This McMaster student alleges her former professor subjected her to physical, sexual and psychological abuse. Now, she’s speaking out
Warning: This story contains sensitive subject matter, including details of sexual assault and self-harm.
She alleges her professor left purple handprint bruises on her back, behind and thighs after he hit her during an alleged sexual assault. She alleges he called her self-harm cuts pretty" and asked her to send him photos. She alleges he sexually assaulted her on a bathroom floor while she bled from self-inflicted wounds.
She is a PhD student in McMaster University's Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour (PNB). The newspaper cannot identify her due to a publication ban.
The person she alleges did this is Scott Watter, an associate professor with McMaster in the same department and her former professor. He is charged with sexual assault and sexual assault causing bodily harm. The charges, laid by Hamilton police in June 2020, relate to alleged incidents involving her in 2017. Some of the alleged incidents are detailed in this story.
The allegations have not been proven in court. Watter's judge-alone trial is slated to begin in August. He is currently suspended from McMaster, with pay.
Watter's lawyer, Jeff Manishen, said he could not provide comment for this article as the matter is before the courts. In June, upon Watter's arrest, Manishen told The Spectator that the professor will be defending this matter fully and vigorously."
We look forward to challenging these allegations at trial," Manishen said at the time. In the meantime, it's important to keep in mind that Dr. Watter is presumed in law to be innocent of the charges."
The background
For more than a year, The Spectator has been investigating allegations against Watter.
In February 2020, the newspaper received a tip that McMaster was quietly looking into serious allegations," potentially including sexual violence, involving a professor - confirmed by The Spectator to be Watter. Over the next 12 months, the story grew: police charged Watter, the university received more allegations of sexual violence against other PNB faculty and staff, and McMaster launched a climate review" of its PNB department. It also investigated six other people connected to PNB for allegations involving sexual violence, discrimination and harassment.
Meanwhile, a months-long Spectator investigation, separate from the Watter allegations, published in December, revealed McMaster is failing survivors of sexual violence.
In February 2021, one year after the complainant in Watter's criminal case brought her allegations to McMaster, she reached out to The Spectator. She had hoped the university would get her justice but, after a year, she no longer believed that would happen.
She says she feels deep betrayal" from McMaster, an institution she's belonged to for more than a decade - one that she says is now failing her. The university did not believe many of her allegations. Specifically: the university did not deem credible" her allegation that another McMaster staff member had sexually assaulted her in the past; nor did it support her allegations against other McMaster individuals she says facilitated Watter's alleged grooming and assault; nor did it consider another male professor's alleged sexual harassment of her vexatious" enough to have violated university policies.
McMaster's investigation into the allegations against Watter - including those made by the complainant and at least one other person (a former student who has launched a civil suit against the university) - is ongoing.
When a case is before the courts we are unable to speak to the details of what may or may not be part of the proceedings," McMaster spokesperson Wade Hemsworth told The Spectator in an email.
The university takes all complaints seriously and works hard to support complainants and respondents throughout the process of investigation and fact-finding once formal complaints are brought forward. Decisions about the outcome are based on whether there is evidence to substantiate the complaints that are brought forward," Hemsworth said.
Even with the impartial and supportive approach taken by the University, given the nature of the complaints, such processes are difficult for everyone involved."
After McMaster started investigating Watter in February 2020, the university asked anyone with concerns or information to reach out for assistance and to help McMaster better understand any incidents that may have occurred," according to a July news release. In the spring and summer of 2020, the complainant then reported additional allegations against four other people connected to PNB.
She reported the following: a McMaster staff member allegedly sexually assaulted her in 2010; another male professor allegedly sexually harassed her; and her ex-girlfriend, who is a grad student, and Watter's wife, a professor, had knowledge of, and facilitated and participated in, (her) experience of sexual harassment, sexual assault, and physical assault, causing physical and psychological harm," according to a McMaster investigation decision letter. McMaster's investigation into each of the four cases is complete.
The Spectator has seen decision letters for each case. It remains unclear how many other people raised allegations against individuals within the department but The Spectator has confirmed the complainant is not the only one.
All but one of the four above allegations were deemed not substantiated" by the university.
Asked what not substantiated" means, Hemsworth said: A decision under the policies that an allegation is not substantiated is based on the evidence brought forward in the case, including that provided by both the complainant and the respondent." Evidence is considered on a balance of probabilities.
