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Practitioner in Residence: Navigating complex cases in Domestic Abuse-Related Death reviews

 

Danielle Sharp is the founder and Chief Executive of the Centre for Safer Society, an organisation dedicated to supporting services in designing evidence-based responses to reduce violence, abuse, and harm. Through the Centre, Danielle conducts service evaluations, develops impact-driven strategies for organisations working to end violence and abuse, and serves as an Independent Chair for statutory Domestic Abuse-Related Death reviews – work that brings her face-to-face with the families of those who have been killed or died by suicide.

For most of her career, Danielle has worked in the domestic abuse and violence against women and girls (VAWG) sector. She began in frontline roles supporting young people and families before moving into strategic positions developing and commissioning evidence-based local responses to domestic abuse. Her work then expanded to national level at SafeLives, where as Head of the Knowledge Hub she led projects such as the Home Office One Front Door pilot, and Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC) national oversight.

It is through her work as an Independent Chair for Domestic Abuse-Related Death reviews that Danielle identified the practice challenge that will form the focus of her Practitioner in Residence (PiR) research at the Violence and Society Centre (VASC). In several reviews, a recurring issue has emerged: cases where practitioners identify ‘bi-directional violence’ or ‘dual-allegations’ between individuals. This creates significant difficulties in accurately assessing risk, determining whether there is a primary victim and primary perpetrator, and making informed safeguarding decisions.

While some valuable resources exist, such as Michael Johnson’s domestic abuse typologies and the Respect practice toolkit for identifying primary victims and perpetrators, these tools are not yet consistently embedded across all agencies responding to domestic abuse. Particularly within policing and social care, practitioners often lack accessible, practical guidance to navigate these complex cases with confidence.

With the support of VISION Co-Investigator and Senior Lecturer Dr Elizabeth (Lizzie) Cook, Danielle’s focus in the PiR programme will be to bridge the gap between research and practice by developing practical resources for professionals. These tools will equip practitioners with greater clarity and confidence when navigating cases involving dual-reports, ultimately improving risk assessment and decision-making.

For further information, please contact Lizzie at elizabeth.cook@citystgeorges.ac.uk

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Practitioner in Residence: Improving services for those experiencing teenage relationship abuse

Aisling Barker

Aisling Barker, Violence Against Women and Girls Workforce Development manager at Islington Council, and qualified social worker, is the latest practitioner to join the City St George’s University of London (CSGUL) Practitioner in Residence programme. She became aware of the programme through her work on teenage relationship abuse with co-Deputy Director of the Violence and Society Centre (VASC) at CSGUL and VISION consortium Senior Research Fellow Dr Ruth Weir.

Aisling and her team in Islington have been supporting professionals in their practice with adolescents for five years. They identified concerning trends in violence and abuse in relationships where the victim was as young as 13 years of age but the person causing harm was also as young as 14 or 15 years old. An alarming lack of support available for these young people was apparent – particularly those who were causing harm to their partners at that young age.

Aisling presented the work of her team at the first conference on Adolescent Domestic Abuse hosted by VISION in April 2024. Driven by curiosity the team began to analyse cases to understand where there were system strengths and gaps. They found knowledge and practice gaps in services responding to young people where there was harm in their relationships. They also found that young people often had good relationships with practitioners such as youth workers, gang workers and youth justice case workers. Identifying an opportunity for practice improvement, Aisling and her team developed a training and support package for services working with young people affected by criminality and offending behaviour. Aisling also presented the findings from their case analysis and a case study at the second National Working Group on Teenage Relationship Abuse roundtable in November 2024 also hosted by VISION.

With the support of Ruth and the VASC and VISION teams, Aisling’s focus as a Practitioner in Residence will be documenting and examining the impact of this training and support package as an innovative approach to the prevention and early intervention on violence against women and girls.

For further information, please contact Ruth at ruth.weir@citystgeorges.ac.uk

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Assisted dying bill: Safeguards against domestic abuse and coercion must be strengthened

One in four women and one in seven men in England and Wales have experienced domestic abuse. Coercive and controlling behaviours are core to domestic abuse. They result in loss of autonomy and independence and are intended to isolate and reduce self-worth. Such behaviours are common but hard for health professionals to detect.

If passed, the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill will allow people who are terminally ill and expected to die within six months to request assistance to end their lives. VISION researchers Gene Feder, Elizabeth (Lizzie) Cook and Sally McManus have written an opinion published in The BMJ that calls for safeguards in the bill need to be strengthened to prevent coercion in the context of domestic abuse.

