Leader staff

Funding to support 31 family violence prevention projects announced last week by the provincial government isn’t exactly new. It was approved in the budget, several months ago.

But it is certainly welcome.

“This is the grant I applied for in February of this year,” says Shelly Mae Ferguson, Executive Director of Slave Lake’s Northern Haven Support Society. “I received notice in March that my application for a Financial Education Support Worker was approved, and the grant for $55,000 began April 1, 2025.”

Emma is the support worker Ferguson hired. She (Emma) has worked with several clients over the past few months, Ferguson says, and is in the process of planning a “Women’s Financial Wellness” event, for sometime this fall or early winter.

The need for someone in this position is clear from what Ferguson laid out in her application for funding back in February. The most prevalent form of abuse we see, she said, is financial, calling it “a key barrier to a woman leaving an abusive relationship.”

Without money, Ferguson continues, women are unable to plan or consider leaving such a relationship. When they do manage to leave, “they deal with unstable housing, limited access to money and are unable to meet their basic needs.”

Northern Haven is in the business of helping women in such circumstances, and having a dedicated financial education support worker certainly helps.

For more information on Northern Haven Support Society programs and services, please call 780-849-4418.