Services directory
Services for victims
Refuge – Warwickshire Domestic Violence and Abuse (WDVA) Service
Provides a single point of contact to access a range of advice, information and support for anyone concerned about domestic violence and abuse.
This is a new service combining both community-based support and safe refuge accommodation.
All services, including refuges, can be accessed through Warwickshire’s specialist domestic violence and abuse helpline on freephone 0800 408 1552.
The helpline is available: Monday to Friday 08:30 – 20:30; Saturday 10:00 – 16:00.
Referrals can also be made via the helpline.
Further information on the service can be found at Refuge.
Email address for professionals: dvsw@refuge.org.uk
Support offered includes:
Outreach support
Outreach support develops and sustains a service user’s capacity to live independently in their accommodation.
As well as supporting victims in relation to their accommodation, the service offers support with many other aspects including:
- Personal safety and security
- Finances, bills, etc.
- Education, training and employment
- Health and wellbeing
- Social skills, networks, activities, etc.
Specialist support for:
- Male victims
- Black and minority ethnic communities
- Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender victims
Sanctuary Scheme
The Sanctuary Scheme provides support to help victims to remain living safely in their own homes once they have ended their relationship, including the installation of home security measures.
The project is for all female and male victims of domestic violence and abuse aged from 16 who are living in any type of property within Warwickshire. The scheme accepts both self-referrals and referrals from any agency.
Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (IDVAs)
IDVAs provide support to high-risk victims of domestic violence and abuse.
They work with the victim to develop an intensive risk management plan and ensure they are receiving all the support required to keep them and their families safe.
They also offer support to clients who are accessing the criminal justice system and need support during criminal or civil legal proceedings.
IDVAs can provide support during court hearings, act as an advocate and refer victims to a range of other specialist agencies and support.
IDVAs are available for all high-risk female and male victims of domestic violence and abuse aged from 16 and accept both self-referrals and referrals from any agency.
Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference co-ordination
Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conferences (MARACs) are multi-agency meetings that focus on the safety plan of high-risk victims of domestic abuse.
Professionals concerned that a victim of domestic violence and abuse may be at a high level of risk of harm can refer cases to the MARAC co-ordinator.
Identification and Referral to Improve Safety (IRIS) advocate educators
IRIS is a general practice-based domestic violence and abuse training, support and referral programme for primary care staff.
It is a targeted intervention for female patients aged 16 and above experiencing current or former domestic violence and abuse from a partner, ex-partner or adult family member.
IRIS provides care pathways for all patients living with abuse, as well as information and signposting for perpetrators.
‘Advocate Educators’ work with GPs to provide training to the practice teams and act as an ongoing consultant as well as the person to whom GPs directly refer patients for expert advocacy and support.
Group work and drop-in sessions
Please contact Refuge for further details.
Refuges
Refuges provide safe emergency accommodation and support to women (aged 16 and over) and their children escaping domestic violence and abuse.
The service has a number of refuges across Warwickshire. Addresses and phone numbers should be kept confidential.
Call 0800 408 1552 or the out-of-hours contact on 07584 233 473.
Listening Ear – DiAmond Counselling Service
Warwickshire County Council’s first commissioned Domestic Abuse Specialist Counselling and Therapy Service is now accepting referrals.
This free to access service, is available for all victim-survivors who are engaging with Refuge / The Warwickshire Domestic Violence and Abuse Service.
Domestic Abuse Counselling Service (DACS)
Specialists in the field of domestic violence. Established since January 2006.
Its sole purpose is to reduce domestic abuse in our community by providing free therapeutic intervention, working one-to-one with victims of domestic abuse from a ‘preventative perspective’ providing therapy that educates from safe, accessible locations across the county of Warwickshire.
All DACS services can be accessed by calling 02476 351 137.
Victim services
DACS provides a free counselling service for both female and male victims of domestic abuse from therapeutic programmes designed to reduce risk of repeat victimisation and increase safety for victims of domestic abuse and their family.
