As founding partners of the Angelou Partnership, we were thrilled to attend an event to celebrate its 10th anniversary earlier this week.
Organised by our amazing colleagues at Advance, the event brought together people from across the violence against women and girls (vawg) sector, including from our fellow partners at Advance, Al-Hasaniya Moroccan Women’s Centre DVIP (Domestic Violence Intervention Program), Galop, Hestia Charity, IKWRO, Standing Together Against Domestic Abuse, Solace Women’s Aid, Women and Girls Network.
The packed agenda included talks from Domestic Abuse Commissioner and former Standing Together CEO Dame Nicole Jacobs, and the impressive Meghan Elizabeth Field (part of the original commissioning team on the local authority side).
Meghan outlined some of the partnership’s values, included supporting specialist services, by and for services, and the importance of the trauma-informed approach.
Outlining her hopes for the government’s (UK Home Office-led) upcoming VAWG strategy, Dame Nicole also talked about the need for independent, specialist services that are treated as equal partners by local authorities and commissioners, which she explained was important to survivors.
Specifically, Dame Nicole had this to say: “You have Woman’s Trust here [as a founding partner]. It’s the biggest elephant in the room [mentalhealth]. When I asked survivors they told me that counselling and therapeutic support were what they wanted. It’s the biggest gap…that is a huge problem, it’s what victims and survivors say they need. We’ve got to fill that gap.”
Survivors’ mental health continued to be referenced as a major theme throughout the event and the panel discussions.
Adam Taylor, Community Safety Manager at Westminster City Council mentioned his observations of the last ten years included the increasingly complex needs of vawg survivors – and the growing need for mental health services.
Amy Glover of Advance also mentioned the need for better therapeutic responses and support for survivors, highlighting that was why Woman’s Trust is an integral part of the partnership.
The need for and value of specialist, trauma-informed counselling was raised by our ambassador Antonia Lee of Amja Unabashedly, who spoke movingly about her own experience as a survivor.
All of this was brought neatly together by our own CEO, Heidi Riedel, who spoke about our current campaign, highlighting the need for urgent mental health support for domestic abuse survivors – and on our ask of ministers for funding, so more survivors around the UK can have access to the specialist, trauma-informed support that they have told Dame Nicole they so desperately need but less than half can actually get.
Our huge thanks to all of our partners, the speakers and panellists and especially to our colleagues at Advance and to Fulham Football Club for the gorgeous (air-conditioned!) venue and for looking after us all so well.
The Angelou Partnership has also been shortlisted in this year’s Charity Awards in the Social Care, Advice and Support category – so stay tuned!
