Voice-AS21-22-23

What else have we been doing? We were successful in bidding for additional grant funding from the MOJ to deliver specialist support to victims of abuse during and post pandemic. We have introduced a specialist Diversity and Inclusion IDVA to provide support to clients who may not have rights to financial support, speak limited English, have unstable immigration status or additional cultural needs that may create barriers in allowing them to flee abuse or access support in the same way as clients without these additional needs. This IDVA works to support these clients whilst also building a network of support across the county of Northamptonshire and building relationships with the diverse communities therein. We have introduced an initiative in joint partnership with Northamptonshire Police and the force control room to provide Crisis Response IDVA provision at peak times during weekend evenings based within the Control room and deployable across the county to provide Domestic Abuse advice and guidance to attending officers, and once the offender has been removed, to provide fast paced crisis support to victim/survivors of abuse immediately following the offence. We have employed a dedicated and accredited IDVA to provide specialist support to clients with combined complex needs including substance misuse, poverty, homelessness, or mental health. Our accredited Independent Stalking Advocacy Caseworker (ISAC) provides advocacy, support and advice to individuals experiencing stalking and harassment ensuring that the victim/survivors voice is at the centre of their work. This Caseworker acts as the single point of contact for victims of intimate and non -intimate stalking. We have continued to deliver a package of external Training opportunities for professionals within the county including • DA Matters training to Police officers & Staff • DA Awareness & Safeguarding training to staff of NHFT / NHS • Domestic Abuse, Stalking and Harassment (DASH) risk assessment & MARAC referral processes to a wide variety of partnership agencies For Victims of serious and life changing road traffic collisions, our team of specialist support workers have provided interim emotional support to ensure those affected have the support they require during the immediate weeks following the collision and ahead of any latter potential trauma therapy or counselling. For Our Children and young people, we have introduced a team of dedicated youth specialist support workers to encourage communication and engagement in support. We are always keen to support local and national charities and this year our charity of the year was ‘The Lewis foundation’ a local charity that provide free care packs to adults undergoing cancer treatment in our local hospitals. We spent our free time, helping the Lewis Foundation team to prepare these care packs at their sorting depot, collecting items to be contained in the care packs, packing and donating our own Christmas care packs and taking part in lots and lots of fundraising activities raising £2094 along the way