Key Approaches in Asking and Responding to Domestic Abuse

How do you provide a validating and supportive response to someone experiencing domestic abuse? What are the signs of abuse?  How do you ask and, importantly how do you respond if someone discloses it’s happening or has happened to them?

Experiencing domestic abuse can be overwhelming.  Survivors responses describe feelings of guilt, shame and embarrassment, being unsure of what is happening to them; where they can go and what help they can get, fearful of doing anything which might increase risk to their or their children’s safety. Women who feel able to disclose typically describe a history of long-standing, escalating abuse and violence, remarking on how much they wanted to be able to talk about what was going on, if only someone had asked them.

This session explores the best practice in asking about abuse, potential indicators of abuse, the principles of safety planning and the importance of signposting to specialist services.

Learning Outcomes:

• Understand the impact of domestic abuse on those who experience it and how it affects their behaviour and choices
• Have an enhanced understanding of the main issues in asking and responding to anyone experiencing domestic abuse
• Have greater knowledge, skills confidence and motivation to recognise and respond to domestic abuse.
• Have explored and practised the skills, knowledge and tools to better identify risk, assess protective factors and increase safety for those experiencing domestic abuse.

Facilitator:

Judy Ferguson is the National Training Coordinator at Scottish Women’s Aid having previously spent nearly a decade with East Ayrshire Women’s Aid leading on all Domestic Abuse and Gender Based Violence multi agency training within the local Violence Against Women Partnership.

A certified Safe & Together Trainer with a passion and commitment to ensuring addressing domestic abuse becomes everyone’s business, Judy regularly provides training to COPFS, Police, Social Work, Criminal Justice Workers, Heath, Housing and VAWG partnerships and strives to improving the understanding of, and response to survivors and children experiencing domestic abuse.

Judy strives to support organisations develop robust approaches to end violence against women and girls, recognising it is a breach of human rights and unacceptable in any society and everyone has the right to live free from the threat of violence and abuse.