Our vision is a world in which women and children live free from actual or threatened domestic abuse and all forms of violence.
Our mission is to provide specialist support to women, children and anyone affected by domestic abuse across Kent. We aim to:
- Prevent domestic abuse.
- Provide specialist services for survivors of domestic abuse which are survivor centred, trauma informed and gender responsive.
- Work in partnership with survivors and other services to provide a holistic and meaningful response to bring about lasting change.
- Advocate for survivors and provide a platform for their voice to be heard.
Our underlying principle is to work alongside survivors in their recovery from the trauma they have experienced, listen to their needs and help them to draw on their own strengths to build safe and independent futures.
Our values inform our work and are founded on gender equality, human rights and non-discrimination:
Feminism: We work within a feminist ethos and advocate for women’s rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality.
Intersectionality: We strive to be a diverse and inclusive organisation for all marginalised groups, recognising intersecting identities and addressing the power imbalance that leads to abuse.
Integrity: We keep survivors’ needs and voices at the centre of our work, hold ourselves accountable for our actions and act according to our beliefs and values.
Excellence: We are a learning organisation and respond to emerging needs and latest research about violence against women and children. We take pride in maintaining high standards throughout the organisation.
Empowerment: We create an environment where women and children can achieve self-determination, exercise their human-rights and flourish.
Collaboration: We work as a team with survivors and partners to develop services, share knowledge and expertise, and to maximise every opportunity to progress towards our vision.
Our values are rooted in our understanding that DA/ VAWG is a consequence of women’s inequality in society. Our feminist values acknowledge this inequality whilst committing the organisation to working towards a more equal society as part of our core mission to end DA/VAWG.
We have identified six key aspects of our approach – our approach is:
- Survivor centred -Each survivor is at a different stage of their journey and has a unique history – there is no one size fits all. We listen, believe and validate. We show empathy and we ask what they want. We see children as survivors in their own right.Being survivor centred ensures we’re getting it right for each survivor. It gives survivors a voice and empowers them.
- Holistic -Domestic abuse affects all aspects of a survivor’s life. Therefore we support survivors on their journey to recovery by providing individualised practical and emotional support.Being flexible, creative and listening to survivors about what matters to them enables us to focus support on areas of highest need, leading to more meaningful support and a greater long term positive impact.
- Trauma informed -Trauma can have a long lasting effect on mental health and relationships. It can be caused by coercive control, amongst other things, and lead to behaviour which may seem harmful or counter-productive. We recognise this behaviour as a response to trauma and a coping mechanism.We create safety, build trust, offer choice, work collaboratively, develop knowledge and empower survivors to help them to make meaningful and lasting change and promote recovery.
- Gender responsive -We recognise the gendered nature of domestic abuse. We work with survivors to understand the social context in which abuse exists. We raise awareness of the impact of gender stereotypes on relationships and expectations. We promote healthy and equal relationships. We promote children and young people’s right to express themselves freely.Being gender responsive liberates women from feelings of responsibility, guilt and shame. It validates experiences and empowers women to seek fairness and equality in future roles and relationships.
- Strengths based – Survivors are experts in their own lives with knowledge, skills and resources. We help them to recognise their strengths and harness their abilities.This builds trust, respect and empowerment, and enables survivors to create long term solutions that lead to independent lives free from abuse.
- Reflective – We create a reflective environment to promote self-development and continuous learning for all team members, including trustees, core staff, practitioners and volunteers.This enables us as individuals and as an organisation to really listen to survivors’ voices and to understand our strengths, areas for development, biases and attitudes, which continually improves our work with survivors.