DVIP offers a range of services to women who are experiencing domestic violence. All our services for women are free and confidential and provided by women staff and volunteers and are available for as long as each individual woman needs or wants them.
Our women clients come from two sources:
- women who we proactively contact because they have a partner or ex-partner using the perpetrators services
- women from Hammersmith and Fulham who we work with whether or not their (ex)-partner attends DVIP
Women vary in the type of contact that suits them and in the nature of support they need at any particular time. Our women’s services therefore include telephone and face to face work as well as a support group and a structured workshop programme. All these services are aimed at helping women to plan and act for their own and their children’s safety by enabling them to explore and make sense of their experiences of domestic violence and increasing their control over their own lives by:
- safety planning
- offering support
- giving clear messages
- promoting realistic expectations of our work with her (ex)-partner
- giving information
- providing advocacy and report writing
Women pick their own route through the services depending on their needs and on practical concerns around accessibility.
Proactive contact
We make proactive contact with every woman whose (ex)-partner is a client of DVIP. This is done through sending her an information pack and through making every effort to reach her by telephone.
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Follow up and priority contact
We always try to stay in touch with women by calling them at regular intervals. When we have specific concerns for the safety of a woman or her children we immediately prioritise that call and do everything in our power to minimise the risk.
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Ongoing one to one work
We offer an initial six face to face sessions to every woman which can be extended according to need and circumstance. We can also provide the same service by telephone. This can be a lifeline for women who have difficulties accessing our services – due to children, disability, travel difficulties or a partner who will not let her go out.
In addition to regular appointments, we also encourage women to phone us whenever they need to. We cannot always guarantee telephone cover so we do sometimes operate with an answering machine. We try to return all calls promptly.
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Women’s support group
This is a weekly daytime group with sessions lasting two hours. The group is intended for women to attend on a regular basis. The groups are facilitated but the issues focused on are client led. The facilitators use a range of counselling, therapeutic and educational techniques but primarily they encourage members to take responsibility for the group.
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Women’s workshop programme
DVIP offers structured workshops every fortnight. Again, these run in the daytime and they last for 2½ hours. Each workshop focuses on a particular theme but links in with others over time. Women can come to as many workshops as they like.
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For more information on the Women's Support Services offered by DVIP contact wss@dvip.org.
