For Executive Director Kimberly Compeau, the work of Interval House Kingston is about far more than providing a safe bed. It is about creating the conditions where women and children can begin again after violence and making sure the staff who walk with them are also cared for. She describes the shelter as “a place where people can come when everything has fallen apart, and they will not be judged for what they have been through.”
Interval House operates as a 24-hour support system for women and their children who are fleeing intimate partner violence. The organization offers emergency shelter, outreach services, counselling, safety planning, and help navigating complex systems such as legal processes and housing. “We are walking with people through some of the worst days of their lives,” Compeau explains. “Our role is to listen, to believe them, and to make sure they are not doing this alone.”
That intensity comes with a cost. Compeau is clear that the risk of burnout for frontline workers is real. Staff hear traumatic stories every day, respond to crises at all hours, and carry the weight of wanting every outcome to be safe and positive. “You cannot do this work without being affected by it,” she says. “Vicarious trauma is real, and if we do not acknowledge that, we risk losing the very people survivors trust.” She sees supporting staff well-being as a core part of her leadership, emphasizing supervision, debriefing, peer support, and giving people permission to step back when they need to. “If our staff do not feel safe and supported, they cannot offer safety and support to anyone else,” she notes.
Looking to the future, Compeau sees the endowed fund at the Community Foundation as vital to Interval House’s long-term stability. Annual project funding can rise and fall, but an endowment provides a dependable stream of support for core work such as counselling, children’s programming, and staff training. In her view, it is a way for the community to say that safety for women and children is not optional or temporary, but a lasting commitment. An endowed fund, she says, “helps ensure that when someone needs us, the doors will be open, the lights will be on, and there will be skilled, supported staff here to welcome them.”
