News
May 2010: New Respect practice guidance
The Respect practice guidance on identifying who is doing what to whom in intimate partner violence is now available, together with background information about the value and purpose as well as the consultation processes which took place in the production of this practice guidance. You can find out more on the research home page.
May 2010: Respect General Election Pack
Before the General Election, Respect staff produced a pack to support members' contacting their parliamentary candidates. Now that the election is over, this pack is still useful for contacting your local MP and for reference on the policies of the main parties on violence against women, so that you can hold MPs to account. We will be doing the same on a national level with the new ministers.
Download: General Election Pack 2010
April 2010: Frank Mullane offers to talk to perpetrators of domestic violence and the professionals working with them.
Frank tells his family's story of long term domestic abuse which can be seen from the perspective of coercive control as well as encompassing some of the nuances described by Neil Websdale in Familicidal Hearts (Jan 2010) - for example, shame. Frank's sister Julia Pemberton and nephew William Pemberton were murdered by Alan Pemberton before he turned the gun on himself. This tragedy followed unsatisfactory engagement with police after reporting domestic abuse. The talk can be supplemented with slides and Frank is open to direct and probing questions. The talk's length can vary to suit. To contact Frank to find out more please email him info@aafda.org.uk or telephone AAFDA on 07768 386 922. Website: www.aafda.org.uk
February 2010: New Refuge Campaign "Care or Control?"
The campaign, which launched on 10th February, 2010 in time for Valentine's Day, asks women to think about whether their partner's behaviour is caring or controlling.
The 'Care or Control?' campaign features four different adverts which use teddy bears to depict domestic violence. This approach takes a radical departure from the frequently used images of battered women and has been done in the hope that women specifically, and society generally, will be less likely to dismiss the adverts as not being relevant to them personally.
The adverts feature a domineering male bear who holds a love heart with a message written on it. At first glance the bears and hearts mimic the stereotypical bears often given at Valentine's Day as tokens of love. But when read more closely, and in full, the messages are in fact sinister and menacing: 'you FALL FOR ME every time'; 'you will BE MINE forever'; 'ONLY YOU make me do this'; 'I WANT YOU all to myself'. Each of the four adverts explores a different form of controlling behaviour - jealousy, isolation, blame and charm. All adverts raise the question - is the bear in the advert being caring or controlling? All adverts drive readers to www.refuge.org.uk to find out more about the behaviours and take part in the 'Care or Control?' debate.
Acclaimed actress Helena Bonham Carter and long term supporter of Refuge's work says: "The stereotypical view of domestic violence is a woman with bruising, black eyes and broken bones. But sadly through my work with Refuge I've learnt that violence is just one aspect of abuse. Thanks to the support Refuge provides I've met many women who have been controlled in more subtle ways, but who have still lived in fear, walking on eggshells. I believe this campaign has the ability to reach out to thousands upon thousands of women so they can escape years of abuse and a lifetime of misery. I applaud Refuge and hope that everyone will get involved in the 'Care or Control?' debate at www.refuge.org.uk.
November 2009: Man Made: Men, masculinities and equality in public policy
Public policy needs to respond urgently to the problems that men and boys create and the problems that they experience, according to a new report by the Coalition on Men and Boys. This must take place alongside efforts to improve the position and status of women. To go to the official website, please click go to www.themenscoalition.org.uk.
The study, Man Made: Men, masculinities and equality in public policy, which was funded by the Equality and Human Rights Commission and the Government Equalities Office, was launched at a meeting for MPs and Peers in the House of Lords on Monday, November 2nd.
Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats, was joined by Peter Baker, Chair, Coalition on Men and Boys, Sandy Ruxton, lead author of the report, Mary-Ann Stephenson of the Women’s National Commission and Dr Neil Wooding, a Commissioner for the Equality and Human Rights Commission as speakers at the event.
The report looks in detail at the issues of violence, fatherhood, education, work, and health. It shows that public policy fails to engage with masculinity issues even though recent equality legislation (the gender equality duty) requires the different needs of both sexes to be taken into account. The Coalition on Men and Boys believes that a better understanding of men and masculinity would lead to improved policymaking and service delivery as well as improved outcomes for men, women and children.
To prevent re-offending, every local authority should have a service for men who perpetrate domestic violence, argues the report. The problems men face due to long working hours and difficult-to-access primary health services must be tackled. Fathers need more support to enable them to be fully involved as parents. Schools should do more to educate boys about the need for respect within relationships and towards women and girls.
Men themselves must take more responsibility for promoting gender equality and they have great potential to contribute positively to caring, health, education and anti-violence strategies.
Please click here for more of the official press release
July 2009: Acting Chief Executive Officer Appointed
Respect is delighted to announce that Monica Tuohy is to be Acting CEO, covering while Jo Todd is on maternity leave. Monica has vast experience in the domestic violence sector, having been Director of Camden Women’s Aid for 7 years. She has been an acting/interim CEO 3 times before – for Jewish Women’s Aid, Islington Women’s Aid and London Civic Forum – and is an independent trainer and consultant. Monica begins at Respect on 24th August and Jo will be going on maternity leave on 11 September 2009. From 24th August, you can contact Monica at monica.tuohy@respect.uk.net/020 7022 1802.
11th May 2009: New! consultation on Respect position paper about categories of clients
Respect staff have drafted a position statement on categories of clients who present or are referred as perpetrators or victims of intimate partner violence or as both. We are trying to create a model of identification and assessment which will help guide specialist and non-specialist practitioners, whether they are working with men or women, people who are affected by intimate partner violence or using it. This position paper will help to inform work with male victims, female perpetrators and with clients whose domestic violence status is not initially clear.
We would like the views of practitioners, researchers, policy makers and anyone else who feels that they have useful experience, knowledge or insights to contribute. The consultation period is until 30th June 2009. Please send comments back to thangam.debbonaire@respect.uk.net before then.
Download the draft position paper on categories of clients
Download the consultation questions
February 2009: research team appointed!
We are delighted to announce that after a lengthy and rigorous process we have appointed a team of researchers to carry out the longitudinal research on the outcomes for women's safety of men's participation in accredited community based domestic violence intervention programmes in the UK. The successful team are: Professor Liz Kelly, Child and Woman Abuse Studies Unit, London Metropolitan University; Dr Nicole Westmarland and Simon Hackett, Durham University; Dr Charlotte Watts and Dr Cathy Zimmerman, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
The team are refining their proposed plan at the moment and will be presenting this to the independent advisory group at the first meeting in early April. Full details will be posted on the evaluation page in due course. In the mean time, the evaluation page contains the report of the seminar with Professor Gondolf in December for practitioners as well as other research news.
April 2008. Respect Accreditation application pack
The Respect accreditation system is now live as of 1st April 2008. In order to decide if your organisation is ready for accreditation, you can complete the self assessment workbook (link below). Use this to assess for yourself what you might need to do to be ready.
You can also download the full application pack (link below). This includes a checklist, application forms, guidance about the process and the desktop review list.
You should refer to the Respect Accreditation Standard (link below) for all the requirements your organisation must fulfil in order to become accredited.
There is further information on the Accreditation Page.
Download: Respect Accreditation - Self assessment workbook.doc
Download: Respect Accreditation - Application pack and desktop review list.doc