• It provides one-to-one counselling sessions from safe, discreet locations across Warwickshire
• From initial assessment, DACS offers 15 free counselling sessions that can be extended based on the needs of the service user
• Our therapeutic programmes are highly valued and known to be effective in enabling positive change for a safer life
• The service is funded by a variety of independent funders to enable it to be provided for free
Perpetrator services
DACS provides one-to-one programmes of intervention for both male and female perpetrators of domestic abuse.
Partner support services
This is a service for victims of domestic abuse who have a partner engaging with the DACS perpetrator programmes. It is fully supported by DACS victim services.
Details of all DACS services and programmes can be found on DACS.
DACS delivers its services from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays) from:
- The Loft, 60 George Street, Ringway, Bedworth, Warwickshire, CV12 8EA
- Lifeways, 30 Albany Road, Stratford upon Avon, Warwickshire, CV37 6PG
- Other discreet, accessible venues throughout Warwickshire
For professional referrals, please email:
Lynn.naidoo@dacservice.org.uk (DACS Chief Officer)
Kate.farmer@dacservice.org.uk (Victim Service Manager)
The Blue Sky Centre
The Blue Sky Centre is a sexual assault referral centre (SARC) for women, men and children.
It recognises all forms of sexual violence, including: rape, sexual assault, childhood sexual abuse, rape within marriage, female genital mutilation, trafficking, and sexual exploitation.
What is a SARC?
A sexual assault referral centre is a single location where any victim of rape or serious assault will receive medical care, police intervention (if you choose to report the crime) and various other support services.
A SARC is an independent service that can operate 24/7 to assist all victims of rape and sexual assault.
The Blue Sky Centre is a local partnership between the police, health services and voluntary organisations set up to focus on your immediate support needs.
It offers:
- A dedicated, forensically secure facility integrated with hospital services
- Availability of forensic examination 24 hours a day within four hours of immediate need
- Self-referrals
- Storage of forensic results
- A female practitioner wherever possible
- Crisis workers available to provide immediate support to the victim
- Immediate access to emergency contraception and drugs to prevent sexually transmitted diseases and HIV
- Referral pathways to Independent Sexual Violence Advisors
- Signposting and referral to other appropriate statutory and voluntary services
Opening hours
The SARC is usually be staffed during normal working hours, but is available for use via a call-out system on a 24/7 basis 365 days of the year.
Contacting the Blue Sky Centre
The SARC telephone number is 02476 865505.
You can call and discuss the circumstances with us and we will advise you about the most appropriate next steps, which may be an appointment at the SARC for a forensic examination or a referral to other services that can help you.
While anyone can attend the Centre without an appointment, we would not be able to see people immediately if both wings are already in use – so prior contact by calling us is recommended.
The Blue Sky Centre is located on the site of the George Eliot Hospital in Nuneaton.
Rape or Sexual Abuse Support Project (RoSA)
RoSA was established in 1991 and provides support throughout Warwickshire for men, women, young people and children from age five who have been affected by the trauma of rape and sexual abuse.
Support is also offered to partners, families and carers, and you can expect to receive a service that allows you the utmost dignity and respect by our specialist team.
Services include:
- One-to-one confidential counselling
- Support groups (gender and age specific)
- Independent Sexual Violence Advisors (ISVAs) supporting survivors who want to report crime by accompanying them to police meetings and court visits and guiding them through the criminal justice process. ISVAs provide practical and emotional support as well as applying for criminal injuries compensation
- Prevention initiatives, working to protect young people from rape, sexual abuse and sexual exploitation
- Drop ins
- Support for family members, partners and witnesses
- Pre-trial therapy
- Telephone counselling
- Confidential helpline support
- Email and text support
- Training for professionals and frontline support workers (including self-harming behaviours, CSE, online safety)
- Lending library and resources
- Training and workshops on confidence building, assertiveness, managing anger, communication skills
Telephone 01788 551150, call the confidential helpline on 01788 51151, or email support@rosasupport.org.
Safeline
Safeline is a registered charity (number 1070854) working to prevent sexual abuse and rape and to support those who are affected, including survivors and their partners, families and friends.
It helps women, men and young people throughout Warwickshire and beyond. Safeline was established in 1994 and it now reaches over 1,000 people every year.
