This report is authored by Dr Hannah Absalom. ESRC Fellowship holder at the University of Birmingham’s School of Government and associate at the Centre for Urban Wellbeing (CUWb).
Report name
Feeling at Home: Changing the Story of Domestic Abuse
Who wrote this report?
CUWb brings together academics, policymakers and practitioners to tackle global challenges to community health and wellbeing. The report emerged from a research project called ‘Feeling at Home’. This explored psychological and emotional insights with 37 tenants involved in improving social landlord services. During a workshop that explored tenants' emotions about their home and landlord services, domestic abuse emerged as a significant concern. Involved tenants highlighted their invisible work to aid residents and expressed frustration with inadequate engagements with landlords and local authorities.
Against the backdrop of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, which mandates English local authorities to plan and provide support for domestic abuse survivors, the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) is expected to heighten expectations for registered social landlords in England, as indicated by their October 2023 consultation.
The ‘Feeling at Home: Changing the Story of Domestic Abuse’ report adopts an exploratory co-production model grounded in a relational policymaking approach. This approach prioritises building and nurturing positive, interdependent relationships between individuals and communities while maintaining an awareness of the social and political context’s impact on policy outcomes. In essence, the report approaches domestic abuse as a ‘hearts and minds’ problem and challenges registered housing providers and local authorities to restructure their services and relationships so that they contribute to saving lives and reducing the trauma caused by domestic abuse.
Best quote
Domestic abuse is everyone’s responsibility. This resource aims to “change the story of domestic abuse” by facilitating collective working with local communities and services such as the local authority, housing and police. Collective working requires relationship building to develop a shared understanding of the problem of domestic abuse. Through this shared understanding, an alternative future is imagined and this forms the basis of a local domestic abuse plan that is everyone’s responsibility.
Key takeaways:
Co-producing solutions for domestic abuse is a formidable task, given the toxic narrative surrounding it. However, their innovative and dynamic co-production approach challenges and dismantles this narrative, sparking a vibrant emphasis on comprehending domestic abuse, addressing its harms and empowering communities to actively shape effective plans.
This report boldly champions the significance of navigating complex emotions like bravery, humility, discomfort and disbelief. Unlocking a treasure trove of emotionally informed techniques, it transforms these emotions into powerful resources for crafting impactful domestic abuse plans.
Discover the practical magic of storytelling in our approach to collective work on domestic abuse plans. Utilised in three thoughtful ways: fostering trust and strengthening team bonds, contributing to a knowledge map of current service provision and imagining a future grounded in evidence.
What’s in this report?
The report introduces the reader to the problem of domestic abuse and the pivotal role housing plays in aiding successful transition out of abusive situations, saving lives and reducing trauma. The idea of co-production as an expedition into the unknown is utilised as a metaphor and structuring device to journey through three stages: planning the expedition, investigating domestic abuse in your locality and using storytelling to imagine a future where domestic abuse is significantly reduced. The report concludes with summary notes describing the research that underpins the report and how it makes an original contribution to policy, practice and relational policy research.
The methods and approach described in the report seek to combine rational methods, such as investigating the problem of domestic abuse, with emotional approaches for working with complex and often submerged emotions productively. The report acknowledges the value of positive emotions, such as bravery to venture into the unknown and negative emotions, such as frustration and anger, as containing possibilities for creative rupture and personal growth. It is the first report of its kind to adopt a ‘head and heart’ approach to domestic abuse plans.
Why should you read this report?
This report outlines the rewards and challenges of a ‘head and heart’ approach to domestic abuse plan development. It is realistic about what is involved in planning and resources and encourages you to decide if this approach is the right fit. The expedition and storytelling approaches can be utilised for other complex problems like fuel poverty. Woven throughout are mini techniques that can be adopted without undertaking a dedicated expedition. If you share our view that housing services and community relationships can be restructured in ways that can save lives and reduce domestic abuse harms, you need to read this report.
Who is this report for?
This report is primarily aimed at registered providers of social housing. Local authorities are also an intended audience as are tenants involved in landlord services and community organisations who work to reduce the harms caused by domestic abuse. It is also suitable for academic and policy audiences interested in translating relational ideas into practice and taking seriously the call of government to approach domestic abuse as “everyone’s responsibility”.
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