Southampton City Council commissions specialist domestic abuse advocates
Three specialist Domestic Abuse Advocates have been funded to help support victims and survivors of domestic abuse
Using funding from the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, these new roles will help those who may face barriers to accessing the support they need.
The pilot advocacy roles, provided via expert partners Yellow Door and Stop Domestic Abuse will help to improve equality of access to support services and safe accommodation across three focus areas; disability, minoritised ethnicities and LGBTQ+.
The Domestic Abuse Advocates will provide specialist advice, guidance and training to professionals, helping them to understand the challenges faced by marginalised victims and to improve responses when identifying and supporting victims and survivors. The roles will also inform independent academic research into a citywide response to domestic abuse in Southampton.
In addition, the roles will help to forge trusted relationships with local community organisations to help increase awareness around unhealthy relationships and encourage those form marginalised communities to come forward and access support.
Councillor Matt Renyard, Cabinet Member for a Safer City comments:
“This pilot advocacy service is a key milestone within our Domestic Abuse and Violence Against Women & Girls (VAWG) Strategy to ensure that all victims and survivors of domestic abuse receive the support they need, in a co-ordinated way. We remain committed to alleviate barriers to safety in Southampton, and if any victims and survivors of domestic abuse or VAWG are also being discriminated against because of their race, abilities or identity, please know there is support available.”
Nicci King, CEO, Yellow Door adds:
“Yellow Door is delighted to be partnering with Southampton City Council and Stop Domestic Abuse to deliver this much needed specialist support, helping to remove barriers faced by victims and survivors of domestic abuse that are disadvantaged because they are disabled or because of their ethnicity.
“Our specialist Domestic Abuse Educator Advocates are working with our local communities and survivors and victims of domestic abuse to better understand their needs, remove barriers to accessing support and raise awareness of services, to enable us to deliver our person centred advocacy and also to inform future services in the City. This approach is key to delivering a co-ordinated community response in Southampton and achieving our priorities in the Domestic Abuse and Violence Against Women & Girls Strategy.
“For more information including to access our professional training for your staff, or education sessions for your adult service users please contact Yellow Door Tel: 02380 636312 or visit the Yellow Door website.”
Claire Lambon, CEO, Stop Domestic Abuse, said:
“Stop Domestic Abuse is delighted to be working in partnership with Southampton City Council and other agencies across Southampton, to support the delivery of their Domestic Abuse and Violence Against Women and Girls strategy.
“The funding is supporting a specialist LGTBQ+ Domestic Abuse Advocate in Southampton who is engaging LGBTQ+ victims and survivors of domestic abuse, building trusting relationships to help identify and address barriers to engagement and increase understanding of particular issues affecting LGBTQ+ victims of domestic abuse.
"We fully support the strategy that aims to build an accountable community and maintains a strong coordinated response so that victims and survivors of domestic abuse can access the support that they need.”
Advice and support around domestic abuse, including from the specialist advocates, can be found by contacting the PIPPA helpline on 023 8091 7917 or visiting the domestic abuse webpages.