Assisted dying requires a careful consideration of the risks posed by domestic abuse and coercion. The current bill does not fully tackle specific safeguarding concerns for patients experiencing domestic abuse which can include economic, emotional, physical, and other forms of abuse from a partner or other family member. To safeguard against domestic abuse and associated coercion, Gene, Lizzie and Sally propose a set of principles that should be part of the UK bill.

  1. For doctors responding to any request for assisted dying, training must be extensive, specialist, in person, and backed up by referral pathways.  Independent domestic abuse advocates, with expertise in recognising coercive control, could contribute to assessment of assisted dying requests. 
  2. Commitments to confidentiality and data security must not obscure assisted dying decisions and the contexts in which they occur. The bill must ensure transparency.
  3. The bill must establish accountability. Transparent data about each stage of the approval process would also enable monitoring and regular scrutiny of the processes and outcomes of assisted dying legislation.
  4. Lawmakers must resist expansion. Dementia and mental health conditions are now being considered for eligibility. These are conditions prevalent in survivors of domestic abuse. The UK bill should include clauses that limit any expansion of scope to other conditions and situations.

To read the opinion piece: Safeguards against domestic abuse and coercion in the assisted dying bill must be strengthened

To cite: BMJ 2025;390:r1914

For further information, please contact Gene at gene.feder@bristol.ac.uk

Researching the impact of Black and Asian women leadership within East of England domestic abuse services

The East of England is a region with minimal presence of ‘by and for’ (BFR) domestic abuse (DA) specialist services despite being home to Black and Asian communities. A VISION-funded research project, ‘Nothing about us without us’: Investigating the impact of the leadership of ethnic minority women on domestic abuse service provision in East England’, is exploring the impact of the leadership of Black and Asian women within DA service provision in the region.

As part of the work, researchers Dr Mirna Guha (Anglia Ruskin University) and Dr Katherine Allen (University of Suffolk), hosted a leadership event on 3 April 2025 for racially and culturally diverse women. Held at a venue provided by the City of London police, the event was part of a leadership programme implemented through the HUM (‘Us) : A Place-based Emerging-Leaders Model designed and piloted by Mirna and Katherine to diversify leadership in domestic abuse and sexual violence services. Research aims include ensuring culturally responsive and representative support for minoritised victims-survivors in East England.

Prior to the April event, Mirna and Katherine researched the leadership needs of 19 overstretched frontline practitioners i.e. ‘emerging leaders’ from racialised communities working within White-majority and at times professionally isolating generalist services across Bedfordshire, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. East England is home to scattered racialised and diasporic communities where women’s leadership in local politics and policymaking is low. Based on this, three events on trauma-informed, culturally responsive and diverse styles of leadership have been co-produced with national DASV experts. Participants were invited to also join a regionally pioneering Community of Practice (CoP).

At the April event in London, 15 emerging leaders from racialised backgrounds gained insights into the strategies, opportunities and challenges of practising culturally and racially representative leadership through an inspiring keynote by Superintendent Jasvinder Kaur, Domestic Abuse Lead at Suffolk Constabulary and co-founder of the National Women of Colour in Policing network. Furthermore, nine Black and racialised women speakers associated with statutory institutions viz. Cambridge City Council and the National Police Chief’s Council.

Voluntary organisations also spoke including Apna Haq in Rotherham, Asian Women’s Resource Centre in London, and Karim Foundation in Cambridge. Others also shared their experiences of navigating rural and predominantly White spaces, and their strategies for claiming space, giving voice to community members and creating opportunities for other culturally and racially diverse women leaders. One notable theme was the pathbreaking role each panellist had assumed during her career, opening (or at times creating) doors for herself and those who followed. Discussions across the day dwelled on temporality and the changing political landscapes as well as place-based challenges linked to rurality.

Overall, the leadership model, including this event and others and the growing leadership CoP, with a current membership of 25 emerging women leaders, aims to address these contextual and temporal challenges by bolstering and diversifying racialised women’s leadership in public services to ensure equity for minoritised victims-survivors.

By laying the groundwork for a regional advisory board through the CoP, the model challenges the epistemic erasure of racially and culturally minoritised women within the design of DASV, and broadly, public services which exacerbate the postcode lottery of services across England and Wales. Inspired by Pawson and Tilley’s (1997)[1] approach to realist evaluation (which seeks to understand what works for whom and in which circumstances) Mirna and Katherine aim to evaluate the impact of the leadership programme and CoP on how emerging leaders navigate specific challenges rooted in specific professional, relational and spatial contexts.

[1] Pawson, R. and Tilley, N., 1997. Realistic evaluation.

