27th October 2015
One quality an effective independent domestic violence advisor (Idva) needs is the ability to think creatively about the support they offer their clients. They need to offer victims a range of opportunities to take that crucial first step towards help, and towards building a safer future that’s both sustainable and full of hope.
13th July 2015
Last month, SafeLives ran a series of seminars for Maracs – celebrating the hard work of professionals up and down the country, and taking time to think about what’s next. During the London event, I had the pleasure of seeing lots of old colleagues from my time at Advance and Standing Together Against Domestic Violence.
29th June 2015
I have been thinking about Duluth a lot recently. For those of you young enough that it was before your time (lucky you!), Duluth is a town in Minnesota where the wonderful Ellen Pence and Michael Paymar developed a model of addressing domestic abuse in a holistic way. It required commitment from the whole community and it became known as the co-ordinated community response.
22nd June 2015
Anyone who works with victims of domestic abuse will know that empowerment is a key part of helping a woman stay safe long-term. This is something we cover with the independent domestic violence advisors (Idvas) we train – how they can use the tools at their disposal to empower clients wherever possible.
15th June 2015
When I first started working with women nearly 20 years ago, we didn’t talk about a risk-led approach. That isn’t to say we weren’t making decisions based on risk, we were – all the time. With only so many hours in the day, and lots of women needing our help, we made choices about who to call, which partners to involve, who needed extra support, whether to share information or not and so on.
We came from a place of wanting to empower women and make sure they stayed in control of their lives and their information. We still do, I hope.