The severe COVID lockdowns may be over, but psychologist and UNE researcher Ryan Davies fears that entrenched patterns of domestic violence continue to threaten countless Australian women.
Supporting these women more effectively relies on adequate professional services but also informal frontline support from family, friends, colleagues and neighbours. And it’s an ambition to “help the helpers” of survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) that is motivating Ryan in his PhD research.
“The sad reality is that we lose one woman a week to homicide in Australia as a result of IPV,” Ryan says.
“During the pandemic lockdowns, we saw a 20-30% increase in domestic violence reports globally, and in many cases the violence was more severe than previously seen.
Ryan Davies has worked in the largest child protection and family support district (geographically) in the world, travelling hundreds of kilometres a week to visit clients.
The severe COVID lockdowns may be over, but psychologist and UNE researcher Ryan Davies fears that entrenched patterns of domestic violence continue to threaten countless Australian women.
Supporting these women more effectively relies on adequate professional services but also informal frontline support from family, friends, colleagues and neighbours. And it’s an ambition to “help the helpers” of survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) that is motivating Ryan in his PhD research.
“The sad reality is that we lose one woman a week to homicide in Australia as a result of IPV,” Ryan says.
“During the pandemic lockdowns, we saw a 20-30% increase in domestic violence reports globally, and in many cases the violence was more severe than previously seen.
“It can take a very long time before a woman can leave. For many survivors, the best position is not to leave a violent relationship – that can escalate risks significantly. About 70% of all homicides in IPV occur after the relationship has ended.
“Many survivors do not or cannot seek professional help; instead they rely on informal supporters, who can be there beside them, in the trenches, for years and years. In the past, our safety planning has under-recognised the protective capacity of these social networks to mitigate the risk of violence.”
A toll on supporters
While this support may help the survivor to address risk factors such as poor psychological health, increased perpetrator dependence and reduced social connectedness, it can also take a toll on the supporter’s own wellbeing.
“These are Mums and Dads and brothers and sisters without any psychological training, standing with someone going through one of the hardest times in their life,” Ryan says.
“How do we bring them in, to strengthen what professionals are doing? We need to bridge that gap and bolster the capabilities and confidence of this informal support network who are doing the bulk of the work.”
Ryan’s research project – which aims to achieve precisely that – is informed by practical experience as a psychologist in the largest child protection and domestic violence district (geographically) in the world, the Western Australian Goldfields. There, he worked for eight years with the lead agency that addresses IPV and child safety, having previously worked in corrections with male perpetrators of violence.
We need to bridge that gap and bolster the capabilities and confidence of this informal support network who are doing the bulk of the work.
“While most COVID restrictions are now gone, people’s social networks have been inhibited and restricted for a long time,” Ryan says. “It’s hard for someone who has experienced two years of violence and social isolation, who has been coerced into being dependent upon a perpetrator, to re-engage with family and friends. Perpetrators have become very good at justifying their behaviour in the interests of public health, even now. It is likely that social circles will remain small for survivors for some time.
“Much IPV can go undetected for long periods. We are increasingly finding that the first reports are of entrenched violence that has existed for a while and reached crisis point. My work aims to tip it back to early intervention and to help people feel comfortable enough to seek support earlier.”
Impacts of being an ally
Having informal helpers who are capable of offering emotional, instrumental and informational support is essential. “There have long been calls for a social network-oriented approach that includes informal supporters as allies to the survivor,” Ryan says.
“My research seeks to understand what barriers exist to family and friends offering support and what skills they need to develop. Before they are engaged in professional safety planning, we need to consider the long-term psychological and physical impacts of being an ally.”
We are increasingly finding that the first reports are of entrenched violence that has existed for a while and reached crisis point. My work aims to tip it back to early intervention and to help people feel comfortable enough to seek support earlier.
Ryan is looking to develop practical tools to help informal supporters enhance their skills and professionals to make better use of them. “Then, from a professional practice point of view, I hope to apply some of these learnings working with perpetrators, to help address the violence,” he says. “If we can marry up both these sides, we will have significantly stronger safety for survivors.”
