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Working together to change the Health sector’s response to domestic abuse

We are Standing Together Against Domestic Abuse

Standing Together Against Domestic Abuse a national charity bringing communities together to end domestic abuse. In pioneering the Coordinated Community Response to domestic abuse in the UK, our aim is to support organisations to work in partnership in identifying and responding effectively to domestic abuse, ensuring victim/survivors receive the best possible support to live free from abuse. These agencies include the police, criminal justice partners, housing associations, local authorities, social services, healthcare workers, faith communities and charities.


Standing Together Against Domestic Abuse is the overarching charity supporting specific teams to focus on a variety of sectors and areas of work, including the Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance (DAHA),The Whole Housing Approach, Multiple Disadvantage and Homelessness Programme, Whole Health, MARAC, DARDR, Criminal Justice, and Communities and Coordinated Community Response (CCR) teams.

Our mission in Health

Health systems play a pivotal role in supporting victim-survivors of domestic abuse.

  • Almost all victim-survivors of domestic abuse will have their first, or only, point of contact-support in a health setting [Department of Health] and it is vital that health systems and services are properly equipped to meet the complex needs of victim-survivors and properly treat, support and refer.
  • The NHS has more contact with victim-survivors and perpetrators of domestic abuse than any other service. [British Medical Journal]
  • 85% of victim-survivors sought help five times from healthcare professionals in the year before they got effective help to stop abuse. [FearFree, Our Vision and Values, (2023)]

We know that health professionals deal with domestic abuse on a daily basis. In order to work effectively with and ensure the safety of survivors of domestic abuse, professionals need to have a good understanding of the issues and the ability to coordinate their efforts and work more efficiently. 

Pathways to Safety

Domestic abuse is a public health issue with serious and lasting impacts on individuals, families, and communities. Health services are often a critical point of contact for victims and survivors - sometimes the only service they may access. Yet despite growing recognition of this, the response across health settings remains inconsistent.

We’ve heard this time and again: what’s missing is a clear, structured, and supportive framework that raises the standard of care and enables health professionals to confidently and effectively respond to domestic abuse.

That’s why we’ve developed Pathways to Safety - an accreditation framework built from real-world experience, learning, and sector feedback. It provides a consistent, quality-assured structure that promotes better outcomes for victims, survivors, and families, while supporting staff and holding systems accountable.

The Pathways to Safety Accreditation Framework was developed and tested in relation to the learning from across the Whole Health Project. Three pilot Trusts, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, and Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, were engaged to participate in a trial accreditation and focus group process enabling the research team to develop the framework in line with contemporary practice, challenges and thinking. We also have worked with Respect and IRISi to develop the framework which was completed 2025.

The final framework designed to support healthcare providers in England to strengthen their response to domestic abuse and become domestic abuse-informed, inclusive, and equity-driven Trusts and Integrated Care Systems. The framework follows a tiered accreditation model, designed to be achievable, scalable, and adaptable for different healthcare contexts. It enables Healthcare Providers to progress at a pace that supports sustainability while embedding meaningful change. 

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