Domestic abuse needs a knowledgeable and well-coordinated approach to ensure the right service delivery. I have worked on over twenty domestic abuse projects, so this is one of my areas of deep expertise.
Client
Leeds City Council, on behalf of the Safer Leeds Executive
The Problem
The Safer Leeds Executive needed to develop a new Domestic Violence and Abuse Strategy. This would form the basis to commission services and guide delivery. Although written by various partners, the strategy needed to read as if written with a single voice and ensure a good-practice, coordinated approach.
The Solution
I led a collaboration between domestic abuse leads across partner organisations, providing expertise and mentoring ‘critical friend’ support to the domestic abuse lead, with the aim of building the capacity and skills within the team as well as enabling strategy creation. A variety of tasks were included in the work:
- facilitation of the development of a strategy framework that was evidence-based, drew on good practice and worked to local need
- project management oversight for tasks and timescales
- critical friend review of the different sections of the strategy
- mentoring and advice on the development of a performance and commissioning framework to support the delivery and monitoring of the strategy.
The mentoring built on previous support to Leeds to respond to the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 statutory duties, which required the development of a safe accommodation strategy.
The Outcome
Staff were supported in developing the Domestic Violence and Abuse Strategy and built skills for similar future projects. An evidence-based strategy is in place, as well as an essential performance and commissioning framework to monitor delivery and spending.
What the Client Said
Throughout the development of the strategy, we felt very supported and enabled by working with Nicola. She brought a raft of subject matter expertise into our discussions and was willing to explore new ways of delivery for our approach. Her speedy responses to requests and willingness to kindly critique our drafts were greatly appreciated. We would have no hesitation in working with Nicola again. Thank you for your support.
Gerry Shevlin
Programme Manager – Safeguarding and Domestic Violence Team
Want to know more? Contact me to find out how I can provide mentoring and ‘critical friend’ support to deliver your community safety goals
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