Focus
Aberdeen City’s focus for their implementation of Safe & Together has involved the rolling out of Safe & Together training to targeted groups and key workforces, as well as undertaking of the Trainer Certification and becoming a Partner Agency. Attending network and learning events has also been a key activity as it has allowed connections to be made to other local area leads, groups and stakeholders. The use of Safe & Together tools, resources and events has supported practice and implementation, particularly in regards to organisation and system improvement as Aberdeen City have stated the revision of policies and processes and are aiming to improve data collection.
Outcomes
It was highlighted that Aberdeen City has started to see evidence that suggests that the successful implementation of Safe & Together. This includes signs that practitioners have increased understanding of the impact of domestic abuse on children and families, as well as being more likely to create interventions and plans which focus on perpetrator’s behaviours. Those who have undertaken the Core training have indicated how beneficial this has been for their work, with 82% of practitioners surveyed advising that the training has increased their confidence in working in a domestic-abuse informed way. Feedback from the most recent round of Core training highlights this:
The training was fantastic. I’ve really reflected on my own practice, recognising my use of mutualising language and failure to hold the perpetrator responsible. It is so refreshing to be promoted to really highlight survivor strength and to partner with them. This training has really prompted my thought process with assessing and planning where domestic abuse is being perpetrated.
Although I have attempted to make contact with perpetrators, this has not been a priority and this training has highlighted that perpetrators should be made accountable and the different ways I can go about engaging with the perpetrators and having the confidence to ask the right questions. Also learned so much about language and naming what happened…
There is also evidence of longer-term outcomes starting to be achieved, such as policies and practices being more likely to focus on children safety and wellbeing, recognise survivor strengths and hold perpetrator’s accountable. This has become apparent through the work of those who have completed the Core training as their learning has not only influenced their own practice but has been reflected in changes throughout their teams. The Safe & Together principles have been implemented into their work, along with practice elements of Core training such as the forming of the Child’s Plan when working with families where domestic abuse is present.
The change in practice is starting to be recognised not just in Children’s Services, but also by other social work services. Feedback from Justice Social Work staff has highlighted the change in some Children’s Services Social Work staff in not just the language that they are using, but in their decision making and practice.
Aberdeen City now has four in-house Certified Safe & Together trainers that can facilitate both Overview and Core training.
Enablers
A number of enablers have assisted in making progress in embedding Safe & Together across Aberdeen City. Local leaders have a shared vision for the community which includes taking a strong domestic abuse-informed approach, providing a strong foundation for this work to be built upon. There are also clear frameworks and evaluation processes in place to evidence the impact of this practice, which highlights the benefits of this approach. Furthermore, the sustainable long-term funding, and particularly the extension to the DES fund, has allowed for more Safe & Together training to be undertaken than originally planned.
Barriers
The main barrier that Aberdeen City has experienced in relation to embedding Safe & Together is the lack of organisational capacity for staff to access training and implementation support. Competing demands reduces staff ability to engage with training, whilst also makes it difficult to put this into practice due to high workloads.
An additional challenge that has arisen in the last 12 months is the pushback that some practitioners are facing from their line managers about attending the training and then implementing the model. We are looking to address these issues by incorporating mandatory Safe & Together training for line managers.