November is Family Violence Prevention month.  Throughout the month the Medicine Hat Police Service has been sharing information to raise awareness about resources and supports available to assist families in needs. 

The Safe Family Intervention Team is a partnership between the Medicine Hat Women’s Shelter Society (MHWSS) and the Medicine Hat Police Service (MHPS).

In 2014, in response to a serious domestic violence incident that occurred in our community, the MHWSS and MHPS advocated for funding to build a team responsible for working strictly with domestic/family violence. As a result, the Safe Family Intervention team was created (SFIT). At first the team was comprised of one police officer and two outreach workers but has since expanded to a supervisor and four MHWSS staff members, who work with the MHPS officer.

The focus of SFIT is to provide early identification and assessment of families that may need family violence intervention. SFIT is committed to the reduction of repeat domestic violence related calls through education and safety planning. SFIT ensures that women, children, and men have access to services within the MHWSS and also provides the necessary resources, services and referrals for families to establish healthy violence free relationships.

SFIT works closely with other support agencies within the community such; Child and Family Services, Alberta Health Services, Probation, Victim Assistance, the Crown Prosecutor and Community Housing to ensure the families are provided with the services needed.

Anyone experiencing family violence can access these services. A police referral is not required.

To contact the SFIT team phone 403-458-2037 or visit https://mhps.ca/posts/post/366 for more information.