Welcome

Welcome to the Standing Together Against Domestic Violence web site. This site will give you information about our structure, our projects, and our work.

To get help

Standing Together Against Domestic Violence work with statutory and voluntary sector agencies only. We do not work directly with who people are experiencing domestic violence.

If you are experiencing domestic violence please contact the numbers listed below or refer to your council's web site (look for information on community safety) as it may include information about domestic violence services in your area.

If you are in immediate danger, ring the police on 999. If the danger is not immediate, contact your local police station.

For 24-hour information, advice and support, contact the National Domestic Violence Helpline: Freephone 0808 2000 247 (run by Women's Aid and Refuge).

If you are concerned that an abuser could find out that you have accessed this or other sites, please read this advice.

Coordinating the Future: A National Conference For Those Delivering The Coordinated Community Response to Domestic Violence

Standing Together held their national conference for domestic violence coordinators on the 23rd April. Over 300 delegates attended the event at Imperial College, Kensington and the feedback has been very positive. We think this was the largest gathering of coordinators held in the UK and a very packed day saw discussions around the key issues facing the domestic violence sector.

The coordinated community response underpinned the speeches and workshops and the post-conference report available now to download brings all the themes together for the benefit of those working in this field.

• Coordinating the Future: The Post-Conference Report

Research

In 2007 Standing Together were commissioned by London Councils to undertake research into the extent of help seeking by known victims of domestic violence across various statutory and voluntary agencies.

This report, entitled, Completing the Jigsaw — Help-seeking by survivors of domestic violence: What’s the problem? gives an insight into the extent of domestic violence as a cross-cutting theme and the responses that agencies deliver, both when domestic violence is identified and when it has not been recognised. The research supports the assertion that this crime remains hidden from public view and often from the view of the worker who is trying to resolve the presenting issues of an individual who is unsafe, lacking confidence and suffering from significant abuse. Unless the causes of these symptoms are identified it is axiomatic that solutions offered to those symptoms are unlikely to be effective.

• Completing the Jigsaw — Help-seeking by survivors of domestic violence: What’s the problem?
  Full Report
• Completing the Jigsaw — Help-seeking by survivors of domestic violence: What’s the problem?
  Summary and Recommendations

Domestic abuse: Best Practice Papers — Written by and for Practitioners and Trainers

Standing Together against Domestic Violence and its partner agencies have extensive experience of developing best practice guidance for many aspects of operational domestic violence work, by both single agencies and by multi agency groups. A number of publications we have produced over the past 10 years specifically address best practice, for example the SDVC Toolkit (2007), and Equal Voices, about the experience of policing and the courts for LGBT survivors.

We have now produced the first in a new series of shorter publications called:

• Best Practice Paper Number 1:
  Good Practice Checklist for Interpreters Working With Domestic Violence Situations

The Checklist is designed for one to one interviews, and not specifically for court or to take account of the codes of guidance covering police interview settings. However, many of the good practice ideas are generic.

These papers will summarise best practice and ideas for practitioners who are responding to domestic abuse from within a range of statutory, community and voluntary sector services and agencies. They will be disseminated free by email and on the Standing Together website.

Let us know…

If you have any suggestions or requests for future papers in the series, please contact Standing Together. If you would like to offer to provide material for a Best Practice Paper, we would like to hear from you!

Domestic Violence Coordinator Survey

In order to achieve a clearer picture of the role of the Domestic Violence Coordinator (DVC), how it was constituted, funded and the issues confronted by post holders we conducted a national online survey with DVCs alongside the conference in April 2008.

A brief summary of the findings were presented at the conference and can be found in the post-conference report and the complete results are shown here.

• National Domestic Violence Survey Results

Sponsor our man Dan!

Help our fundraising by donating towards our fantastic sponsor Daniel Gane’s half marathon run in Birmingham. To shown your support visit the secure fundraising page at www.justgiving.com/danielgane.

News

Consultancy Services

Standing Together offer support and guidance to domestic violence partnerships if they are seeking to build a community coordinated response, a Specialist Domestic Violence Court or many other aspects of responding to domestic violence.

Standing Together has published unique reports and resources around the work of the Specialist Domestic Violence Court at West London Magistrates Court and LGBT survivors. For further information visit the Publications page or order directly.

This site was last updated on 22 September 2008.
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