“I feel 'am I enabling this relationship, am I allowing this relationship to continue through my support'?" • "If we worked 'safely' we wouldn't reach the survivor at all" •  "Chaotic behaviour can sometimes mask domestic abuse, making it hard to identify" 

Women experiencing multiple disadvantage and domestic abuse are among the most marginalised in our society. Research and experience have shown that they face considerable barriers in both identifying their experience as abuse and getting the specialist support that they need.  

These women are also more likely to stay in a relationship with their perpetrator for reasons related to trauma and environments, meaning frontline workers are often working in highly delicate dynamics where both the survivor and perpetrator are present. 

This means frontline teams in homelessness support settings are required to work with both survivors and perpetrators of domestic abuse, sometimes within the same service., and often with little guidance on how to do so safely. In order to keep survivors safe and enable them to access the support they need, we firmly believe we need to also work with perpetrators.

Guidance

This guidance will outline how to do work with survivors and perpetrators effectively and, most importantly – safely. We’re proud to have worked with Standing Together to create practical guidance for professionals in homelessness settings - Working Effectively with Perpetrators and Survivors of Domestic Abuse in Homelessness Settings. 

This guidance provides practical advice for homelessness practitioners working on the frontline as well as points for consideration by those in strategic roles that have the power to embed the guidance within their organization or local area. The aim of the guidance is to; 

• Increase safety for survivors experiencing multiple disadvantage 
• Where appropriate, to motivate perpetrators of domestic abuse to recognise and address their behaviour and support them to access appropriate help where possible. 
• Improve the skills, confidence and safety of practitioners working in these scenarios. 

Training - 'Confidence in Complexity'

Alongside Standing Together, we run a training course to run alongside the guidance. 

The course will allow practitioners to increase their knowledge, skills and confidence when working with survivors of domestic abuse, perpetrators of domestic abuse or encountering both simultaneously, within the context of multiple disadvantage.

The training was piloted and developed with the support of local homelessness services and can be delivered over one-day in person or virtually across two three-hour modules

Download the course information pack here.

For more information or to discuss how this course can best meet the needs of your organisation, please contact Lucy Campbell at [email protected]

Training Evaluation

Both the guidance and a training package, which work to improve identification, responses and referrals for victim/survivors and perpetrators into appropriate services and interventions, were evaluated by our partners PraxisCollab.

Download the report to find more learnings and recommendations