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For the last 2 weeks I’ve had the pleasure of working with some really amazing women at IRISi. It’s been an eye-opening experience for myself as a clinician, but also as a woman. Going into this, I had a preconceived idea of the type of woman that is abused. Maybe a woman with mental health or drug addiction problems, maybe a woman whose religion doesn’t support leaving a perpetrator. As ignorant as it sounds, I did not think domestic violence and abuse was a problem that extended to middle class, university educated women like myself. But the figures beg to differ. The figures and facts tell me this isn’t a class problem, hidden in the backstreets of the UK. There is a nationwide female genocide on all women and the country is not doing enough. If 2 women a week, every week, died from some medical condition, we would call it an epidemic. So why is it any different for domestic abuse and violence? 1 in 4 women will experience domestic violence or abuse in their life. This sounds so painfully high to me. To put it into a social context, go on one of your groupchats. 1 in 4 women. A woman you know.

I went to an IRIS training session recently in Cardiff, where local police respond to domestic violence calls every 30 seconds. I couldn’t rack my head around the sheer volume of calls that is. Every 30 seconds, everyday, 7 days a week. Stats show that it can take around 50 incidents before a victim even contacts the police. Which means the calls that are coming in are only the tip of the iceberg. 2,880 calls a day, 19,600 calls a week, is the tip of the iceberg. To ignore that domestic violence and abuse is a gendered issue would be irresponsible of me. A serious conversation needs to be had about male entitlement, patriarchy and misogyny. Nobody is entitled to the body of anyone else. To harm, to control or to invade. So why do I care so much? Firstly, I think everyone should care, it shouldn’t have to affect someone you know for domestic violence and abuse to be wrong. It shouldn’t have to be your sister or you mother or your best friend. Respect for autonomy should extend to all humans, not just humans in your familial and social circle. Fortunately for me, I work in healthcare, this means I see different members of the public every day. I get to chat with them, learn from them, teach them, encourage them, I have to be in their personal space, I sometimes have to tell them off. But for each and every patient that gets in my chair, there is a basic human care that I have for them. I want every person who gets in my dental chair to be safe when they leave my chair. It wasn’t until I did this work that I realised this. I had thought it was a given, but it’s not, the numbers clearly show that. I feel that it is my duty, like all healthcare professionals should, to raise alarm bells when I’m concerned. When women are dying weekly, we can’t sit back idly and hope that someone else will do something because it’s awkward for us. We have a duty of care as humans to support those who may not be in a position to protect themselves anymore.

Author: Zainab Oshodi, 5th Year Dental Student, Bristol

To find out more about what we do and how you might be able to get IRIS in your area, please visit our website www.irisi.org or email info@irisi.org

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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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