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Tec-We-Gwill Women’s Institute hosts seminar on Victim Services

May 1, 2025   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

Victim services are something people rarely think about – until they need them.

The Tec-We-Gwill Women’s Institute invited Marie McCallum, executive director of Victim Services of Simcoe County to provide information during a seminar on April 22, at the group’s Newton Robinson location.

Victim Services helped between 1,100 and 1,500 people in the region last year. They support victims of violent crimes including domestic violence, as well as anyone else who has suffered trauma for a variety of reasons.

The police consider Victim Services to be a valuable partner who can deal with some situations the police are not trained to handle.

Victim Services personnel can accompany a police officer in a situation where a person or family is going to be informed of a sudden death. Many police officers do not feel comfortable in that duty, and a person from Victim Services is trained in how to break the news and handle the aftermath.

Their crisis intervention provides emotional support, practical assistance, education, and referrals for ongoing assistance.

A large part of what they do is assist victims of domestic violence.

McCallum has been with Victim Services for 30 years and has assisted with almost any kind of trauma you can think of.

“This is a program that has been in Ontario since 1997,” McCallum explained. “It originally started as a pilot project in Toronto, Sudbury, Kingston and Brantford to see if a community-based victim’s services program would be equal to or better than a police based program. After two years, it was determined that a community-based program works much better. Our program is called ‘community-based’ because we have a community-based board of directors from all walks of life. And we do get people from the community who just want to help. They want to go on calls and be available when someone is in need of some kind of support.”

McCallum has been on some calls that have resulted from very traumatic circumstances. From violent assaults to murders and suicides, she and her team assist the victims. Victim Services also helps victims of human trafficking, property crime and vandalism, elder abuse, and crime-related motor vehicle accidents.

She explained that when these things happen, it also affects others, including family members and even innocent people who have witnessed a tragedy.

“The volunteers that work with our agency are trained by us,” McCallum said. “When they go out on a call, they go out in pairs. We don’t want anyone going out by themselves. When police see them coming to the scene, they really do believe that they can leave it to the victim support workers to be there to support the families.”

Many people are unaware that Victim Services even exists. It’s not until a tragedy occurs that they find out there is someone who can help.

Victim Services provides a valuable service to the community and steps in to help the most vulnerable in society when no one else can.

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