Beyond the Screen: Technology and AI Facilitated Domestic Abuse

This training course equips practitioners with the knowledge and confidence to navigate the growing role of technology and artificial intelligence in abuse and safeguarding. As digital tools become more integrated into daily life, they can both empower survivors and present new risks, from tech-facilitated harassment to surveillance and manipulation through smart devices and AI. Through practical examples, case studies, and guided discussion, this course will help workers understand how technology can be misused, identify warning signs, and develop strategies to support and protect those affected. Participants will also explore how technology and AI can be harnessed as tools for safety, advocacy, and recovery, ensuring their practice remains both current and survivor-focused.

By the end of the training, frontline workers will be able to support individuals experiencing technology-facilitated domestic abuse by creating a practical safety plan that includes identifying digital risks, strengthening privacy and security settings, and guiding safe use of devices and online platforms.

By the end of this training, participants will be able to:

Knowledge

• Define technology- and AI-facilitated domestic abuse and understand how it intersects with coercive control
• Recognize how perpetrators misuse everyday technologies (smartphones, GPS, smart home devices, social media, spyware) and emerging AI tools (deepfakes, voice cloning, automated harassment)
• Understand the risks these abuses pose to survivor safety, wellbeing, and confidentiality
• Be aware of relevant safeguarding duties, organisational policies, and legal frameworks (e.g., coercive control laws, stalking legislation, digital evidence handling)

Skills

• Identify warning signs and red flags of tech-enabled abuse during client interactions and risk assessments
• Support survivors in practical steps to improve digital safety without escalating risk (e.g., safe device checks, account security, documenting evidence)
• Incorporate questions about technology and AI misuse into safety planning
• Collaborate with specialist agencies (e.g., digital security experts, police cybercrime units) to strengthen survivor protection
• Respond to disclosures about tech abuse in a trauma-informed, non-judgmental way that prioritises survivor autonomy and safety
• Develop technology specific safety planning in a domestic abuse context

Attitudes

• Recognise technology and AI misuse as integral to patterns of domestic abuse, not as separate or “secondary” issues.
• Approach survivors’ concerns about technology with empathy and validation, avoiding minimisation.
• Stay open to continuous learning, acknowledging that abuse tactics evolve alongside new technologies.
• Value survivor-led safety planning, respecting their choices around technology use (e.g., staying online to maintain social networks or work).

Facilitator: Jodie McVicar is Head of Training with Scottish Women’s Aid, overseeing national training and strategic partnerships across Scotland.  Jodie has previous experience working within refuge at Edinburgh Women’s Aid, and as a Trustee with Fife Women’s Aid. Jodie also has experience working within child protection, including leading CLD and assessing practice of safeguarders via the National Safeguarders Panel team with Children 1^st.  Jodie is also an accredited Safe and Together trainer, and has extensive experience of embedding training and implementation into wider systems change – particularly in relation to domestic abuse and other human rights issues.