Services include:
- Prevention work to protect young people from sexual abuse and rape by providing them with counselling that allows them to express themselves, education to raise their awareness of sexual and other risks, and skills development (for example, in sport, dance or drama) to raise their self-esteem and help divert them away from situations that might expose them to abuse
- One-to-one specialist counselling by qualified or trainee counsellors who volunteer their services, working with clients for as long as it takes to help them rebuild their lives, for example re-entering employment or education, and improve their mental health and wellbeing
- Independent Sexual Violence Advisors (ISVAs) who support survivors who want to report the crime. ISVAs accompany clients to meetings with the police and to court, helping to guide them through the criminal justice process and providing practical and emotional support to survivors and their families
- A free national helpline referring survivors of sexual abuse or rape to their local support service
- Training for professionals (such as GPs, teachers and social/youth workers) on issues in which our staff have become experts, such as supporting people who self-harm
Contacting Safeline
Safeline, 6a New Street, Warwick, CV34 4RX
Office: 01926 402498
Email: office@safeline.org.uk
Freephone helpline: 0808 800 5008
Services for children and young people
Listening Ear – DiAmond Counselling Service
Warwickshire County Council’s first commissioned Domestic Abuse Specialist Counselling and Therapy Service is now accepting referrals.
This free to access service, is available for all victim-survivors who are engaging with Refuge / The Warwickshire Domestic Violence and Abuse Service.
Family Intervention Counselling Service
Changing Futures project
This project is for children aged 10 to 16 who have experienced domestic abuse within the family home.
Offering one-to-one sessions and a therapeutic group, focused on building confidence and self-esteem through youth work activities and sports and fitness activities.
Taking place at children’s centres throughout Warwickshire, this project is funded by Children in Need for three years.
Mums at Risk project
This project is offered to young mums (aged 16 to 25) who are at risk of having children removed from their care, or mums who have already had children removed from their care and are currently pregnant.
This intervention is delivered as a combination of one-to-one and group therapy.
It aims to reduce isolation, focus the mums on prioritising the needs of their children, and providing education around safe relationships and working with professionals.
This project is funded by the Heart of England Women and Girls Fund to run once per year for three years.
Please make contact if you wish to refer families to either of these projects:
T: 07711 844170
E: admin@interventionservice.co.uk
Website: www.interventionservice.co.uk
Victim Support Warwickshire
Victim Support Warwickshire provides free and confidential support to children and young people aged 4 to 18 who have witnessed domestic abuse.
It delivers one-to-one support around the effects witnessing domestic abuse can have on young people. Its role is to give them a chance to talk about how they feel in a calm and safe environment.
Victim Support Warwickshire aims to help them cope and recover from the harm caused by empowering them to recognise and reduce risks while also building their protective factors and resilience.
Each young person has a tailored support plan specifically around their individual needs.
The plan can include safety planning, building confidence and self-esteem, and understanding their emotions alongside any other need they may have.
For further information or to make referrals, please contact:
warwickshire.vs@victimsupport.org.uk or 01926 682693
Relate Coventry and Warwickshire Children and Young People’s Services
Relate recognises that relationship difficulties affect children and young people too.
This service is designed to support children and young people through the process of:
- Parental divorce and separation
- New step-parents/siblings
- Difficulties in relationships generally (at school, with peers, with parents)
- Bullying
- Loss and bereavement
- School transition
- Witnessing domestic violence in the family home
Who is eligible for the service?
The service is offered to children aged 5 to 19 years of age.
Appointments will usually be made within Relate’s Coventry Centre, although it also counsels at a number of schools within Warwickshire.
Parental consent must be given to those in primary school. The service uses a range of creative interventions when working with children and young people.
Confidentiality and safety
Relate offers private and confidential help to its clients.
It will not normally give your name or any information from or about you to anyone outside the organisation unless it has reason to believe that someone, especially a child, is at risk of serious harm.
Violence and abuse is an issue for many young people who come to Relate for help with their family relationships. Relate knows about this and you can talk to its team about it if it is a problem in your life.
Relate Coventry & Warwickshire works in accordance with Coventry Safeguarding Board Guidelines.