The one exception involved the allegations against the male professor - who is not Watter, as Watter's investigation is still ongoing - for whom some of the complainant's allegations were deemed substantiated." Still, the university found he did not violate any school policies, nor did any of the other three respondents, according to McMaster decision letters.
Three of the four could not be reached for comment.
A lawyer for the professor who she alleges sexually harassed her - allegations the university found to be partially substantiated - said in an email he could not comment further but raised concerns about The Spectator reporting on his client and on the decision letter. He said the professor's current objectives are to restore his personal and professional reputations and to resume a once productive and respected career in the academic community."
In more than a dozen interviews with The Spectator over the course of three months, the complainant's story has remained consistent.
She recounted to The Spectator a story of someone who was naive, in her 20s and struggling with mental-health issues. She believes she was an easy target for Watter, in his 40s, a professor she respected and who held a position of power - a man who became her friend - and someone who also allegedly enjoyed physically hurting and sexually abusing her, she says. She says he gained her trust by positioning himself in her life as someone she could confide in about her mental health issues and her deteriorating relationship with her partner. She says he cemented that trust by sharing intimate details of his personal life with her. She felt she knew his secrets.
When the alleged sexual abuse started, she says she felt isolated from others in her life but tied to him; he was her pillar of support. She alleges his behaviour amounted to grooming."
The sexual aspect of their relationship was never consensual, she says.
None of the allegations have been tested in court.
Cool prof"
The complainant first met Watter, now 47, when she was an undergrad student in the PNB department in 2010. He was her professor in a second-year psychology course.
She says students in her program idolized professors in the prestigious PNB department. But Watter, in particular, stood out as cool." She says he would drink with graduate and undergrad students, have students over for dinners, jam with them at band nights and sing karaoke.
He was smooth and suave and had an ability to make people feel instantly special, the complainant says.
He could make you feel you were the only person in the room, even if there were a million people around," she said. There was this sense of, Oh wow, this really smart person who is respected and cool values my opinion.'"
Respected in his field, Watter was head of the university's Cognitive Science Lab. One of his areas of specialization is memory.
Their relationship remained strictly professional until 2014 when she, a grad student, started dating an older grad student. Her new girlfriend was friends with Watter and his wife, who is also a professor.
Over the next two and a half years, the complainant and her then-girlfriend grew increasingly close with Watter and his wife. In the latter years of their relationship, in 2016 and 2017, the two grad students went to Watter and his wife's house for dinner and board games once or twice a month. The professor couple made the complainant feel at home and at ease, she says.
You really did feel like you were ... part of something warm and happy and safe," she said. I started feeling like part of the family."
That changed in the spring of 2017.
Some of the following allegations are the subject of criminal charges before the courts. The allegations have not been tested or proven in court.
Alleged grooming
One evening in April 2017, the complainant says she and her girlfriend headed to Watter's home for their then-regular dinner-and-board games night. The complainant, however, was not in a sociable mood; she was mourning the sudden death of her grandfather, with whom she was close.
During the evening, wanting to be alone, she excused herself and went to the basement. A short time later, she says Watter came down to join her. She says he sat down next to her and put his arm around her. She started crying and told him she was devastated by her grandfather's death. Despite the fact she was already drunk, she says he handed her a glass of wine, which she drank.
Then he surprised her - allegedly leaning in to kiss her without her consent and then immediately bringing up sex.
He started asking me what I liked in bed, whether I liked it rough, whether I liked to be dominated, whether I could be a good little girl," she alleged. I don't remember how I responded to any of it. I think I just froze, to be honest."
He eventually went upstairs. Soon after, she also went upstairs, telling her girlfriend they needed to leave. She says she didn't tell her what happened.
The next morning, trying to make sense of the previous night, she says she texted Watter. (The Spectator has not seen the text messages. The complainant says Watter later instructed her to delete text messages, which she did.) They agreed to meet up and went for a walk.
On the walk, she says he explained away the alleged kiss by saying they were both drunk and sometimes when people are drunk, things just happen and that's OK. He told her not to tell anyone, including his wife and her girlfriend, she says.
It was during that conversation that she says he opened up to her. She says he told her he valued their friendship and felt safe to confide in her. He told her about his marriage and sex life. The secrets he shared demonstrated to her that he trusted her, she explains. He made her feel comfortable, she says, enough for her to confide in him about relationship troubles between her and her girlfriend. He then suggested the couple try BDSM (bondage, dominance/discipline, sadism/submission and masochism), she alleges, despite her not raising their sex life.
