Panel discussion:
Domestic abuse in diverse
communities – services to support
resilience
Eleri Butler,
Chief Executive, Welsh Women’s Aid
Welsh Women’s Aid
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Membership organisation - 26 domestic abuse services
- 2013/14: supported 9,337 survivors, 2263 women in refuges
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All Wales Domestic Abuse & Sexual Violence Helpline
– 2013/14: supported 27,972 callers
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Children Matter: coordination and training, prevention &
support programme for services, schools, communities
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National training service- public services/housing/NGOs
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Champions & supporters programme
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Voice of local services and survivors to government
Domestic abuse
• The actual or threatened physical, psychological, sexual or
financial abuse of a person by their partner, family member or
someone with whom there is, or has been a close relationship …
• Home Office definition: any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive,
threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are, or have
been, intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality. The abuse
can encompass, but is not limited to: psychological, physical, sexual, financial, emotional.
• Also relates to allowing or causing a child to witness or be at risk
of witnessing domestic abuse
Violence against women
• directed at women because they are women or that impact
disproportionately on women
• Includes: rape and sexual violence, forced marriage, ‘honourbased’ violence, female genital mutilation, sexual harassment,
stalking, sexual exploitation including through prostitution/sex
industry & trafficking
Domestic abuse is gendered
• Most perpetrators are men and the gender of both victim and
perpetrator influences behaviour, severity of risk, and harm caused
• It is women across all socio-economic groups who are most likely to
experience repetitive and multiple forms of abuse over their lifetime, to
experience coercive control/DA, to be raped, injured or killed
• History of traumatic experiences increases likelihood of physical/mental
ill-health, problematic substance use, homelessness, CJS involvement
A resilient community is gender sensitive and trauma
informed
Addressing gender & intersecting inequalities must be
at the heart of building resilience in people and communities
Survivors report little trust & confidence in public
services, & value specialist women’s / BME women’s
services
WWA research with disabled women on domestic abuse
• Needs and experiences ’hard to hear’
• Barriers to seeking help include
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being labelled, judged, blamed
Shame and humiliation, lack of confidence and low self-esteem
Communication barriers
Services not recognising experience as abuse
Lack of support from family/friends, who normalise the abuse
Isolation, fear of being injured, killed
Dependency on abuser for vital care and support
Lack of accessible emergency (refuge) and ongoing housing
Not knowing what support is available – or not being able to access
Cumulative experience of discrimination, abuse, harassment from
public/strangers sends women back to their abuser
“ Disabled women still live in fear of abuse on the street from
strangers,– I’ve been pushed and abused and told in the street
that I shouldn’t be allowed out or to leave the house because
I’m disabled. There is a huge amount of discrimination against us
and a lot of work to prevent violence against disabled women in
public places too “
“I needed support, I was in a bad way, I was sectioned and
everything after that experience of abuse, I wanted access to
advocacy and support, to talking therapies, I don’t want to be
given drugs and be locked up in wards just because I’ve
been abused. I want human responses to human distress
which recognises my experience as a woman is often
different from men”
Public service/housing services ideally placed to respond:
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Ensure safer communities and reduce fear of crime
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Reduce costs (repairs, arrears, tenancy breach)
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Standardise process of identification and response
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Improve staff confidence in responding / support staff
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Improve partnerships with specialist services
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Build resilience and recovery in people & communities
“There is a real problem of perpetrators working within statutory systems, such
as working as carers for social services... services should also never use
interpreters from the same community, and they should ask women first what
the most appropriate interpreter should be.”
“The focus of services should be what they can offer to increase women’s
safety, not to judge women’s behaviour and what she is doing or not doing in
response to experiencing violence.”
What can housing providers do:
• Understand DA and its impact – training from specialist providers;
• Ensure all interventions prioritise safety - focus on how well strategy,
policy and practice increases survivor safety, holds perpetrators to
account and manages their risk / changes their behaviour & prevents
future generations from using violence and abuse;
• Raise awareness about what DA / VAW is amongst service users;
• Identify survivors – assess risk/meet needs, embed in casework;
• Identify perpetrators–risk assess; challenge tolerance; hold to account
• Coordinated approach - working in collaboration with specialist
services (eg co-located DA advocates from DA services in housing
services – can provide women with turning point they need to change
their lives)
• Workplace policies / procedures – employees will experience and
perpetrate abuse
• Community prevention: VAW is not just a woman’s issue, it’s an issue
for children & young people, men, families and communities
Questions / discussion ?
Diolch - Thank you
Any further questions please contact
Eleri Butler, CEO, Welsh Women’s Aid
EleriButler@welshwomensaid.org.uk