There are many resources available nationally on Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence. Here are some that you may find useful.
SafeLives have developed a quick guide for professionals who don’t work in domestic violence services called Getting it right first time. It’s a practical resource to help you know what to do if you are worried about someone.
If you work in a school, you should know about Operation Encompass. Where a child is present or involved in a domestic abuse incident at home and the police attend, the police will contact the school the following day. The charity's website contains training for key adults as well as resources and toolkits that schools can use.
The Lucy Faithfull Foundation via their website Stop It Now! have developed a toolkit to help identify and prevent harmful sexual behaviour in young people. The toolkit is useful for professionals and parents/carers. Harmful sexual behaviour is a term used to describe sexual actions that are outside what is safe for a young person's stage of development. The charity also operate a helpline for anyone concerned about child sexual abuse.
The Consent Coalition based in Nottingham have launched a set of resources called the A-Z of Consent. These are posters that can be downloaded for free and printed off which help to explain consent in a variety of contexts.
The Home Office have produced various resources in relation to domestic violence and abuse:
- A guide for local services has been produced in partnership with Against Violence and Abuse (AVA)
- Information guide: adolescent to parent violence and abuse (AVPA)
- How to protect, advise and support victims of forced marriage – information and practice guidelines for professionals
- Multi-agency statutory guidance and a resource pack on female genital mutilation is available on GOV.UK. This includes information on mandatory reporting and e-learning on recognising and preventing FGM
Galop have designed downloadable guides for professionals on domestic violence and abuse, barriers and myths from an LGBT+ perspective
Health and social care professionals have access to various guidance including:
- NICE Guidance covering planning and delivering multi-agency services for domestic violence and abuse
- Domestic violence and abuse – professional guidance produced by the Department of Health and Social Care
- Resources for GPs – various information and guidance for general practitioners, including the MARAC process.
Toolkits & Guidance
Downloadable toolkits for use by you and anyone you are working to support can be found here (with thanks to Fearfree for their kind permission to reproduce them).
Identifying and responding to stalking - guidance for professionals is a document that we have replicated with the consent of Gloucestershire County DASV Co-ordinator. It is guidance that is designed to support practitioners in responding to cases of stalking.
Being Mankind has free lesson plans that can be used in a variety of group settings to explore the issues around gender stereotypes with a view to inspiring young men and boys to grow into kind and confident individuals and to strive for equality.
Support if working with perpetrators
Drive, a partnership between Respect, SafeLives and Social Finance offers a free, confidential, webchat facility during selected working hours for anyone working with perpetrators of domestic abuse (see website for hours). This can be accessed from the Respect website. Out of hours, there is an email facility to ask for advice or information. The website also provides links to information and research and advice for family and friends of perpetrators.
If someone wants to change their abusive behaviour they should visit Respect Phoneline which offers a helpline and webchat facility and information on how behaviours impact on other people.
