Chapter 5: Create and develop sustainable places and communities

The Domestic Abuse Team offer free and confidential advice to medium and high-risk domestic abuse victims who live in the Gateshead area and their children. Workers from the team identify risk factors, empower victims to make informed choices, and promote strategies that manage and reduce risk.

Examples of support include:

• Short term safety planning, such as crisis intervention
• Longer term safety planning
• Access to target hardening (security measures)
• Facilitating access to housing
• Support during criminal proceedings
• Facilitating access to legal advice regarding civil remedies
• Referral to other agencies dependent on individual needs
• Attending relevant meetings, including multi-agency risk assessment conferences where professionals share information on high-risk cases and develop risk management plans
• Enhancing victim knowledge of domestic abuse dynamics/tactics
• Empowering victims to make informed choices that enhance their safety
• Working within a wider training pool to deliver domestic abuse training courses
• Direct work with children

'Although the service is open to both male and female victims, due to the prevalence of violence against women, particularly those at high risk of significant harm or homicide, 85-90% of clients receiving support from the Domestic Abuse Team are women.'

'In addition to the individual support we provide to those who have experienced domestic abuse, we are also involved in a range of partnerships in order to promote a coordinated, multi-agency approach to addressing and reducing the occurrence of domestic abuse across Gateshead.'

'We also deliver a number of group work programmes which raise awareness of the tactics employed by abusive partners, and warning signs that a relationship may be unhealthy.'

'In addition, the team also has a Behaviour Change Programme which is open to abusive partners who recognise their behaviour and wish to address this.'

'To tackle these issues, there needs to be ongoing and additional work to raise the public awareness of domestic abuse and how to support victims, greater education with children and young people and more early intervention work for both victims and abusive partners.

Chapter 6: Strengthen the role and impact of ill health prevention