Why doesn’t she just leave? Supporting safety for women who stay.

One of the most common questions posed about victims of domestic abuse is ‘‘Why doesn’t she just leave?”

Well intentioned and often founded on the belief that surely the best thing, the only thing to do, is to pack your bags and just leave?   Yet survivors, practitioners, academics and statistics tell us leaving is actually one of the most dangerous points, when behaviour very often escalates and violence may be introduced for the first and fatal time meaning it may in fact be safer to stay.

This session explores the many concerns and challenges to staying or leaving for women experiencing domestic abuse and seeks to explore and address how to support women and children impacted by domestic abuse.

Participants can expect to:

• Understand why some women experiencing domestic abuse choose to stay
• Explore the barriers to leaving including the implications and potential dangers of leaving for women, their children and young people
• Understand the impact of domestic abuse on those who experience it and how it affects their behaviour and choices
• Consider the safety planning implications for women who choose to leave or stay
• Consider how to apply the knowledge to their own work in supporting anyone who has experienced domestic abuse.

Facilitator: Judy Ferguson, SWA National Trainer.

Judy Ferguson worked as the Trainer with East Ayrshire Women’s Aid for nearly 10 years, leading on all Domestic Abuse and Gender Based Violence multi agency training within the local Violence Against Women Partnership,  including securing the establishment and roll out of Safe & Together across Children & Families Social Work and the local Health & Social Care Partnership.  As a SafeLives Subject Matter Expert Judy also delivered the Domestic Abuse Matters training programme to Police Scotland supporting the roll out of the ground breaking Domestic Abuse Scotland Act (2018).  Judy joined the team at SWA full time in July 2021. Judy bringing a wealth of experience and a burning passion for working to end domestic abuse and violence against women in all its forms.