‘It’s been life-changing’: iHEAL program expands across southwestern Ontario

A London-developed program that helps women recover from intimate partner violence is expanding. Reta Ismail reports.

A London-developed program that helps women recover from intimate partner violence is expanding to reach more than 300 women across southwestern Ontario this fall.

Thanks to $2.4 million in new funding from the Ontario government, the iHEAL program will now be offered in Elgin and Oxford counties and the City of St. Thomas.

Eight registered nurses from the Middlesex-London Health Unit and Southwestern Public Health are being trained to deliver the program.

The free, evidence-based program connects women who have experienced or are experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) with a nurse who supports them in areas such as health, safety, relationships, personal growth and access to resources.

One survivor, whose identity is protected due to safety concerns, said the program changed her life.

“I wanted to get out of that relationship – I was trapped, I couldn’t,” she said.

“It’s helped incredibly. I think with all of the other supports, like, there’s the counselling, the therapy, you know, just the self-work and things like that, the iHEAL program enhanced it.”

Developed by researchers at Western University, along with the University of British Columbia and the University of New Brunswick, the program is based on over two decades of research and direct input from survivors.

Dr. Marilyn Ford-Gilboe, a professor at Western and the project lead, said the impacts of IPV are long-lasting and wide-ranging.

“The impacts of violence on women’s lives is really broad. It affects so many different things (like) their health, their safety, their relationships, their children, even their economic situation,” she said.

“A lot of the services we have — the really fine services, by the way — are more oriented to helping women during the crisis period.”

While iHEAL has been available in London through the health unit since 2021, this is the first time the program will be offered in surrounding communities. Ford-Gilboe says bringing it to rural and under-served areas will help fill major gaps in long-term support.

Jody Shepherd, one of the registered nurses delivering the program, called the training “inspiring.”

“It’s been life-changing. We’ve learned a lot from the women that we’ve worked with and the iHEAL research team,” she said.

“The education that we’ve been provided has really helped to equip nurses in supporting women experiencing intimate partner violence — and supporting them with some individualized, one-on-one personal care.”

Researchers say they will monitor the expansion closely to evaluate outcomes and determine how the program might be scaled nationally in the future.