Domestic abuse survivor trains professionals in Guernsey to identify coercive control

• A video report by Roisin Gauson

A domestic violence survivor is delivering a training course teaching professionals in Guernsey to recognise signs of abuse.

Jo's training, which is being rolled out through the week, will also help professionals understand issues and to respond quickly and effectively.

She said: "We talk a lot about coercive control and try and explain some of the signs of what coercive control is, how it manifests itself within relationships and how officers can recognise that, deal with it and support victims."

Amy is another survivor of domestic abuse. She was abused verbally, financially and physically for four years after entering a relationship with a man she met online in 2017.

She agreed to speak anonymously to our reporter in a bid to help others who may be in a similar situation.

Amy said: “I’m a typical domestic violence survivor who doesn’t want to speak to the police, who didn’t feel comfortable speaking to the police, but he was prosecuted on a victimless prosecution.

"He was charged and sent through CPS for that and even still after that, I didn’t leave that time – it was the time after that that I eventually decided to leave.”

When asked how she felt after four years she said: “It’s difficult, I think I go through different emotions at different times. 

"At moments I feel anger and very angry with what he did to me and then I feel sadness and then I feel guilt and then I feel shame.

"So it’s a whirlwind of emotions, but I think that’s a whole part of the process of healing and obviously I’m in a much better place now, but it’s just working through those things and processing them and moving on.”

One in three women and one in six men will experience domestic abuse in their lifetime.  And worryingly one in five children. So the more knowledge that agencies here can gain will ultimately help those people.

Sergeant James Irlen, Guernsey Police, said: “The main ethos for us within this is that domestic abuse is everybody’s business, not matter what walk of life you are in or where your employment is or whatever your status is – that we all as a community have a duty – wherever we identify it or see it, to notify the police, let police know so that we can help, we can take action and help with our partners as well.

He continued: “It’s a huge issue, a huge issue and it’s not just a matter for the police to address but for all of our partners and for the community as well. 

"It’s about really shining a light on this whole issue.  It’s a very upsetting issue for people to have to live with. 

"Your home is meant to be your sanctuary, somewhere that you are safe to retreat to for you your family etc. and it’s about us understanding as to what the causes are and how we can better support people that are being subjected to it.”

Donna McLean, Associate Trainer at Safe Lives, said: “We talk a lot about coercive control and try and explain some of the signs of what coercive control is, how it manifests itself within relationships and how officers can recognise that, deal with it and support victims.”

Naomi Wood – Safer Guernsey: “It’s just so important that when they are likely to be the first person that comes in contact with a victim or their children that they understand the complexities of it, the difficulties with it, with the relationships it involves and how they respond,  because that first response to a victim can change how they might interact, how they might report again, how they feel, if they feel believed – so it can have such a massive impact , it will make a really big difference for the victims.”