Whenever we could, we learned to get on a participant's side if possible in the conflict. Sometimes that was not possible and then we needed to figure out how to follow up with women after being embroiled in a conflict. Because our community development worker was also a WISH staff, she came up against this issue more. Her insight into conflict helped us to see the positive aspects of this interaction.

Her approach was to stand firm at the time of the conflict - for instance if a woman arrived too late for a shower in the Drop-In and started an argument about the policy, she would just uphold the rule at the time. However, following this argument, the community development worker would be completely approachable and respectful to the woman to facilitate a new start. This worked well, especially when WISH is the woman's only source of food and resources. It gave everyone a chance for a new start and a stronger rapport. Often this process ended with apologies or a deeper understanding of each other's intention.

Working with street-involved women means working with grief. Becoming part of women's lives means sharing the loss of children, the loss of health, the humiliation and trauma of beatings. It also means being left in the wake of their deaths. It was hard not to worry all the time about women especially with more and more women going missing. In our own bodies, this showed up as sickness, stress, sleeplessness and sometimes dread.