Our Mission

North York Women’s Shelter actively supports the rights of women, trans and non-binary survivors and their children to build lives free of violence by providing non-judgmental safe shelter, advocacy, and a range of programs & services including 24-hour crisis support.

About North York Women's Shelter

As one of Toronto’s oldest VAW (Violence Against Women) emergency shelters, North York Women’s Shelter (NYWS) has been serving survivors across the GTA for over 40 years. Since 1984, North York Women’s Shelter has supported over 11,000 survivors to rebuild their lives after experiencing violence.

All our programs and services operate from trauma-informed principles to support women, trans, non-binary folks, and their children to build lives free of violence. We are committed to learning, evolving, and adapting to evidence-based and holistic research to address gender-based violence on both the frontlines and a systemic level.

We run a children's program, women's program, a culturally diverse food program and provide whole family wrap-around support including a kennel for pets.

All residents also have access to:

Transitional Housing Support Worker:

The Transitional Housing Support Worker provides transitioned survivors (clients who are either in the process of transitioning out of the shelter or have very recently left), to access and navigate community services. Oftentimes, the Transitional Support program involves support navigating and securing affordable housing- critical in a city with a housing crisis like Toronto. However, the Transitional Support Worker connects residents to any services or programs they need for themselves or their families to ensure they are supported post-transition from NYWS.

Case Management Program:

The Case Management program provides support to our in-house residents to identify community resources and services and connect residents to them. NYWS’s case management program is designed to provide individualized, survivor-centered support and can include but is not limited to anything from medical appointments, utilizing employment services or accessing adult education courses, or even legal services.

Children’s Programmers:

Research data confirms that academic performance often declines when children experience big transitions such as entering a shelter. Adapting to school after moving to a shelter is a difficult transition for children of any age. To address this barrier, NYWS has a team of Children’s Programmers, who work on identifying the barriers to their academic performance and develop a long-term plan to help them excel. They work closely with the whole client-facing team, and the children's parents to ensure they deliver individualized support to each child setting them up for long term success.

HOW YOU CAN HELP TODAY

Your generous donation today will support a home for survivors of gender-based violence in their healing journey after escaping violence. Walk with us and support survivors towards a safer, more stable future.