Marking an important day with a brand New When Love Hurts Podcast!

A warm hello to all our colleagues who continue to work so hard to end men’s violence against women.

We are approaching November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. We can get so busy caring for each woman, each child, handling each crisis, that we can lose sight of the end goal – the elimination of men’s violence against women. And even more aspirational: the achievement of full equality, safety and freedom for women and girls world-wide. 

This bigger picture goal is part of what inspired us to create a When Love Hurts Podcast. It’s a way to reach more women and more professionals with lifesaving information. 

The challenges women face because of men’s violence are so widespread and systemic, we find it difficult to imagine a world where we achieve these goals. We are witnessing a resurgence of endorsed patriarchy and misogyny arising from the ‘men’s rights’ movement. Abusive men continue to feel emboldened to exercise their unearned power to harm women because they face no consequences. 

And it’s not just individual men misusing their power.

Institutional abuse by powerful legal, financial, and other social systems serves as the echo chamber for patriarchal beliefs that protect abusive men. The courts often silence women from telling the truth about her partner’s abuse; the truth is misinterpreted as an attempt to undermine men’s rights. Faith communities, child protective services, counselors and other adjacent services can use their power to silence women by threatening women with the loss of custody of their children, financial instability, impoverishment, and social isolation.

Every woman who has experienced abuse understands the risks in speaking up.  

And so, we are inspired to use our voices on behalf of women to reach more women and practitioners through our new When Love Hurts podcast series. Our two hosts, Alison Epp and Jo Neill, are survivors themselves. They have both completed master’s degrees in counselling, and support women and work for change. Karen and I continue to educate practitioners, support women in private practice and group, and advocate for change. We hope our new podcast can help to amplify women’s voices and accelerate changes.  

The first episodes will drop on November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Join our voices to end men’s violence against women.