Domestic Violence and Abuse
“Social Workers Lack Training to Tackle Domestic Abuse”
If You Don’t Understand Coercive Control, You Don’t Understand Domestic Abuse
This week, the Domestic Abuse Commissioner for England and Wales, Nicole Jacobs, responding to the BBC article “Social workers lack training to tackle domestic abuse”, said she found the findings “baffling” and is now calling for mandatory training in coercive control for all social workers.
As an Independent Domestic Violence Advisor [IDVA] I couldn't agree more with this plea— social workers need to be upskilled in their understanding of coercive control.
In the BBC piece, one social worker says that 90% of her caseload is linked with psychological and controlling abuse and that during her qualification, she barely had training on domestic abuse.
Reading the reactions to the BBC article on LinkedIn, many other social workers echoed it: their training didn’t teach them about domestic abuse; they don’t feel prepared at all to recognise the signs and support the victims.
Although I think professionals must have ongoing training throughout their careers, seeking to fill gaps in their knowledge, it's unacceptable that universities, when forming…