For further information, please contact Mirna at mirna.guha@aru.ac.uk

Photograph courtesy of Dr Mirna Guha and Dr Katherine Allen.

Upcoming event: Weaving Stories of Peer Sexual Abuse 

This event is in the past.

Insights from a youth co-created animation project

Weaving Stories is a pilot animation project developed by County-Durham arts education company, Changing Relations, and funded via the VISION research consortium through the Small Projects Fund.

The animation was co-produced with Secondary-aged students, survivors of peer sexual abuse, and an artistic team, to amplify young people’s voices on the theme of unwanted sexual behaviour and the culture that enables it. The students and young survivors shaped every aspect of the animation.

An interdisciplinary Steering Group of academic researchers, creative practitioners, and child protection and sexual violence specialists from a North East school and Rape Crisis centre, were also involved in the project.

With this animation and associated school based learning programme, Changing Relations seeks to influence knowledge, behaviour, and institutional change using the impactful animation as stimulus for reflection. Following this pilot project, VISION and Changing Relations have organised a one-hour webinar for UK policymakers and practitioners to:

  • Watch the co-created animation (20 minutes)
  • Hear young people’s perspectives on the key themes and co-production approach
  • Explore the animation’s potential impact on school cultures, disclosure, help-seeking, and victim-blaming attitudes
  • Engage in academic-informed analysis of trauma-informed safeguarding and youth-centred approaches to sexual violence prevention
  • Gain practical insights on using creative participatory approaches to engage young people in conversations about violence and abuse
  • Consider actionable recommendations for policy and practice
  • Contribute your reflections

This webinar will be of interest to a wide range of professionals who work with adolescents and / or in violence-prevention. Educators, social workers, academics, and third sector, central and local government policy analysts and researchers in particular may be interested.

There are two dates providing the option to choose between a more practice or policy oriented session:

  • Thursday 8th May 1-2pm for policymakers
  • Wednesday 14th May 3-4pm for practitioners

Speakers and facilitators

  • Lisa Davis, Managing Director, Changing Relations
  • Kate Gorman, Creative Producer and Artistic Director, Changing Relations
  • Kimberly Cullen, Knowledge Exchange Manager, UKPRP VISION research consortium, City St George’s UoL

Webinar registration

To register for free for either the 8th or 14th of May, please visit our page on Ticket Tailor.

The webinar will be on Microsoft Teams and you will receive the link on the day you choose to attend.

For further information, please contact VISION_Management_Team@citystgeorges.ac.uk

United to End Violence Against Women and Girls: An Online Animated Campaign  

Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a pressing issue in Iran, a Middle Eastern country marked by its patriarchal structure and systematic and pervasive gender discrimination. Educational programmes addressing this issue are scarce, and cultural barriers often hinder open discussion. The United to End Violence Against Women and Girls campaign aims to break this silence through a series of animated videos in Farsi and English and images designed to inform public discourse and to empower victims to seek support.

 The United to End Violence Against Women and Girls project was led by VISION researchers Ladan Hashemi and Sally McManus, in collaboration with colleagues from other UK universities including the University of Bristol, Goldsmiths University, Animation Research Centre at the University for the Creative Arts, and Leeds Beckett University. 

They worked with an animation production team in Iran, a social media advisor, and two advisory groups. The advisory groups were Mehre Shams Afarid, an Iran-based non-governmental organisation (NGO), and IKWRO, a London-based charity providing services to women victims of violence from the Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) region—to incorporate culturally specific insights.

Although the project initially focused on Iran, engaging with the UK-based NGO revealed an interest in extending its reach. As a result, English subtitles were added to make the animations accessible to a wider audience. This collaboration helped the content resonate with audiences both in Iran and within the global diaspora community, particularly those from the MENA region.

The animations are grounded in evidence from a survey of 453 women in Iran, which explored the manifestation of various forms of VAWG in Iran and women’s perspectives on how to eliminate it. The survey was designed by Fatima Babakhani, CEO of Mehre Shams Afarid.

Key findings from participants’ open-ended responses to the survey showed that, despite structural inequalities and deeply ingrained societal, cultural, and religious norms that perpetuate VAWG, change is possible through education and legal reforms.

As one survey participant noted: “Unfortunately, many still don’t understand what violence truly is. Raising awareness is the solution.”

The first four United to End Violence Against Women and Girls campaign animations focus on coercive control, economic abuse, technology-facilitated abuse, and active bystander interventions, with two more animations in development.

With guidance from an Iranian social media advisor, a digital strategy was developed to maximise the campaign’s impact. Instagram was chosen as the primary distribution platform, as it is the most widely used social media platform in Iran, with over 47 million users. The animations are also shared on YouTube to further extend the campaign’s reach.

