A public health approach to ending domestic abuse for the whole family

Every survivor of domestic abuse deserves the right response at the right time. We need to support the whole person, not one concern at a time, and look at the impact of domestic abuse on the whole family. Risk and need must be addressed holistically if we are serious about supporting families to safety sooner.

On this page, you’ll find

• Executive summary: Taking a public health approach to ending domestic abuse for the whole family. Published in March 2023
• The Public Health Approach report: A public health approach to ending domestic abuse for the whole family. Published in June 2023

Building on the existing framework of risk and recovery (Idva/Marac) and earlier pilots, including One Front Door and Beacons projects, SafeLives developed a four step public health approach for the whole family.

This provides the next step in creating a sustainable and scalable way of implementing best practice when responding to domestic abuse at the local level and helps to:

• Promote whole-family thinking and placing the authentic voice of survivors at the heart of recommendations to shape a more effective response to domestic abuse locally.
• Support areas to develop awareness of gaps around multi-agency working, specialist service provision, and levels of awareness of domestic abuse.
• Help areas to prioritise addressing domestic abuse, which they may have otherwise struggled to do with existing capacity.
• Recognise that local areas are best placed to know what will work for them and working with them to co-create recommendations for sustainable change.

Using a systems-thinking methodology and through the lens of the whole family, we work with local authorities, Police and Crime Commissioners, Clinical Commissioning groups and other multi-agency partners in local areas to identify opportunities to improve identification, risk assessment, referrals and interventions as well as early intervention and prevention of domestic abuse.

Learn more about the our public health approach to ending domestic abuse