Catching the Problem Upstream: Why Ontario’s New Support Line for Men Who Cause Harm Is a Step Forward—But Only a First Step

The Announcement: A New Support Line for Men Who Cause Harm

Recently, Ontario announced a new province-wide support line for men who cause harm or are worried they might cause harm in their relationships. The service, reachable through 211, is designed to provide access to counseling, referrals, and support for men who recognize harmful behaviors and want to change before it escalates into criminal behavior.

It’s a bold and much-needed step. Although individual counselling has been available for a while, their effectiveness varies greatly. For example, many social workers criticize anger management as failing to address the root cause of gender-based violence: namely, the socio-ecologically driven sense of entitlement to dominate and control women. Some suggest it can make things worse by framing abuse as a matter of “temper” rather than deep-seated belief systems.

Because of that, the socio-educational approach employed by interventions like the Partner Assault Response (PAR) program is generally preferred, although they are also far from perfect. Perhaps the biggest problem with PAR is that it is available only after someone has entered the criminal justice system (i.e. post-assault/arrest). That means we are missing a crucial opportunity for early intervention: the moment before harm happens.

Why Early Intervention Matters

We can’t address intimate partner violence only after the damage is done. If we truly want safer communities and workplaces, we have to move interventions upstream—to the point where people can seek help voluntarily, and where social systems can catch warning signs earlier.

This new 211 support line represents an attempt to do exactly that. However, its success will depend on how it’s implemented and who is involved in shaping it.

As a preliminary point, I hope the program has been designed in consultation with survivors, as they know better than anyone what helps, what harms, and what risks are created when systems don’t fully understand lived realities.

Another challenge is that a helpline necessarily puts the onus on the individual to continue to seek out the help. That means they don't benefit from the accountability that community-based solutions offer.

Lastly, the 211 website specifically mentions the availability of anger management supports, which (as noted earlier) is controversial. But in a world where there aren't a lot of other options—or with PAR, having to be caught by the criminal justice system first—this is probably the right step in the right direction if we're going to move interventions further upstream.

Moving Even Further Upstream: Changing Culture, Not Just Behavior

While services like 211 and PAR help on the intervention side, we also need to change the cultural conditions that make violence possible in the first place.

This is where I want to highlight the groundbreaking work of Cindy Gallop, founder of Make Love Not Porn and the Make Love Not Porn Academy. Cindy’s work focuses on redefining sex education and challenging harmful portrayals of intimacy that fuel misogyny and rape culture.

By showing examples of consensual, respectful, egalitarian relationships, and by teaching sex-positive education to audiences—including children in age-appropriate ways—the Academy is catching the problem truly upstream.

Because if we raise a generation that understands what healthy relationships look like, we reduce the need for crisis interventions later on.

The Path Forward

Ontario’s new support line is not a perfect solution—but it’s progress.

It’s an acknowledgment that violence prevention isn’t just a justice issue; it’s a public health and cultural issue.

To make it work, we’ll need:

• Survivor-centered program design

• Accountability built into community-based supports

• Continued expansion of upstream education like Cindy Gallop’s initiatives

• And leadership—both governmental and corporate—that recognizes the connection between social well-being and workplace safety

Catching the problem upstream means creating systems that make help accessible before harm occurs—and creating cultures where seeking help isn’t seen as weakness, but as responsibility.