The Authors
Jill Cory and Karen McAndless-Davis are friends and colleagues who share a deep compassion and respect for women who have experienced abuse from a partner.
Together, they bring over three decades of experience to their work. They bring together solid research, counseling experience and personal accounts to help women make sense of what has happened to them in their relationships.
Their unique women-centred approach helps women reflect on their experiences to gain new understanding. The profound insights of a highly effective group counseling program are now available to any woman who reads When Love Hurts.
About Jill Cory
Jill began supporting women leaving abuse in the early 1980’s. She first worked at the Calgary Women’s Emergency Shelter, helping women to access safe housing and support. After moving to Vancouver, she spent two years interviewing women about their experiences of leaving abusive partners and trying to find the right kind of support. For the following seven years she developed and facilitated counseling programs for women and their abusive partners. Jill went on to develop and lead the Woman Abuse Response Program at BC Women’s Hospital and Health Centre for 19 years. She and her team provided training and leadership to frontline workers and government leaders to improve the health care and community response for women experiencing abuse. Jill lives with David, her partner of 30 years, and their two children, Becky and Ben. Jill has traveled extensively throughout North America providing training workshops and keynote presentations.
About Karen McAndless-Davis
Karen’s passion for this issue comes from personal experience. Her partner, Bruce, was abusive for the first ten years of their relationship. After several years of hard work (involving both group and individual counseling), Bruce changed his abusive behaviour and the beliefs underlying his actions. Karen and Bruce have now been happily married in a relationship of trust and respect for over ten years. They have two children, Luke and Isaac. While Karen experienced abuse, she participated in a group counseling program. The support and encouragement that Karen received in this group kindled her desire to help other women living with abuse. For many years now, she has provided individual and group counseling to women in various communities. She also travels widely to provide training on the women-centered approach presented in “When Love Hurts.”