Eva Therapy Service Referrals Are Currently CLOSED
Eva Therapy Service Referrals Are Currently CLOSED
For a list of specialist services in Sheffield go to our Local Services page.
There have been huge changes in the delivery of domestic and sexual abuse services in Sheffield over the past 45+ years. Historically, services for women and children were pioneered by passionate feminists, starting with one of the first Women’s Aid refuges in the country [in 1974], and the Rape Crisis phoneline.
The number of local charities grew over time, offering community based services and specialist BME and young women’s services, in direct response to service users’ needs. The voluntary sector organisations worked collaboratively with ‘champions’ in the statutory sector who understood the need for a more holistic approach to tackling the issues.
Vida was set up [as Sheffield Domestic Violence Forum] in the mid-nineties as a multi-agency forum, with a lead role in strategic working, training and awareness-raising and later as a specialist service provider. As the costs of domestic abuse, and of not taking action to tackle it, were increasingly recognised by statutory bodies [such as the Home Office, Police, CPS, NHS], local and national government began to support and fund voluntary sector organisations to safeguard women and their children. In 2007 Sheffield was recognised as one of the 10 best areas in the country for domestic and sexual abuse service provision [EVAW Map of Gaps, 2007].
Vida secured Equality & Human Rights Commission funding in 2010 to create a single Domestic Abuse Helpline for Sheffield, co-located with other voluntary and statutory sector professionals, and a more streamlined pathway to safety and support. We also worked in partnership to extend services to male and LGBT victims of abuse, and to reach more marginalised service users.
By working together agencies can identify and respond to domestic abuse much earlier and more effectively – to support those affected and to hold perpetrators to account. Where cases are assessed as high risk of serious harm, using the DASH Tool, this includes referral to the Independent Domestic Abuse Service [IDAS], and into the Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference process [MARAC] to ensure a swift response by different agencies to everyone involved: victims, perpetrators and any children or young people in the household.
There is now a range of services in place to respond to the immediate needs of those affected by domestic and sexual abuse, although they continue to be overstretched and underfunded.
