Introducing Mariah Kelly: a new IRISi Board Member committed to advancing gender equality and health equity

Mariah Kelly is a health policy professional with a master’s degree in Health Policy, boasting experience in the charity and public sectors on various health and social policy issues. Currently employed at the Health Foundation, she focuses on policy areas related to the social determinants of health. Mariah is a passionate intersectional feminist and believes that addressing gender-based violence is integral to women's equality and human rights. She aims to contribute to IRISi's mission by leveraging her expertise in policy development to positively influence government policies, enhance IRISi's visibility, and actively engage in the formulation of strategies promoting equality, diversity, and inclusion.

We are thrilled to introduce Mariah Kelly, the newest addition to the IRISi Board of Directors. Mariah brings a wealth of knowledge and a strong commitment to advancing gender equality, health equity, and social justice. In a recent interview, she shared her background, motivations, and aspirations for her role at IRISi. Join us in welcoming Mariah to the IRISi community!

Mariah Kelly’s professional journey is characterised by a deep dedication to improving the lives of individuals and communities. She holds a master’s degree in health policy, where she cultivated a keen interest in understanding the social determinants of health and addressing health inequalities. Over the years, she has worked in both the charity and public sectors, focusing on various health and social policy issues.

Mariah’s journey to becoming an IRISi Board Member began when she learned about our organisation through a colleague at the Health Foundation. She was struck by IRISi’s exceptional reputation and its unwavering commitment to its mission and vision. “Having worked in the field of gender-based violence previously, I have seen how pervasive the issue is, as well as the harm it causes to physical and mental health and ability to participate fully in society”, she says.

Driven by a strong commitment to intersectional feminism, our new board member understands the pivotal role that addressing gender-based violence plays in achieving women’s equality and human rights. “Healthcare is an important part of this, given that health and social care workers are often the first professionals to have contact with those affected by domestic violence and abuse. I am hopeful that I can bring my experience of policy development to support IRISi’s mission, identifying opportunities to influence and shape government policy for the better, as well as increase the profile of IRISi. I am also keen to get involved in developing our approach to equality, diversity and inclusion”.

Looking ahead, Mariah recognises the challenges facing both IRISi and society at large. The current economic crisis and rising cost of living are causing increased economic insecurity, making women and children more vulnerable to gender-based violence. Simultaneously, healthcare systems, like many public services, are under extreme strain and facing difficult funding decisions. “In this context, IRISI’s work feels more important than ever and I’m really looking forward to supporting it in any way I can”, says our new Board Member.

We are excited to work alongside her as we continue our mission to improve the response to gender-based violence and create a more equitable and inclusive world for all. Please join us in extending a warm welcome to Mariah as she embarks on this new chapter with IRISi!

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.

http://www.safelives.org.uk/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.