Who we are

IRISi is a social enterprise established in 2017.

We are building a network of partners who share our vision and have the drive to create sustained change.

Our vision is a world in which gender-based violence is consistently recognised and addressed as a health issue.

Our mission is to improve the healthcare response to gender-based violence through health and specialist services working together.

Find out more

What we do

  • support the local commissioning, implementation, maintenance and growth of the IRIS programme and the ADViSE programme. This includes bid development, training for trainers, ongoing support, national analysis and monitoring.
  • collaborate with partners to develop innovative, evidence-based health interventions for those affected by gender-based violence.
  • provide expert advice and consultancy in the field of domestic and sexual violence and abuse (D&SVA) and health.

The Scale of the Problem: DVA and Health

  • 26% of women experience domestic abuse in the course of their lifetime (CSEW, 2016), while for women attending general practice this figure can increase to 41% (Richardson et al, 2002).
  • Domestic abuse has devastating health impacts, affecting both the physical and mental health of survivors and their children.
  • The estimated annual cost of domestic abuse to health, excluding mental health costs, is £1.7bn (Walby, 2009).
  • 80% of women in a violent relationship seek help from health services and these are often a woman’s first, or only, point of contact (Department of Health).
  • On average two women are killed by their partner or ex-partner every week in England and Wales (Office for National Statistics, 2017).

Success Stories

“Since the training we have been able to pick up more cases and have been able to help women who had previously been unable to talk about their abuse. We are also more able to asses risk for the women and their children”IRIS GP

What's the latest from IRISi

18.03.2024
IRISi is pleased to launch our National Report, encompassing all the data gathered from sites running IRIS and ADViSE up to March 2023.

IRISi National Report: As of March 2023, IRIS and ADViSE programmes received 36,352 referrals!

IRISi is pleased to launch our National Report, encompassing all the data gathered from sites running IRIS and ADViSE up to March 2023.

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12.03.2024
The Assistant Director for Safeguarding for NHS North West London, Siobhan Appleton, advised that, “The return of IRIS, in collaboration with Advance, to the North West London boroughs of Westminster and Hammersmith and Fulham will build on previous achievements and ensure recommencement of provision of a high level training, referral and advocacy model that supports clinicians within Primary Care to better support patients affected by Domestic Violence and Abuse”.

IRIS resumes in North West London: everything you need to know about the relaunch of the programme in Westminster, Hammersmith and Fulham

The Assistant Director for Safeguarding for NHS North West London, Siobhan Appleton, advised that, “The return of IRIS, in collaboration with Advance, to the North West London boroughs of Westminster and Hammersmith and Fulham...

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12.02.2024
Improving the healthcare response to Domestic Abuse: IRIS expansion to reach men, children and young people proves feasible and potentially cost-effective, according to findings by University of Bristol researchers.

IRIS+ Programme: amplifying the healthcare response to Domestic Abuse; £2.2M for clinical trial to improve general practice response to men and children affected by domestic abuse

Improving the healthcare response to Domestic Abuse: IRIS expansion to reach men, children and young people proves feasible and potentially cost-effective, according to findings by University of Bristol researchers.

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Partners

AVA
AVA
AVA

AVA is an expert, groundbreaking and independent charity working across the UK.

Their vision is a world without gender based violence and abuse. They aim to  inspire innovation and collaboration and encourage and enable direct service providers to help end gender based violence and abuse particularly against women and girls.AVA’s work is focused around those areas where they can make the best contribution to ending violence and abuse. They do this by making sure that survivors get the help and support they need in the here and now, through providing innovative training that has a proven direct impact on the professional practice of people supporting survivors of violence and abuse

developing a range of toolkits, e-learning and other material that supports professionals to provide effective and appropriate support to survivors of violence and abuse

using our influence and networks to ensure survivors voices are heard. We work closely with AVA in many areas including the Pathfinder project

https://avaproject.org.uk

SafeLives
SafeLives
SafeLives

SafeLives are a national charity dedicated to ending domestic abuse, for good. We combine insight from services, survivors and statistics to support people to become safe, well and rebuild their lives. Since 2005, SafeLives has worked with organisations across the country to transform the response to domestic abuse, with over 60,000 victims at highest risk of murder or serious harm now receiving co-ordinated support annually. SafeLives are members of the Pathfinder consortium.

http://www.safelives.org.uk/about-us

IMKAAN
IMKAAN
IMKAAN

Imkaan is a UK-based, Black feminist organisation. We are the only national second-tier women’s organisation dedicated to addressing violence against Black and minoritised women and girls i.e. women and girls which are defined in policy terms as Black and ‘Minority Ethnic’ (BME). The organisation holds nearly two decades of experience of working around issues such as domestic violence, forced marriage and ‘honour-based’ violence.

They work at local, national and international level, and in partnership with a range of organisations, to improve policy and practice responses to Black and minoritised women and girls. Imkaan works with it’s members to represent the expertise and perspectives of frontline, specialist and dedicated Black and minoritised women’s organisations that work to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls. Imkaan delivers a unique package of support which includes: quality assurance; accredited training and peer education; sustainability support to frontline Black and minoritised organisations; and facilitation of space for community engagement and development. They are a part of the Pathfinder Consortium.

https://www.imkaan.org.uk

The University of Bristol CAPC
The University of Bristol CAPC
The University of Bristol CAPC

The Centre for Academic Primary Care (CAPC) is a leading centre for primary care research in the UK, one of nine forming the NIHR School for Primary Care Research.  It is part of Bristol Medical School, an internationally recognised centre of excellence for population health research and teaching.

A dedicated team of researchers at the Centre work on domestic abuse projects and IRISi is a co-collaborator and partner on some of these projects including ReProvide, HERA and DRiDVA.

The Health Foundation
The Health Foundation
The Health Foundation

The Health Foundation is an independent charity committed to bringing about better health and health care for people in the UK. The Health Foundation’s Exploring Social Franchising programme aims to generate a deeper understanding of the potential of social franchising models for scaling effective health and social care interventions within the NHS.

We are one of four project teams participating in the programme to develop a social franchise to enable the sustainable spread of our intervention, the IRIS Programme. We receive funding and support from the Health Foundation, including technical expertise on social franchising, and attend programme learning events. The Health Foundation has also commissioned a programme-wide evaluation to support understanding of the use of social franchising in the UK health and care system. We and our franchisees will support the evaluation through co-designing data collection requirements, providing access to data as requested, hosting site visits and attending learning events.

https://www.health.org.uk

STADV
STADV
STADV

Standing Together Against Domestic Violence is a UK charity bringing communities together to end domestic abuse. They bring local services together to keep people safe

Most public services weren’t designed with domestic abuse in mind, and they often struggle to keep people safe. Poor communication and gaps between services put survivors at risk.

STADV aim to end domestic abuse by changing the way that local services respond to it. They do this through an approach that they pioneered, called the Coordinated Community Response. The Coordinated Community Response brings services together to ensure local systems truly keep survivors safe, hold abusers to account, and prevent domestic abuse.

Their model of a coordinated local partnership to tackle and ultimately prevent domestic violence is now widely accepted as best practice. They are also a part of the Pathfinder consortium.

http://www.standingtogether.org.uk

Spring Impact
Spring Impact
Spring Impact

Spring Impact is a not-for-profit social enterprise born out of the frustration of seeing social organisations constantly reinventing the wheel and wasting scarce resources. Spring Impact uses a combination of tested commercial and social principles and extensive practical expertise to support organisations to identify, design and implement the right social replication model to scale their social impact.

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