Influencers and women’s rights activists with followings from thousands to millions were partnered with to amplify the campaign’s reach. The online campaign officially launched 25th November, on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and Girls.

By leveraging evidence-based content and strategic partnerships, we hope to spark meaningful conversations and drive change across Iran and the diaspora communities from the MENA region.

Join us in raising awareness and advocating for change. Please follow and share the campaign links on your social media to help spread the message.

Link to Instagram page

Link to YouTube channel

This project was funded by City St George’s, University of London Higher Education Impact Fund (HEIF) Knowledge Exchange and by the UKPRP VISION research consortium.

For further information, please contact Ladan at ladan.hashemi@city.ac.uk

The impact and risk factors of adolescent domestic abuse: A rapid systematic review

As a phenomenon, abusive behavior between adolescents in intimate relationships remains relatively invisible, due in part to the persistent yet unfounded assumption that domestic abuse is something that occurs between adults. There is an emerging body of evidence indicating that both victimization and perpetration in intimate partner relationships can and do occur well before adulthood.

This review seeks to improve understandings of intimate partner abuse between adolescents, focusing in particular on younger adolescents below the age of 16 and the impacts and risk and protective factors.

VISION researchers Dr Ruth Weir, Dr Olumide Adisa and Dr Niels Blom, with their collaborators, conducted a rapid systematic review by searching three electronic databases (PsycInfo, Embase, and Social Sciences Citation Index). The team utilized pre-existing systematic reviews to identify relevant primary studies. Findings of the included studies were described and summarized using narrative synthesis.

Seventy-nine studies were identified for inclusion. Synthesis of the findings of these studies identified five categories of risk and protective factors, including bullying and parental intimate partner violence, social and cultural factors, school and neighborhood environment and health and wellbeing. However, the review also identified a gap of qualitative research and a lack of attention to how ADA intersects with cultural factors, gender differences, criminalization, and poor mental health. Many of the studies report on school-based settings, limiting understanding of the role of neighborhood factors in prevention, protection and recovery. Participatory research on help-seeking behaviors of adolescents is rare.

The review synthesized risk and protective factors associated with ADA, especially those occurring between younger adolescents. It highlighted the complex interplay and overlap between using and experiencing violence and abuse and the need for systematic research to inform the development of advocacy, interventions and prevention that is right for young people.

Highlights from the VISION ADA rapid review: Gaps, limitations & considerations for future research

  • Little recent academic interest on ADA in the UK
  • Focus in existing global literature on physical or sexual violence but less so on coercive control or emotional / psychological abuse
  • Lack of systematic examination of long-term consequences of ADA on wellbeing
  • Lack of intersectional analysis (ethnicity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, etc)
  • Little exploration of adolescents’ help-seeking behaviours and attitudes to different kinds of possible support
  • Research design limitations

To download the paper: Adolescent Domestic Abuse and Its Consequences: A Rapid Systematic Review | Journal of Family Violence

To cite: Weir, R., Adisa, O., Blom, N. et al. Adolescent Domestic Abuse and Its Consequences: A Rapid Systematic Review. J Fam Viol (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-025-00813-4

For more information on this rapid review, please contact Ruth at ruth.weir@city.ac.uk

To view and / or download the list of systematic reviews included in this paper:

SRs included in Weir ADA journal articleDownload

Further ADA research across the VISION consortium:

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Centring otherness with migrant women affected by domestic abuse

Victims-survivors with insecure immigration status in the UK are subject to complexities that limit their access to safety, support, and justice. While campaigners have been advocating for more equitable pathways for provision and support over the years, migrant women continue to navigate hostile environments characterised by dehumanising language and anti-migrant bureaucratic systems.

This chapter, written by VISION researcher Dr Olumide Adisa for the book, Otherness in Communication Research: Perspectives in Media, Interpersonal, and Intercultural Communication, reports on how a feminist dialogic approach (characterised by open, inclusive dialogue and a foundational understanding of social, economic, and political equality for women) was used to centre the often ‘silent voices’ of migrant women affected by domestic abuse.

Feminist dialogical approach acknowledges the complexities that characterise the migrant victim’s journey through the system—the relationship between the self-other, in a peculiar hostile environment which views the other as a ‘threat’. Migrant women continue to endure this othering within agencies as they seek safety and support. For example, some professionals conflating ‘foreignness’ with ‘insecure immigration statuses’, when confronted with difference. This theorisation of self and other lends itself to a social justice-oriented practice.

