16 Days of Action – Free Training Opportunity
In honour of the
16 Days of Activism, we’re offering this free training opportunity to empower our community, raise awareness, and inspire action. Don’t miss this chance to learn, grow, and make a difference—together!
Sign up today and be part of the change.
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).
This is a cameras-on training – participants will be expected to be present and interactive throughout the session
- Research from Penn State found that learners who had their cameras on reported better engagement, interaction, and satisfaction. Also, when more learners had cameras on, the group as a whole experienced improved attention, focus, learning performance, etc. “Peers turning on cameras promotes learning in video conferencing” – Penn State, 2024
- The qualitative study “Should I Turn on My Video Camera? Perceptions of the use of Video Cameras in Synchronous Distant Learning” found that learners perceive cameras on as improving cooperation, self-discipline, self-control, interaction, being part of the process. Learners felt that video on supports dialogue and builds trust/rapport with facilitators and peers. - Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, 2022
Facilitators: Jodie McVicar & Aisha Malik
Aisha Malik joined SWA in April 2023 as Member Services Development Lead. Prior to joining the team, Aisha worked across the VAWG sector and has a background in service delivery, specialist CYP support, honour-based abuse, forced marriage and autism.
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.
Helpline: 0800 027 1234
helpline@sdafmh.org.uk
Domestic abuse killings are an endemic issue for women and children, with no sign of a decline and statistics that only scratch the surface.
It is time for us to take this issue up with some determination. We will showcase learning from partners in the UK, Europe and America, focussing on ensuring that all domestic abuse related deaths are counted and looking at how in Scotland we can create a system that learns from its tragedies and failures.
Our invited speakers will talk to us about the work they’ve been doing on the most effective ways to prevent and respond to domestic abuse killings and includes bereaved family members sharing their experiences to help shape and influence Scotland’s approach to ensure all domestic abuse related deaths are counted.
Our Speakers include: