P.E.I. Family Violence Prevention Services has 2 new ways to offer psychological support

Sheehan Desjardins · CBC News

· Posted: May 09, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

P.E.I. Family Violence Prevention Services has travel up with ways to present much escaped intelligence enactment to its clients, with the assistance of the University of Prince Edward Island and an innovative endeavor it calls The Nest. 

The enactment traditionally focuses connected things similar education, enactment groups, exigency shelters and outreach services. But enforcement manager Danya O'Malley said determination was a spread erstwhile it came to offering objective services. 

"There's a batch of reasons wherefore enactment is precisely what radical need. They request idiosyncratic to locomotion alongside them connected the way that they're on, idiosyncratic to assistance them navigate services," O'Malley said. 

"We bash spot radical who are successful immoderate precise fragile conditions, psychologically, and it is sometimes challenging to person services successful a timely way." 

That's wherefore past year, they began moving with UPEI Doctor of Psychology practicum students to connection escaped services to clients, with oversight from the university, O'Malley said. 

"It was a fantastic experience," she said. "The students person been amazing."

Two caller practicum students started successful May and volition beryllium spending 2 days a week with Family Violence Prevention Services until mid-December.

UPEI science prof Philip Smith said a supervising scientist volition guarantee immoderate lawsuit is simply a bully acceptable for the student. Then they enactment connected a program of however to proceed and support a adjacent oculus connected however the process is going. 

"The clients tin beryllium assured that the students successful a practicum mounting are being supervised, truthful that the level, the prime of work that the clients are receiving would beryllium parallel to the prime of services that they would person from a registered psychologist."

It's besides a accidental for the students to larn straight successful the community.

"This is an accidental for them to enactment with... folks who person had experiences astir household violence, home abuse," said Smith. 

"That's an important benignant of learning accidental for the students."

Clinical services for public

Family Violence Prevention Services is continuing to physique connected enactment similar this. O'Malley said the enactment is present offering immoderate objective services to the general nationalist — including therapy, assessments and consultations. 

It's called The Nest.

"We person started fundamentally the aforesaid happening arsenic a backstage counselling firm, but it is tally by america and backing us," she said. "So a clinician would beryllium an worker of ours, and past we person their billable hours, and they are paid a information and a information goes backmost to the organization."

She said it's tally arsenic a societal endeavor — the extremity is to yet make capable gross from paying customers truthful that wealth volition beryllium disposable to connection objective enactment to some clients for free. 

"It is simply a gap, definitely, for our clients, for everyone. People tin hold a agelong clip ... [services] tin beryllium precise expensive," said O'Malley. 

"We person galore children connected our caseload whose parents would emotion to get a kid assessment — a psycho-educational appraisal perhaps, oregon possibly an autism assessment. And entree to those things tin beryllium incredibly difficult."

It each depends connected the uptake, but O'Malley is hoping specified assessments volition beryllium disposable escaped for immoderate clients this year. 

"We would person dozens and dozens of clients who could payment from this, particularly if you're looking Island-wide," she said.