Using different art forms (co-produced with migrant women) and purposeful conversations, attendees were able to encounter migrant women as not a distant ‘other’ whom ‘we’ observe and theorise but as equal partners in the creating and reshaping on knowledge systems on safety, support, and justice.

This chapter draws on quotes from survivors to funnel through a hopeful lingering over otherness that positions migrant women as deserving of consideration and care, and considers empowering aspects about the other that may often be dismissed in professional circles, but nonetheless are important as a protective element of a safety net.

To download the chapter: Centring Otherness with Migrant Women Affected by Domestic Abuse | SpringerLink

To cite: Adisa, O. (2025). Centring Otherness with Migrant Women Affected by Domestic Abuse. In: Magalhaes, L. (eds) Otherness in Communication Research. Palgrave Studies in Otherness and Communication. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-73788-6_16

For further information, please contact Olumide at olumide.adisa@city.ac.uk

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Intimate partner violence impacts affected by relationship status and offence type

Intimate partner violence and abuse has a detrimental impact on victim-survivors’ health and wellbeing. However, intimate partners include a range of different relationship types, which are rarely differentiated or contrasted in research. In this paper, VISION researchers, Dr Niels Blom and Dr Polina Obolenskaya, investigate with Dr Jessica Phoenix and Merili Pullerits, whether different types of intimate partners commit different types of violence/abuse and whether the injury and wellbeing impact on victim-survivors varies by intimate partner relationship type.

They estimate models for victim-survivors’ emotional impact and injuries using the Crime Survey for England and Wales (2001–2020). Intimate partner relationships are differentiated into four groups (current versus former partner, and spouses/partners versus boy/girlfriends). Violence and abuse are grouped into physical violence/abuse, sexual violence/abuse, threats, and economic crimes.

The team found that for both men and women, offences committed by current partners are more likely to involve physical violence/abuse than offences by former partners. Ordered logit models indicate that female victim-survivors of physical violence/abuse or economic crimes experience more severe emotional impacts when the perpetrator is their current or former spouse/partner compared to a current or former boy/girlfriend. Women’s risk of injuries from physical violence and economic offences are higher when committed by current compared to former partners. Few differences are identified for men’s emotional impact and injuries.

The type of intimate partner relationship is associated with type of violence/abuse experienced, and for women, with the resulting emotional impact and injury. Future research and policies aimed at reducing harms from intimate partner violence and abuse and supporting victim-survivors should therefore consider distinctions in relationships to deliver more targeted interventions.

To download the paper: Physical and Emotional Impacts of Intimate Partner Violence and Abuse: Distinctions by Relationship Status and Offence Type | Journal of Family Violence

To cite: Blom, N., Obolenskaya, P., Phoenix, J. and M. Pullerits. Physical and Emotional Impacts of Intimate Partner Violence and Abuse: Distinctions by Relationship Status and Offence Type. J Fam Viol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-024-00786-w

For further information, please contact Niels at niels.blom@manchester.ac.uk

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VISION-funded research: Surviving Economic Abuse survey initial findings released

Tackling economic abuse should be part of the solution to meet the new government’s ambitious target to halve violence against women and girls in a decade. It is important that the government’s measurement approach can understand the range of ways that economic restriction, exploitation and sabotage that victim-survivors experience at scale across the UK.

Recent survey results from Surviving Economic Abuse (SEA) tell a powerful story that highlights experiences of economic abuse across the UK. The full report will be launched by SEA in March 2025, but their early release of key findings include:

  • Economic abuse is often understood to only be about creating dependency through restriction, but it can take many forms e.g., having a partner or ex-partner steal money, refuse to pay bills, or scare their partner into taking out credit. Early analysis suggests that a wider range of behaviours may continue post-separation than previously thought.
  • The data shines a light on the dangerous situation for young women- an area that SEA and VISION are seeking funding to explore further. 18–24-year-olds experienced more economic abuse than any other age group, for example 12% of this sample had been prevented from having log-in information (e.g. passwords, usernames) to key accounts such as online banking, utilities accounts, emails by a partner or ex-partner compared to 4% of all women.
  • Black, Asian and racially minoritised women in the UK may be more than twice as likely to experience economic abuse from a partner or ex-partner than White women, with women with a Black/African/Caribbean or Black British ethnicity particularly at risk.
  • Disabled women in the UK may be nearly twice as likely to experience economic abuse from a partner or ex-partner as non-disabled women

The VISION consortium was delighted to financially support SEA’s research, A rapid impact survey to monitor the nature and prevalence of economic abuse in the UK, through our Small Projects Fund in spring 2024. Their full report will be widely shared in 2025, including on the VISION website and through our networks.

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