that sexual violence is always inherently violent, when it’s most often coercive, and she spoke to the importance of educating people about consent.
Heisler explained that 47 per cent of Albertans have experienced some form of sexual violence.
“When we look at the statistics for kids, it's one in three children, and when we’re looking at rural populations, we know that it happens at an unfortunately higher rate . . . As someone that was born and raised in Bonnyville, I feel like it's a very common mindset to think that sexual violence or domestic violence isn't happening here, or it's not happening to our neighbours or the kids who we see waiting for the bus outside of our house. But statistically, we know that it is,” said Heisler.
Along with a main office in Bonnyville, the Dragon Fly Centre has satellite offices serving Cold Lake, Lac la Biche, St. Paul, Athabasca, and surrounding Indigenous communities.
Heisler said they serve approximately 1,500 people a year, and 60 per cent are children and youth.
“We serve upwards of 700 children [per year], and of the entire 1,500 people served, 65 per cent are from the MD of Bonnyville, Bonnyville, and Cold Lake. This could be because they are more aware of our services. We have the main office here and have been in Bonnyville and Cold Lake since 2015,” said Heisler.