I think he saw an opportunity ... confiding in me about all this super ... personal stuff," she said. I see it now, it was just a slow little trickle of feeling safe and vulnerable around him."
Now, she alleges it was grooming.
Alleged sexual assault
Their friendship strengthened in the weeks after the walk. He became someone she could confide in, especially about her struggles with mental health.
One evening in May, the complainant says her girlfriend, who was out of town, asked Watter and his wife to look out for her because she was feeling depressed. The couple invited the complainant to their house for dinner and board games, she says. She drank heavily - alcohol was often free-flowing at their home, she says.
Just before midnight, drunk, she said she was going home. Watter offered to walk her, she says.
When they arrived at her house, he entered with her, though she doesn't remember why, she says. It's then she says the alleged assault took place.
What I do remember is him taking me into the bedroom at my place, taking my pants off, digitally penetrating my anus and beating me, slapping me with his hand very hard ... to the point that I was crying and wailing," she said. He held me in his arms afterwards and told me how much he liked seeing me this way and hearing me cry."
The alleged assault lasted about an hour, she says. He left later that night.
In the morning, she says she woke up sore and hungover. It was only when she looked in the mirror that it all came flooding back."
I started freaking out and I just remember collapsing on the floor and being like, non-functional. I just started bawling," she said.
She says she hid the purple handprint bruises - which remained visible on her lower back, behind and upper thighs for more than two weeks - from her girlfriend by changing in the bathroom or waiting until she was gone. The couple was not physically intimate during that time, the complainant says.
She didn't tell anyone.
It was too unbelievable to me to even comprehend, even though I saw evidence of it right in front of my face," she said.
Self-harm and months of trauma
In the weeks and months that followed, the complainant started self-harming. Watter allegedly encouraged the cutting, calling it pretty" and asking her to send him photos, which she did. The Spectator has seen the photos she says she sent to Watter, which include date stamps. They are graphic and disturbing.
The second alleged violent assault occurred following an act of self-harm. The complainant alleges her girlfriend called Watter to come over when she was cutting herself. He came over, she says, bringing a first-aid kit and wine into the bathroom. She was bleeding badly. He shut the door and allegedly assaulted her, touching her vagina and kissing her, she says. Then he bandaged her cuts, she says.
I don't know how more f---ed up you can get, assaulting someone when they're in a pool of their own blood," she said.
It was after this alleged assault that her mental health plummeted, she said.
I almost felt like I stopped existing in a way," she said. I was just a shell of myself."
She was self-harming frequently and drinking heavily. She says she felt like a zombie." Her school work suffered and she went on a leave of absence from McMaster in June. The Spectator has seen her email to department heads asking for the leave of absence.
Still, she would text Watter and seek his support when she was struggling, she says.
I felt he was the only one I could talk to despite the fact he was the one harming me," she said. (He) was so good at manipulating and providing reassurance."
She calls her dependence a feedback loop" that she says he created.
Scott had this way about him," she said. I remember during that time when I looked at him, I was in a bad spot, he would look at me and he would tell me everything was going to be OK and I believed it."
Compounding matters, she says, was that the alleged assaults were neither predictable nor consistent. One night things would feel normal - they would play board games at his house with their partners - and the next night he would allegedly sexually assault her, she says.
Trauma experts and advocates for people who experience sexual assault make clear that how someone responds to sexual violence - and why they respond that way - is complicated.
Factors that can influence how someone responds include the threat of violence, a perpetrator's controlling or intimidating behaviour, power imbalances, someone being cut off from their support network and prior trauma, says Amy Deschamps, manager of transitional housing with the YWCA Hamilton who has more than 15 years of experience working with women experiencing violence. Those factors can also be a part of grooming," she says.
Deschamps adds that a common misconception about sexual violence is that it is about sex.
It's not," she says. It's about power and it's about control."
The complainant told The Spectator about another alleged assault that occurred late one night in the summer of 2017. Watter told her he wanted to talk, she says. When she arrived at his home, he allegedly handed her a cocktail, which she says she drank. She remembers going from alert and awake" to spacey" that night, despite drinking just the one cocktail. It was a feeling she says she had during other alleged assaults after consuming drinks he gave her.
She wonders now if the drinks might have been drugged, though the only evidence she has of this is her own recollection of how she felt - not in control, and different from the feeling of being drunk.
There are many, many gaps in my memory from that summer," she says, though she expects some of that memory loss is trauma-related. Like, how I got home or what happened afterwards or ... waking up and not knowing how I got somewhere after the assaults, primarily ... in the day following, for instance."
