It's been a busy fiscal year for the Rowan House women's emergency shelter.

Executive Director Linette Soldan says their Annual Report shows there was a significant increase in calls to the support line, due in part to new additions.

"We did see quite a significant increase from the previous year, almost a thousand more calls and we do believe that might have a lot to do with the fact that we added an extra feature which is our texting and email features," she says. "It's not just for individuals to call and receive support through a voice-to-voice but also the opportunity to email or to text us to receive any additional support or questions they may have."

She says they went from just under a thousand calls the year before to 1,753 this year.

They were also able to serve 147 adults and children at the shelter, also an increase from the previous year, despite being under full capacity because of COVID restrictions they were able to serve more people than the year before which, she says, speaks to the need for their services.

Soldan was happy they were able to work hand-in-hand with AHS's new Domestic Abuse Response Team to provide quicker support for individuals arriving at the hospital experiencing domestic violence and abuse. 

"I think one of the biggest things is we really want to meet individuals where they're at and to make sure that we're reducing as many barriers as possible, so is an individual is ion the hospital and does report that they're experiencing family violence and abuse one of our outreach workers can go out and meet as soon possible and provide support in any way they require in regards to moving forward," Soldan says.

In the meantime, Rowan House continues to get the message out about the different ways individuals suffering from domestic abuse can get help.