Domestic Abuse Alliance

We're standing alongside Women's Aid Federation of England - are you? Abuse can impact anyone - and especially women and children. But government funding doesn’t fully protect them. We've signed Women's Aid's open letter calling on the government to commit to dedicated funding to provide lifesaving support for all survivors. Women's Aid has also produced a video "the Monster Who Came to Tea" (https://lnkd.in/esGqDeF9) which brings home the reality that 1.8 million children and 1.6 women experienced domestic abuse in 2023-24. You can add your voice to the campaign - and help to rewrite these stories - by signing the open letter (link in comments below). #DomesticAbuseAwareness #SurvivorSupport #WEPROTECT #SayNoToDomesticSilence

The latest Domestic Abuse Alliance newsletter is out. Read it here.

All set up and ready to go. Thanks to Bedfordshire Police for inviting us to their #domesticabuse event today, hosted by Unilever.  It’s a privilege to stand alongside other local support services making a difference, including IMPAKT and Victim Support, and showcase our #WEPROTECT referral service, which is accelerating access to civil legal support and protection for victim-survivors across Bedfordshire (and beyond). An added bonus to spend the day with our fantastic ambassador Sharon Livermore MBE from Domestic Abuse Education who is sharing her lived experience of abuse with a packed room of local employers. Domestic abuse is everyone’s business. Have you made it yours yet? #DomesticAbuseAwareness #SurvivorSupport #SayNoToDomesticSilence

A really powerful watch about the impact of #domesticabuse on young people. Interventions that improve the response to abuse are vital - but there also needs to be action and education (and funding) to help stop it from happening in the first place. #BreakTheCycle #SayNoToDomesticSilence

Protecting Through Partnership - Andrea's story Andrea* is a 21-year-old woman from East Sussex. She suffered years of repeated sexual, physical, and emotional abuse by her perpetrator and still bears physical scars on her body from his attacks. Yet, despite pursuing criminal justice proceedings for the abuse she has endured at his hands, Andrea’s perpetrator was not convicted of a criminal offence. When our call handling team spoke to her, it was clear that Andrea had strong grounds for a civil protection order. However, after conducting a financial means assessment, Andrea was found not eligible for legal aid, yet she had no access to private finance to fund civil legal proceedings. This meant if she decided to apply for a civil injunction she would have to self-represent in court – a daunting prospect for anyone and not least a survivor of prolonged abuse. Financial support to cover her essential legal costs was granted by East Sussex County Council through its Legal Costs Fund which enabled Andrea to secure legal representation to progress her application. The Legal Costs Fund was set up using ring-fenced funding from Government to support the delivery of the duties under the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 to enable access to or maintenance of safe accommodation. Sadly, Andrea’s experience is not an isolated case. In 2024 we helped nine victims-survivors in East Sussex, with no recourse to funding, to secure civil injunctions supported through East Sussex County Council’s Legal Costs Fund. This financial aid has ensured that vulnerable people receive professional legal representation, when they need it most. Read the full case study here: https://lnkd.in/emXMmAh7 *Not the victim-survivor’s real name which has been protected for her anonymity. #SurvivorSupport #ProtectingThroughPartnership #WEPROTECT #DomesticAbuseAwareness #LegalSupport

This week our team supervisor, Jo, joined members of the Greater Manchester Gender Based Violence Action Network for Students (GBVANS), sharing information about the #WEPROTECT referral service to help improve access to legal support for students living with #domesticabuse. GBVANS was established in 2021 by the The University of Manchester, in partnership with the other Manchester Universities, Students’ Unions, Greater Manchester Police, Local Authority and Local Services. The network is committed to providing an effective partnership response to sexual violence and harassment for Manchester’s significant student population. If you would like to find out more about #WEPROTECT - or take up our free online training offer on domestic abuse and civil protection orders - please get in touch 💙

Every week should be #NoMoreWeek until, collectively, we end the silence on the epidemic of #domesticabuse and sexual violence that impacts 1 in 3 women and 1 in 6 men globally. #SayNoToDomesticSilence #WEPROTECT #DomesticAbuseAwareness #SurvivorSupport

Domestic abuse charity Refuge is following up on its Make the World a Refuge campaign with a sea of red flags at Outernet London. The installation will feature quotes from domestic abuse survivors to highlight the often unseen, unrecognised and unreported forms of harm and control that women face. The image of the red flag is often trivialised as a signal of toxic or abusive traits, Refuge’s campaign is designed to show that ‘no red flag is too small’. Created by London-based agency AMV BBDO, who partnered with Pixel Artworks and Collective Studios, the campaign will run at the Outernet immersive space in Charing Cross Road on March 8th, International Women’s Day (#IWD2025). 📸 Credit - Refuge. Links to the full news article about the installation, and Refuge's awareness of red flags survey, in the comments below ⬇️

There is a body of academic research which has studied the 'window of opportunity' concept - generally used to refer to a time period during which women have an opportunity to escape an abusive relationship, with outside assistance. During the first hours or days after an incident, victim-survivors understandably feel vulnerable and may be more willing to consider making a significant life change. With #WEPROTECT we've reduced the timeline it takes for victim-survivors to secure civil legal support to a matter of hours, sometimes even minutes. #SurvivorSupport #DomesticAbuseAwareness #SayNoToDomesticSilence #VAWG #AccelerateAction #IWD2025 Humberside Police

A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story Actress Lucy Boynton, who plays Ruth Ellis - the last woman to be hanged in Britain in 1955, after she shot dead her abusive racing driver boyfriend David Blakely - says society has become 'desensitised' to domestic abuse. “It is seen as a kind of inevitable existence, inevitable presence, and we all know the statistics that are made available to us...and hopefully make someone feel less alone...and thankfully, there are now more organisations that [do target that and] try and help women." A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story starts on ITV1 at 9pm on Wednesday March 5. #NoMoreWeek #DomesticAbuseAwareness #SurvivorSupport #SayNoToDomesticSilence 📸 ITV.com