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Ruth Davies is the Communications Officer at SafeLives. In this series she'll interview a different team member every month - over a nice cup of tea.

Susie Price is Head of the Research, Evaluation and Analysis (REA) team. 

Ruth: Hi Susie. So can you tell me a bit about your background and how you came to be at SafeLives? 

Susie: I’ve been directly involved with SafeLives for the last four years, but before that when SafeLives was CAADA I was working as an Idva so I was very much aware of their work. My involvement started when I was one of the lead trainers on the Children and Young People’s Ypva training programme. I then did Idva training and various other bits and bobs as an associate, then came on board as a trainer. I did that for about ten months, before I was seconded across to work on the Drive project [the perpetrator programme SafeLives is working on in partnership with Respect and Social Finance]. I then moved to head of REA in January.

What are you looking forward to in the year ahead? 

It’s an exciting year for REA. We’re at a point where we’re ready to take on a lot of new challenges. One of the things I’ll be focussing on over the next few months is our Insights tool. We’ll be working with services, commissioners and Idvas, to really understand what services need and what they use Insights for, to make it the best it can be. The team are all really invested in it and it’s a really exciting project.  

Obviously we’ve got lots of other exciting things happening across the organisation. Having been so heavily involved in Drive it’s great to still be involved on the evaluation side of things and see how the cases are going. I think when you’ve worked in the sector for as long as I have – I’ve worked in domestic abuse for about 17 years – now being part of this team where we’re trying new things and being innovative and courageous, that’s exciting in itself whatever role I’m in.  

Finally, what are you most proud of in your work with SafeLives? 

It sounds a bit noncommittal but I’m very proud of all of it! I’ve been really fortunate to be involved in some great things, and been given the freedom and autonomy to express my passions and put my own stamp on things – always as part of a bigger team.  

Drive has been amazing. In the past I’ve worked with families, I’ve worked with refuge and lots of areas across the sector. So suddenly being in a position where we’re developing a response to the people actually causing the abuse, shifting that focus from “why doesn’t she leave?” to “why doesn’t he stop?”, that’s been amazing, I’ve loved it. I’ve really enjoyed the dynamic nature of it – it’s felt a bit chaotic at times! – But the creative process has been wonderful. So those are definitely the things I’m most proud of being involved with.  

As an organisation we’ve done some great things, and it’s been so wonderful to walk alongside others and be involved in this work. I'm proud to work for an organisation that has integrity, courage and that strives to change the landscape of response to victims, children and perpetrators of domestic abuse.