Make a Change and STADA come together for pilot health initiative
Respect is delighted to be welcoming a Domestic Abuse and Health Lead to the Make a Change team, grant funded by Standing Together Against Domestic Abuse (STADA) through a new partnership.
STADA is a national charity bringing communities across the UK together to end domestic abuse through the internationally recognised approach the Coordinated Community Response (CCR). As part of this work, STADA has been commissioned by the Home Office to help drive the national transformation of the health response to domestic abuse, known as the Crossing Pathways project. The project seeks to integrate a comprehensive and consistent response to domestic abuse within the health system, with targeted interventions across healthcare settings in England.
The Make a Change team has developed close connections with STADA due to shared priorities and a mutual interest in engaging health and housing in a whole-system response to perpetrators. To further these priorities, STADA through Home Office funding, grant funded Respect to recruit a Domestic Abuse and Health Lead, embedded within the Make a Change team. We are delighted to welcome Dhriti Suresh Eapen to the team in this new role. Dhriti will work with three health trusts nationally, who are pilot sites, to create survivor-centred responses that make perpetrators of domestic abuse more visible, by empowering health professionals and enhancing the health sector’s capacity to respond to them safely.
Jackie Hyland, Executive Director of Health Initiatives, STADA, said: “We’re excited to collaborate with Respect on this innovative partnership that will support our work to keep survivors and their families safe, hold perpetrators to account, and end domestic abuse by transforming the way organisations and individuals think about, prevent, and respond to it. Healthcare professionals play a crucial role in the early identification and intervention of domestic abuse, given the frequency and nature of their contact with both survivors and perpetrators. The NHS’s routine and ongoing contact with patients presents important opportunities to engage with perpetrators, which currently we know are being missed. As the UK charity stopping perpetrators of domestic abuse, Respect is uniquely placed to develop and deliver strategic responses to perpetrators within health settings.”
Rebecca Vagi, Head of Make a Change, Respect, said: “We’re really excited to welcome Dhriti to the team. The primary goal of this partnership is to enhance safety and positive outcomes for survivors, equip health professionals with the necessary skills, and establish effective support and referral pathways. Rather than focusing on direct interaction with perpetrators, this work will concentrate on upskilling healthcare providers, ensuring they can respond to and manage cases involving domestic abuse in a way that holds perpetrators to account.
“By identifying abusive behaviours and addressing connected issues – which complicate but do not cause abuse – such as substance use, mental health problems, or relationship stressors, healthcare professionals can intervene to reduce negative effects, ideally before violence and abuse escalates or becomes ingrained. If professionals across the health sector are empowered to act, it will not only support individual patients, but will contribute to the broader, coordinated community response that is crucial to prevent and reduce domestic abuse. Taking this approach will enable us to embed a robust and sustainable response framework within the health sector that can be scaled up over time."
Respect will also support STADA and Social Led with the development of an accreditation scheme for health, offering guidance on safe and effective responses to perpetrators of domestic abuse. The pilot health initiative is funded for one year and represents a significant shift towards a proactive and systemic approach to addressing domestic abuse in healthcare contexts. Currently, many opportunities for intervention by non-specialist domestic abuse professionals are not acted on and this partnership aims to drive meaningful change in how the health sector addresses domestic abuse, ultimately contributing to a safer and more supportive environment for survivors.
