UK Domestic Violence charities launch safety and wellbeing advice for survivors

25 UK domestic violence charities and organisations have released a safety and wellbeing advice document for survivors. The collaborative document focuses on advice for survivors during Covid-19 and includes:

  • advice on safer methods for accessing support from family and friends
  • calling the police for assistance without specifying police on the call and mentioning DV
  • a list of national helplines, online support, apps and specialist support services
  • financial abuse information
  • mental health and wellbeing and online counselling contacts
  • drug and alcohol misuse contacts
  • mutual aid groups information
  • housing options contacts
  • advice for disabled survivors and migrant/refugee survivors
  • legal protections available to protect against future DV
  • children and family courts contact information
  • parenting resources during Covid-19

You can access the safety and wellbeing advice document here please distribute this advice with discretion within your network

Domestic Violence during the pandemic webinar by Bristol University

Professor Gene Feder from Bristol University has released a webinar discussing domestic violence (DV) during the pandemic. His presentation focuses first on prevalence rates in the UK, factors associated with DV alongside the mental and physical health outcomes. He moves on to explain how GPs can help identify it by opening conversations with people safely, examining the dynamics taking place during the pandemic and the impact on health care professionals. He closes the webinar by discussing recommendations for measuring  rates of  DV during lockdown that do not put women at risk unnecessarily and proposing how research in this field can be repurposed during this time.

You can access this webinar here.