“IRIS saved my life”

From despair to triumph: How a GP’s referral helped a survivor of Domestic Abuse to rebuild her life

For one brave healthcare professional based in Gwent, the decision to leave her abusive husband marked the beginning of a harrowing journey. “I had been through many types of abuse – financial, emotional and sexual”, she recounts. “After we split, he started stalking and harassing me”.

The situation escalated and her daughter, influenced by her father’s manipulative behaviour, stopped talking to her, leaving her feeling completely isolated and fearing losing her child. “I tried seeking support, but couldn’t find the level of help I needed”, she explains.

Desperation drove her to her GP. “I went to my GP feeling suicidal. As a healthcare professional myself, I had access to the means to end my life and had a plan. But instead, I called my GP, who referred me to the mental health service and to the IRIS Programme”.

This moment marked a turning point. The Advocate Educator (AE) from Llamau, the specialist domestic abuse service working in partnership with IRISi to deliver the IRIS programme locally, offered extensive support. From installing alarms to prevent her ex-husband from breaking in to providing legal and emotional assistance, Llamau went above and beyond. They also connected her with counselling services, where she received trauma-informed care. “IRIS saved my life”, she says with conviction. “The AE helped me realise that I had been abused during my marriage, something I hadn’t fully understood yet”.

Through months of dedicated support, the AE helped her rebuild her life. “With the information she provided, I could finally initiate mediation with my daughter. I had been alienated from her, but I could finally open a channel to express ‘I miss you, I love you.'” Her journey from a dark place to one of hope and renewed connections is a testament to the power of holistic support.

The power of holistic support

The Advocate Educator who took on this case recalls the survivor’s incredible resilience. “Hearing her speak now, from where she started, I’m so proud to see her shining. I know she won’t let anyone else say any different”.

She emphasises the importance of immediate and comprehensive support for survivors of abuse. “It’s crucial and vital to patient safety. This survivor referral came as medium-risk, which means we have to call the patient within a few days. When I received the referral, I could see it had to do with the history of the abuse and its impact on her mental health “.

The AE highlights the necessity of holistic support, liaising with the GP, and comprehensively addressing the survivor’s needs. “We knew we had to offer holistic support to ensure she was safe”, she explains. “IRIS was able to provide immediate help, something the overwhelmed mental health services couldn’t do at the time”.

The GP’s role in identifying and referring

The GP who referred the survivor to IRIS had recently completed crucial training through the programme to identify and address signs of domestic abuse during consultations. This training proved instrumental, allowing the GP to discern and link the signs displayed by the patient directly to their recent training session.”The estrangement with her daughter had left the patient very low, and she felt she had nothing to live for.”

Despite seeing her multiple times and prescribing medication, the GP remained concerned about her patient’s future, aware that the survivor was still struggling with her circumstances, but, according to them, “IRIS input helped the patient realise that her ex-husband was still controlling her and indulging in stalking behaviour. It gave her the strength to see the effect this had on her and restored her self-worth and confidence.”

This illustrates how effective the IRIS approach is: after IRIS training, the GP was not only able to recognise and respond to domestic abuse effectively but also had access to a clear and efficient referral pathway to her AE, enabling prompt support for their patient. Reflecting on IRIS’s influence, the GP observed, “She was a different woman after IRIS input, with hope for the future. She was taking steps to improve her physical health and had good plans for the future.”

This story of survival, support, and transformation underscores the vital importance of IRIS in providing holistic, immediate, and compassionate care for survivors of abuse.

The bigger picture – The importance of IRIS

IRIS is an evidence-based, cost-effective response to a pervasive issue. According to the Department of Health, 80% of women in violent relationships seek help from health services, making these services often the first, or only, point of contact for these women.

Without programmes like IRIS, many of these women might not be identified as victims and survivors of abuse. This can lead to their concerns being dismissed or overlooked, allowing the abuse to escalate. IRIS is crucial in bridging this gap, providing immediate recognition and support to those in abusive situations, thereby preventing further harm.

The transformative impact of IRIS, as seen in the survivor’s story, highlights the necessity of such programmes. They provide holistic, immediate, and compassionate care, addressing the multifaceted needs of survivors and ensuring their safety and well-being.

Medina Johnson, CEO of IRISi, underscores the urgent need for funding: “Despite our presence in around 50 areas across the country, we are constantly battling to secure sustainable and long-term funding. Without this financial stability, the essential support our programmes provide is jeopardised, putting countless victims and survivors at even greater risk.”

Partners

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 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.

About us

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 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 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

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 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.