For further information, please contact Relate Coventry and Warwickshire:
Tel: 02476 225 863
www.relatecoventry.org/services/young-people/
Services for perpetrators
Domestic Abuse Counselling Service (DACS)
Specialists in the field of domestic violence. Established since January 2006.
Its sole purpose is to reduce domestic abuse in our community by providing free therapeutic intervention, working one-to-one with victims of domestic abuse from a ‘preventative perspective’ providing therapy that educates from safe, accessible locations across the county of Warwickshire.
DACS Perpetrator Intervention Service
- Provides one-to-one programmes of intervention for both male and female perpetrators of domestic abuse
- Intervention therapy provided is based on the service’s research and training over the last 11 years and is an adaption of national and international models and from research and training with RESPECT and the DVIP, nationally respected models for intervention work and nationally recognised centres of excellence in the field of domestic abuse
- The service is partially funded by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Warwickshire for certain areas within Warwickshire
- Payment is required for this service in areas that are unfunded
- Details can be found at DACS.
- For all enquires, telephone 02476 351137 or email Kerry.thorpe@dacservice.org.uk
DACS delivers its services from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays) from:
- The Loft, 60 George Street, Ringway, Bedworth, Warwickshire, CV12 8EA
- Lifeways, 30 Albany Road, Stratford upon Avon, Warwickshire, CV37 6PG
- Other discreet, accessible venues throughout Warwickshire
For professional referrals, please email:
Lynn.naidoo@dacservice.org.uk (DACS Chief Officer)
Kate.farmer@dacservice.org.uk (Victim Service Manager)
Other useful services
Citizens Advice
Citizens Advice offers free, confidential, impartial and independent advice from many locations in Warwickshire.
Its advice helps people resolve their problems with debt, benefits, employment, housing, discrimination, and many more issues.
It is available to everyone. Advice may be given face-to-face or by phone.
Most bureaux can arrange home visits and some also provide email advice.
A growing number are piloting the use of text, online chat and webcams.
Search for your local bureau to see the full range of services it provides: www.citizensadvice.org.uk/index/getadvice.htm
Local authority housing teams
North Warwickshire Borough Council
Tel: 01827 715341
Website: www.northwarks.gov.uk/housing
Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council
Tel: 0247 7637 6376
Website: www.nuneatonandbedworth.gov.uk/info/20012/housing
Rugby Borough Council
Tel: 01788 533 533
Website: www.rugby.gov.uk/housing
Stratford-on-Avon District Council
Tel: 01789 267575
Website: www.stratford.gov.uk/homes-properties/index.cfm
Warwick District Council
Tel: 01926 450000
Website: www.warwickdc.gov.uk/info/20002/housing
National services: victims
National Domestic Violence Helpline
Tel: 0808 2000 247 – 24 hours a day
The freephone 24-hour National Domestic Violence Helpline, run in partnership between Women’s Aid and Refuge, is a national service for women experiencing domestic violence, their family, friends, colleagues and others calling on their behalf.
Forced Marriage Helpline
Tel: 0800 5999 247 – Monday to Friday, 9.30am to 5pm
Called the ‘Honour Network’, the dedicated helpline is run by the charity Karma Nirvana, which helps survivors of ‘honour’ crimes and forced marriages.
National Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Trans Domestic Abuse Helpline
Galop, the leading LGBT anti-violence and abuse charity, has been awarded funding to deliver the national LGBT DA helpline.
Galop gives advice and support to people who have experienced biphobia, homophobia, transphobia, sexual violence or domestic abuse.
Galop also supports lesbian, gay, bi, trans and queer people who have had problems with the police or have questions about the criminal justice system.
Galop is a completely independent community-led group. Anything you tell it is confidential, and you can contact it anonymously if you choose.
Phone: 0300 999 5428 or 0800 999 5428*
Email: help@galop.org.uk
Opening times:
10am – 8pm Monday
10am – 5pm Tuesday**
10am – 5pm Wednesday
10am – 8pm Thursday
1pm – 5pm Friday
**1pm-5pm Tuesday is a trans-specific service.
Men’s Advice Line
Tel: 0808 801 0327 – Monday to Friday, 10am to 1pm and 2pm to 5pm
A helpline for male victims of domestic violence and abuse.