At some point that night after she drank the cocktail, they went to his basement, she says.
I remember he choked me out," she alleged. He put a pillow over my face and smothered me."
She says she remembers he allegedly bragged about how he could choke her to the point of losing consciousness but then bring her back. She did lose consciousness that night, she says.
During another alleged assault, this one taking place in a car, she says he twisted her nipples to the point they were raw and bleeding.
The alleged assaults she shared details of, which took place during the spring, summer and fall of 2017, are those she says she remembers most clearly. They allegedly involved digital penetration, alcohol and some form of physical harm, she alleges. She says she never consented to the sexual activity and that someone who is intoxicated cannot consent.
How it ended
In July 2017, she and her girlfriend broke up.
Later that summer, she reached out to a former boyfriend whom she trusted. She confided in him about the alleged assaults. He supported her. In the fall, he confronted Watter at his home, she says, though Watter did not admit to anything. The Spectator attempted to reach the former boyfriend but did not get a response. The complainant says he spoke with police.
The complainant said she also confronted Watter that winter.
A screenshot of a text message dated January 2018, sent to a number she says was Watter's, reads: that girl you were dealing with was, most of the time: 1. black out drunk and trying to drown herself from feelings 2. severely depressed and suicidal 3. unaware of much of what was happening. do you know how dissociative i was?"
The person responding, who she says was Watter, says: I agree that I should just not enter into any wide range of situations that can eventually go down all those paths. They are genuinely started as coming to chat when you've asked pretty soberly. But I see very much what you are saying, and that's not a thing I want to be happening."
The complainant is adamant she was not sober when the alleged assaults occurred. She says she was sometimes so drunk she was stumbling and running into walls.
She did not consent to sexual activity with Watter, she says.
I never said yes," she told The Spectator. She added: If someone is that wasted, they can not consent."
Another text from the person the complainant says is Watter reads: I don't know if I should be expecting more life-altering disruption or not."
The assaults stopped. The self-harm also stopped.
In the years that followed, the complainant says she buried her memories of the alleged assaults and grooming. She avoided Watter around campus and made an effort to avoid professional overlap with him - once going to great lengths to find an alternative to a required course because he was the instructor.
But then, two and a half years after the alleged sexual assaults, she learned of another alleged victim.
In the first weeks of 2020, a female former PNB grad student reached out to the complainant's friend, a current PNB grad student who was working with Watter. She warned her to be careful around him. The Spectator has spoken with the friend, who confirmed this.
The friend - who was aware something had happened between the complainant and Watter but not the full extent of the allegations - then connected the complainant with the former PNB grad student. The former student then confided in the complainant that Watter had allegedly sexually assaulted and sexually harassed her.
The Spectator reached out to the former student - the other alleged victim - through her lawyers but did not hear back.
It was really surreal," the complainant says, recalling when she heard the former student's allegations. The story was so similar. It was like I was hearing my own story from someone else's lips."
The similarities, she says, included Watter's interest in their religious upbringings, the shocking sexual comments he allegedly made without warning, and graphic songs he allegedly shared with them both on a USB drive. The complainant says she no longer has the USB.
In the civil lawsuit later filed against McMaster, the former student alleges Watter stroked her hair, placed his hand on her upper thigh and tried to hold her hand."
The confirmation that there was another alleged victim spurred the complainant to act. Previously, she had planned to wait until she was finished with her PhD, away from McMaster and moving on with her life, before reporting the allegations, she says. Now, she worried there were others like her, she says.
It made me realize I couldn't stay silent anymore and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't come forward," she said. I didn't have a choice anymore."
McMaster and the police investigate
In February 2020, after meeting with the other alleged victim, the complainant went to the university's Equity and Inclusion Office, as well as her department chair and graduate chair with her allegations, she says. The other alleged victim also shared her allegations with McMaster in February, the complainant says.
In response, the university initially moved super swiftly," even calling the police on her behalf, the complainant says.
It started off almost better than I could have hoped," she said. I was like, Wow, this is amazing, they're actually hearing me.'"
That later changed.
McMaster responded to the allegations against Watter by launching an investigation. On Feb. 13, 2020, the university suspended him with pay. The university says its investigation into Watter is ongoing.
In June 2020, police arrested Watter and charged him with one count of sexual assault and one count of sexual assault causing bodily harm. At the time, police said they believed there may be other victims. To date, police maintain there are other victims but at their request, the investigation is not proceeding at this time," said police spokesperson Jackie Penman.
