On Monday 14th February we had our second Leeds Women’s Homelessness and Housing Frontline Network meeting and we were over the moon to see so many frontline practitioners from across Leeds come along for the session!
What went on?
We were lucky to have Lucy from Fulfilling Lives Islington and Camden (FLIC) come along and deliver training on supporting survivors and/or perpetrators of domestic abuse within homelessness settings.
The training was informed by the “Confidence in Complexity” guidance developed by FLIC and Standing Together alongside experts from across the homelessness, domestic abuse and perpetrators sectors, this research really shone through throughout the session and demonstrated the value in focusing on this issue.
Read the full guidance here: Working Effectively with Victims and Perpetrators in Homelessness Settings
Lucy talked through the complexities domestic abuse in homelessness settings, especially in situations where both survivor and perpetrator are experiencing multiple disadvantages. The training provided invaluable practical advice around ways to engage with survivors when the perpetrator is closely involved and how to challenge perpetrator behavior. It gave us a great insight into the key issues surrounding domestic abuse in homelessness settings as well as offering practical tips that practitioners can take forward into their practice.
After the training Leeds Frontline Network facilitator Cat held a space for reflections, and those who could stayed on to discuss the training and how it could be applied to current clients. This was a great opportunity for practitioners to share experience and offer advice. Thank you to everyone who came along to the training and offered their experience and insight into our discussions!
Reflections from practitioners
At the close of the session we asked everyone to reflect on the training. Practitioners overwhelmingly told us that they had gained something from the training that they would take forward into their practice. In particular, a lot of attendees highlighted how valuable it had been to cover ways in which you can safely challenge perpetrator’s behavior. Attendees also said that break out rooms offered an opportunity to learn from each other, and see the creative and adaptable ways in which other practitioners were dealing with challenging situations.
“The whole session was fantastic – super informative and so much that was covered.”
“[Useful to get] examples of specific things to say, and the evidence shows that doing this is positive”
We’re so pleased to hear all this positive feedback! We want the network to be a place to connect with others in Leeds in order to draw on the strengths and experiences of other practitioners also doing brilliant work. We want to offer opportunities to develop and improve their practice inside of a supportive network. The network is also here to help practitioners feel less alone in their work, especially when dealing with incredibly challenging cases where it might feel like there is no ‘right’ answer. It was great to hear back from everyone who attended and see that the meeting did provide them with all of those things!
What’s next?
We are hosting another reflective space on 7th March 11 am – 12pm to follow on from this training. During this session we will be looking at experiences of applying today’s training, discussion will be focused around things that have been implemented as well as parts of the training that has perhaps proved difficult to implement. We encourage anyone who attended the training to come along for the discussion, it will be a great space to share more experiences with other practitioners. If you couldn’t make it to the training, we also welcome you to read through the ‘Confidence in Complexity’ guidance and come along to this session to reflect and hear from others and their experiences.
If you are interested in attending, sign-up via our Eventbrite page: Click here to sign-up
Thank you to everyone who made suggestions for future topics and areas we could focus on in future meetings, as we look to continue to develop the Leeds Women’s Homelessness and Housing Frontline Network we really value your input on what would benefit practitioners in our Network.
Ps. Have you signed up to our Newsletter yet?
Leeds Women’s Homelessness and Housing Frontline Network sends out a monthly newsletter covering all the relevant publications, news, opportunities and events for frontline practitioners in Leeds. If you’d like to receive our newsletter, please sign up to our mailing list by clicking the ‘subscribe’ button below:
If you missed our February Newsletter you can read it here