View all news

National roundtable event will shape policies for domestic abuse perpetrator work

Attendees at OSSPC event

Attendees at the OSSPC roundtable event

Speaker at OSSPC event

Press release issued: 6 July 2022

The Universities of Bristol and Bournemouth held a national roundtable in June to discuss policy and strategic directions in early intervention perpetrator work.

The two universities are the joint UK partners of the European Commission funded project 'Other side of the story: perpetrators in change' (OSSPC) and came together at the University of Bristol with representatives from key national stakeholders in work with victim/survivors and perpetrators of domestic abuse.

Attendees at the event represented a range of organisations, including:

  • The Office of the Domestic Abuse Commissioner for England and Wales,
  • RESPECT,
  • The Hampton Trust,
  • Women’s Aid Federation England,
  • Safelives, and
  • Standing Together Against Domestic Abuse (STADA).

The event was also attended by commissioners, professionals, and stakeholders from across the South West region, as well as academics with interest in this area.

Dr Jade Levell from the University of Bristol, a Lecturer in Criminology and Gender Violence in the School for Policy Studies, leads on the UK strand of the project. She shared the findings from international fieldwork and professional training conducted as part of the project at the event.

Chantal Hughes, CEO of The Hampton Trust, shared their best practice early intervention and conditional caution work with perpetrators (DARE and Project CARA), while Rebecca Vagi, National Lead for Make a Change at RESPECT, and Caroline Bernard, Head of Influence at RESPECT, both shared the early intervention model that RESPECT have been rolling out across the UK (Make a Change).

Dr Levell said: “It was great to be able to get key stakeholders together to discuss this important project.

“The presentations given throughout the day inspired varied and in-depth conversations about the importance of the Coordinated Community Response (CCR) model to address DVA and gaps and barriers in early identification and intervention with perpetrators.

“These conversations will feed into national policy recommendations which are due for launch at a national conference in September.”

Further information

The research project is a collaboration between partner organisations in the UK, Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Romania. Visit the OSSPC website for more information.

Edit this page