SSWC Received $20,000 Grant

Second Story Women’s Centre is pleased to receive a $20,000 Bell Let’s Talk Community Fund grant to support survivors of human trafficking and sexual assault.

Second Story Women’s Centre works to enhance women’s lives by providing free support services and education designed to promote personal growth, community awareness and social change in Lunenburg and Queens Counties.
Funding from Bell Let’s Talk will support an outreach coordinator who will work collaboratively with the other coordinators to build a strong trauma-informed support system for 60 survivors of human trafficking and sexual assault. Without appropriate support, women and other survivors are more likely to suffer from a range of mental health challenges including complex trauma, PTSD, a propensity for addiction, suicide ideation, and isolation.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the predominance of gender-based violence in our communities and the challenges to accessing support,” said Rhonda Lemire, Executive Director of Second Story Women’s Centre. “With the Bell Let’s Talk Community Fund grant we can help mitigate further long term risk to victims of gender-based violence by offering virtual and distanced in-person support.”
“Bell Let’s Talk is pleased to help Second Story Women’s Centre provide support for survivors of human trafficking and sexual assault,” said Mary Deacon, Chair of Bell Let’s Talk. “The Bell Let’s Talk Community Fund supports a diverse range of community-based organizations throughout the country, like Second Story Women’s Centre, that are taking action to improve access to mental health care and working to make a positive difference through evidence-based programs that meet the needs of their communities.”
Bell Let’s Talk promotes Canadian mental health with national awareness and anti-stigma campaigns like Bell Let’s Talk Day and significant Bell funding of community care and access, research and workplace leadership initiatives throughout the country. To learn more, please visit Bell.ca/LetsTalk.