In July, McMaster said it had received additional serious allegations of sexual violence involving individuals connected to PNB. It announced it was broadening its investigation, launching a climate review" of the entire PNB department. Seven people connected to the department, including Watter, faced non-disciplinary measures, including being banned from campus and barred from interacting with students, while the university investigated allegations against them.
All the while, the complainant still hoped McMaster would help her get justice. She shared her story with a lawyer hired by the university to investigate her claims, disclosing to the lawyer the painful details of her alleged sexual assault. She says the university assured her they believed her and supported her.
But later, when respondents started sharing their accounts with the university - refuting the complainant's claims - and one other complainant withdrew from the university investigation, things changed, she says. She felt less supported, that the university no longer believed her, she says.
In December, a 15-page executive summary of a report from the law firm hired to conduct the review found systemic and cultural issues" within the department that let inappropriate behaviours go unchecked." The review included responses from 150 people currently and previously connected to PNB.
The complainant says the report barely scratched the surface of the problems within PNB that allow alleged perpetrators of sexual violence to go unpunished.
McMaster has refused to release the full 74-page report, citing solicitor-client privilege.
The summary says respondents raised concerns about some faculty taking advantage of the lack of boundaries in the department to engage in sexually inappropriate behaviour with students." Some said they tried to raise their concerns with people in positions of authority but felt continually dismissed by the department, and to a lesser extent, McMaster's Equity and Inclusion Office."
The university committed itself to implementing the investigators' recommendations, including trauma-informed training for staff and faculty, and doing a better job informing students of resources and support available to them.
But the complainant remains disappointed in the university's handling of the review and individual allegations. She no longer believes McMaster is interested in getting justice for survivors of sexual violence.
The civil case
In January 2021, the other alleged victim, the former PNB grad student, filed a civil suit against McMaster.
The statement of claim alleges McMaster is liable for the alleged sexual advances, sexual harassment, sexual assault and intimidation the plaintiff was subjected to by four professors, including Watter. Watter is the only professor alleged to have sexually assaulted the plaintiff.
In a statement of defence, the university says it denies most of the plaintiff's claims, though it is still investigating Watter. It says she is not entitled to any of the $770,000 in damages she is suing for.
The Spectator is not naming her as she is an alleged victim of sexual assault and her statement of claim includes a request that she remain unnamed.
The allegations have not been proven in court.
Regarding the specific allegations against Watter, the statement of claim alleges: Among other things, Dr. Watter, for example, stroked her hair, placed his hand on her upper thigh and tried to hold her hand."
It alleges he made sexual advances" toward the plaintiff, including comments that he was sexually attracted to her; asking what she was willing to do as a Catholic girl'; asking if she was looking for a daddy'; asking about her romantic and sexual relationships; informing her that he was into daddy-daughter/student-teacher' sexual scenarios." He gave her a USB of explicit and pornographic songs," the statement of claim alleges.
The other allegations and retraumatization"
After reporting allegations involving Watter to McMaster in February 2020, the complainant says she felt compelled to report other allegations involving people connected to PNB. The university was asking anyone with concerns or information" to come forward.
She says she wanted to tell the whole story. This is why she decided to come forward with her allegations about Watter's wife, her ex-girlfriend, the other male professor and the male staff member.
Regarding the allegations against Watter's wife and the ex-girlfriend, the complainant explains that when the alleged sexual assault was happening, she did not suspect either woman was involved. But looking back, she says she doesn't understand how they could not have known, or could not have been complicit.
McMaster investigated all of her allegations. In all but one case, the university deemed her complaints unsubstantiated. The allegations involving the other male professor, who she alleged sexually harassed her, were determined to partially credible. Still, because his behaviour was not deemed vexatious," the university decided he was not in violation of its sexual violence and discrimination and harassment policies.
Essentially, on the balance of probabilities - and in almost all cases - McMaster didn't believe her.
It's no f---ing wonder women don't come forward," she now says. Why would anyone want to go through this?"
Hamilton police, however, continued to investigate. The complainant had reported the sexual assault allegation involving the McMaster staff member to police in late summer 2020. In March 2021, two months after McMaster dismissed the allegations, police charged staff member Christopher McAllister with one count of sexual assault. McMaster has put him on administrative leave.
The Spectator requested comment from McAllister's lawyer for this story but did not hear back. In March, his lawyer said she had no comment.
