CNWL hosts fifth annual Domestic Abuse Conference

CNWL held the fifth annual Domestic Abuse conference this month. It was attended by over 600 people!

This year’s conference was held during the White Ribbon period, highlighting men’s violence against women and girls. More information is available on their website here.

Chairing the conference was CNWL’s Domestic Abuse Lead, Susan Bray and she was supported by CNWL’s Domestic Abuse Prevention Co-ordinator, Holly Thomas.

The event began with the names of women who have been murdered by men since the murder of Sarah Everard.

Holly Thomas said, "It was a powerful reminder why events like this are important and showing more work needs to be done for women’s safety."

Since the last Domestic Abuse Conference, The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 was given Royal Assent and became UK law.

The new legislation was a common thread of discussion, as guests evaluated the impact made or if it hadn’t gone far enough. 

This year Susan and Holly wanted to shine a light on children being recognised as victims in their own right, the gendered nature of Domestic Abuse, coercive control, and how we can better respond to perpetrators. 

The gendered nature of domestic abuse means women are more likely to be victims, but throughout the day guests called attention to men who are also victims of domestic abuse.

World renowned keynote speakers led this year’s programme, starting with barrister Charlotte Proudman, speaking about some of the changes the new laws had brought in. 

Dr Stephen Burrell, Fellow in the Department of Sociology at Durham University, spoke about gender masculinity and abuse - reminding everyone of the need to ensure that men are always part of these conversations. 

Emma Katz, a domestic violence researcher at Liverpool Hope University, spoke about her research around children and coercive control.

Ryan Hart shared his own family story of growing up with a coercively controlling father who ultimately ended up murdering his mother and sister.  Since then he and his brother set up CoCo Awareness (click here for more info) to protect other families from going through the same awful situation.

Phyllis Daly was there to speak about her daughter’s suicide in the context of a domestically abusive relationship. 

Viran Wiltshire, Detective Sargent - Metropolitan Police, was able to give a police perspective specifically around domestic homicides.

The event concluded with Jess Phillips MP (Shadow Minister for Domestic Abuse) who proved to be popular with the audience as she spoke about the impact of the new Domestic Abuse Act. 

Jess also went away with an action to be raised in parliament before the next conference:

The data collection policy of the NHS be included on the police’s data collection on suicide. 

This would aim to give police and NHS staff as much detail on an individual’s mental health to better protect them from taking their own lives.

Emma and Johanne, CNWL staff members, candidly shared their own lived experiences. Reflecting on their stories, Susan Bray said:

“It brought home that the people we see every day – patients and colleagues - could be suffering from domestic abuse. All of us in healthcare can do so much to support people and direct them to safety if we are better equipped to know how to approach someone and ask if they need our help. Thank you, Emma and Joanne for telling your stories so beautifully, you are inspirations.”

Colleen Simon, CNWL’s Lead Social Worker ended the conference by saying, “The Feedback from the conference today has been fantastic and has given us all a renewed vigour to continue to develop and grow in our responses to Domestic Abuse as a Trust.”

CNWL staff can watch the conference and view the presentation slides on Trustnet by searching - Domestic Abuse Conference 2022.