Our VAWG priorities

Our priorities

Our response will address violence against women and girls across our four pillars.

• PREPARE: violence against women and girls (VAWG) is everyone's business. We will have a co-ordinated community response where we all work together as one to understand the response to VAWG.
• PREVENT: All services are trained and supported to identify signs of abuse and all services support survivors holistically.
• PROTECT: Victim blaming and harmful attitudes against women and girls are challenged and changed; education, community initiatives promote non-abusive and healthy ways of relating.
• PURSUE: Perpetrators are held responsible and accountable for their behaviour.

Objective One

Preventing violence against women and girls

• The multiagency network including; Police, Health, Education, Housing, Social Care, Specialist Service Provision and other key partners will have a core understanding of VAWG in all its forms
• We will increase our number of communities trained in addressing VAWG and acting as role models
• Early intervention and prevention with children and young people in our schools and communities

Our expertise is not always recognised and used enough especially in cases where referrals are made to mental health services or children's services where domestic abuse is not seen as the primary concern or acknowledged to exist. Many times, when we have been involved, mind sets have been changed by looking through a wider lens to recognise the primary reason for concerns being routed in the experiences of domestic abuse (domestic abuse children and young people's worker).

Objective Two

Supporting victims and survivors

• We will centre our survivor's voices at the core of our responses
• We will have a person centred, trauma informed approach
• Support will be needs led, intersectional and holistic
• Victim blaming will be challenged and changed
• We will build trust to ensure survivors feel confident to seek support

Victim blaming is a real issue with some agencies, which creates an additional barrier to empowering survivors. (Independent Domestic Violence Advocate).

Objective Three

Partnership working

• We will ensure VAWG is everyone's business
• A whole system approach, which ensures tackling VAWG is a shared responsibility across agencies
• Professionals feel confident in responding to VAWG through specialist training
• We will have a joint understanding of best practice

It is so important as a multidisciplinary network to work together and communicate effectively to understand the full picture of the survivors' experiences. This collaboration between services helps the survivor to feel supported throughout their journey. (Mental Health Practitioner)

Objective Four

Perpetrators are held to account

• Perpetrators given support and intervention to reform their behaviour. Appropriate action is taken is there if there is no change
• Professionals across the multiagency network feel confident to challenge perpetrator behaviour
• We will strive for improved outcomes within the criminal justice system

Working directly with perpetrators allows us to challenge and address abusive behaviours at their source. Not everyone wants to change, but those who do should be given the opportunity to do so. For those who don't, we need robust responses from criminal justice agencies to ensure that perpetrators are held to account and survivors are protected. (Senior Probation Officer).