The complainant says she is appalled by the university's handling of her claims.
I have been completely betrayed by an institution and a family that I was part of for 12 years," she says. They're willing to protect their reputation and scholarly prowess' ... at the expense of those individuals who ended up being victimized."
She thinks back on the countless exhausting and retraumatizing" hours she spent sharing her story with university officials and the lawyer hired to investigate her claims. She says she was told not to speak about her experience with other alleged victims or potential witnesses - a measure survivors and advocates commonly refer to as a gag order," which is in place at McMaster and other post-secondary institutions. Survivors say it prevents them from healing. Even the decision letters that dismissed her allegations warn against sharing the findings.
The gag order ... makes you feel that much more alone," she says. Of the university, she says: They took away a year of my life."
The fallout
The complainant says her professional and personal life has suffered since she and others came forward with allegations.
Some within the once tight-knit PNB department are angry she brought allegations about their peers and colleagues to light, she says. Some were unhappy about the university's decision to conduct a climate review in the first place, a claim backed up in the review report itself. The department is divided, she says.
In recent weeks, people have raised concerns about her mental well-being to the university, prompting a member of McMaster's student support team to reach out to her, saying they were advised" she may be experiencing stress at this time." The Spectator has seen the email in question. The complainant suspects the people flagging her mental health are attempting to write her off as hysterical," she says. She wrote back to the student support team to say her stress is normal for someone who has come forward as a survivor."
Those who support her - within her department and the university more broadly - are doing so at great professional risk, she says. They are up against a powerful institution.
Reflecting back on the fallout from her decision to raise the allegations with McMaster, she calls it a worst nightmare" scenario.
This is the whole reason I hadn't come forward in the first place," she says. I had just read story upon story upon story of institutions finding ways to silence women or women not being believed or being ostracized by their entire academic community, being called liars. That's exactly what happened."
Regardless of the potential consequences, the complainant says she is now speaking out because she no longer wants to feel silenced. She wants the people she says perpetrated her harm held to account. She wants to shed light on the systemic culture in post-secondary institutions that allows alleged perpetrators to go unpunished.
And she wants to prevent what she says happened to her from happening to anyone else.
I'm fighting back now," she says.
Resources for survivors of sexual violence:
SACHA (Sexual Assault Centre, Hamilton and Area): 24-hour support line 905-525-4162; www.sacha.ca.
SAVIS (Sexual Assault and Violence Intervention Services of Halton): 905-875-1555.
Sexual Assault/Domestic Violence Care Centre at Hamilton Health Sciences: 905-521-2100 ext. 73557.
McMaster University's Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Office: svpro@mcmaster.ca; svpro.mcmaster.ca.
McMaster's student-run Women and Gender Equity Network (WGEN): wgen@msu.mcmaster.ca; msumcmaster.ca/service/wgen.
Resources for those who may be thinking of suicide or self-harm:
Crisis Outreach and Support Team (COAST), a partnership between St. Joseph's Healthcare mental health workers and specially-trained Hamilton police officers: 24-7 crisis line 905-972-8338 or toll free at 1-844-972-8338.
Good2Talk helpline for college/university students: 1-866-925-5454.
Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868.
Canada's national suicide prevention helpline: 1-833-456-4566.
Katrina Clarke is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach her via email: katrinaclarke@thespec.com
Resources for survivors of sexual violence
SACHA
Sexual Assault Centre, Hamilton and Area
24-hour support line: 905-525-4162
Online: sacha.ca.
SAVIS
Sexual Assault and Violence Intervention Services of Halton
Call: 905-875-1555.
Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Care Centre
Hamilton Health Sciences
Call: 905-521-2100 ext. 73557.
McMaster University's Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Office
Email: svpro@mcmaster.ca
Online: svpro.mcmaster.ca.
McMaster's student-run Women and Gender Equity Network (WGEN)
Email: wgen@msu.mcmaster.ca
Online: msumcmaster.ca/service/wgen
Resources for those who may be thinking of suicide or self-harm:
Crisis Outreach and Support Team (COAST)
A partnership between St. Joseph's Healthcare mental health workers and specially-trained Hamilton police officers.
24-7 crisis line: 905-972-8338
Toll free at 1-844-972-8338
Good2Talk helpline
For college/university students
Call: 1-866-925-5454.
Kids Help Phone
Call: 1-800-668-6868.
Canada's national suicide prevention helpline
Call: 1-833-456-4566.