How to approach domestic abuse at a policy level, in your training, and in your partnerships.
Safeguarding Policy and Training
- As a minimum, include domestic abuse in your organisation’s safeguarding policy, with links to local domestic abuse services and local Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC).
- Add domestic abuse awareness and training to your organisation’s induction process, and include regular domestic abuse awareness sessions for all staff, members, participants, coaches, volunteers and board members.
- Where possible, use scenarios and case studies in your training, to help people understand the key considerations and complexities that might arise during a disclosure or investigation.
- Provide trauma-informed training. There are six principles of trauma-informed practice: Safety, trust, choice, collaboration, empowerment, and cultural consideration. This approach is key to responding appropriately to domestic abuse.
Culture & Communication
- Promote wellbeing and respect throughout your daily interactions. Also consider your organisational culture. There are many factors that can impact an individual’s capacity to reach out for support.
- Consider your organisation’s approach to equity, diversity and inclusion. Tackle sexism, misogyny, discrimination, and harassment at every level.
- Display helpline posters in private spaces.
- Share support information regularly at all levels of the organisation.
- Develop and communicate clear codes of conduct for everyone involved in your club, including family members and partners.
- Aim to have safeguarding contacts of different genders accessible to your club members/participants, if possible.
Partnerships
- Link with local domestic abuse charities and safeguarding boards, so you can effectively signpost when necessary. You may want to start by connecting with charities associated with your Local Authority, so you can be confident in their credibility.
- Invite charities and other groups to host awareness-raising sessions at your club.
- Collaborate with community safety partners. These differ from area-to-area, but you are likely to discover more information after connecting with local services. For example, Consent Coalition support the Nottingham area.
Development for smaller organisations
Some smaller organisations may have limited safeguarding resources, which could cause some issues in how you respond to a domestic abuse disclosure.
Whether this is due to size, finances, staffing complexities, or a combination of these factors, you still have a duty to respond to disclosures.
If you feel that the size of your organisation might limit your response, are some areas that you may want to prioritise:
- Would your staff/volunteers/members be able to find domestic abuse support services through your organisation’s resources, whether online or in person?
- Do the venues used by your organisation display information for domestic abuse support services? The back of toilet doors are a useful, private space to display this information. You can order resources here.
- Could staff and volunteers be trained in domestic abuse? Places such as the National Centre for Domestic Violence offer free training and resources.
- Connect with your local domestic abuse services. They may also offer free training.