Course overview
Our Foundation: Responding to young people affected by domestic abuse course (Ypva) aims to increase your understanding of how domestic abuse differs for young people and how to improve your professional response to make young people safer. This course is made up of the initial 8 days of core domestic abuse knowledge plus 4 days of specialist Ypva content focusing on supporting young victims of domestic abuse.
Young people experience the highest rates of domestic abuse of any age group. Our report Safe Young Lives highlighted the fact that the abuse that young people experience may look different to the abuse that adults experience. It also found that existing adult domestic abuse support is not always equipped to meet the needs of young people. It is important that support for young people is delivered in a way that is responsive to their needs and their specific issues are expertly addressed.
The Ypva Foundation training is supported by relevant specialists from many different fields, including: civil law, harmful practices and tech abuse. This course is aimed at Ypvas, Idva practitioners, domestic abuse practitioners and service managers who currently carry an active caseload of domestic abuse victims or are about to start doing so.
The training can also be a great opportunity for non-DA professionals to gain CPD around the risks specifically around young people’s experiences of domestic abuse. SafeLives does however recommend that you have a strong knowledge of domestic abuse case management.
The content is designed to give learners the depth and breadth of understanding needed to support domestic abuse victims, survivors and their children in a multi-agency context from a whole family perspective. These first 8 days core learning are the same days as in the Idva Foundation. If you have already completed Idva Foundation you do not need to repeat these, instead complete just the Ypva Specialist course.
Learn more about our Idva Foundation Course
Topics covered in this course include:
- Prosocial modelling, vicarious trauma and advocacy core skills
- Using the Dash Risk Assessment and effective safety planning
- Anti-racist practice
- Harmful practices
- LGBTQ+
- Civil law including non-molestation options
- Criminal justice system
- Housing law and options
- Mental health
Please note the course uses the term young people to describe those aged 13 to 20 and does not contain content about children under 13 experiencing domestic abuse via a parental type relationship.
We are delighted to announce that, following an open competition, we have been awarded funding from the Ministry of Justice to provide training for new and existing ISVAs, IDVAs, and service managers. We are pleased the Government recognises how crucial Idvas are to tens of thousands of victims every year. We run the flagship Idva qualification and have trained more than 3,300 Independent Idvas across England and Wales to date. With this provision, we will be able to increase access to training, especially for smaller specialist services, through subsidies. We will also enhance the support we give practitioners through an extended range of specialised training courses, webinars and best practice resources to grow the knowledge, confidence and skills vital to helping survivors of domestic abuse.
Thanks to this, we have been able to reduce the cost of this training – see new costing below.
