Assertive Outreach

Funded by The National Lottery Community Fund’s People and Places Programme, Assertive Outreach is a Cyfannol Women’s Aid project, working in partnership with Gwent Police.  

The project, which operates across Gwent, began in 2018, following a successful pilot which found that individuals experiencing domestic abuse engaged more with officers when a support worker was present.  

Cyfannol Women’s Aid have developed the Assertive Outreach project to respond to victims of domestic abuse at the point of crisis and to offer support at the earliest opportunity.

The Assertive Outreach team

Our support workers are based within police headquarters responding to domestic abuse call-outs, enabling a joint response to domestic abuse incidents: improving risk assessments, offering safety planning and advice, and providing advocacy.

The Assertive Outreach team provide immediate support to victims of domestic abuse at the time of a domestic abuse incident. Working alongside Gwent Police, the team supports victims of domestic abuse across Gwent when they make an initial report to the police. 

Our Assertive Outreach support workers: 

• Are able to spend time with the client, in their home or via the telephone, supporting the individual to make informed decisions about their safety and future.   
• Can support clients in dealing with the police and making a statement if this is the route the client wishes to take. 
• Will complete a domestic abuse stalking and harassment assessment (DASH) and, based on the outcome of this assessment, will use their local knowledge and skills to build an appropriate support package that is individual to the client.   
• Have access to refuge spaces across the UK and can organise an assessment for the client to access a refuge should they wish to flee the abuse. 

Project outcomes

Assertive Outreach is the first project of its type in Wales. 

In the first year of the project, the Assertive Outreach team supported 410 victims of domestic abuse. All of these clients were referred onto support services in their area and 294 gave statements to the police about the abuse they had experienced.  

In the First 3 Years of the Assertive Outreach Project:

• 98% of people engaged with safety planning activity
• 52% were supported to give formal statements to the police about the incident
• 82% consented to a domestic abuse assessment which helps identify future risks to themselves and their families
• 97% gave consent to share their details with specialist support services

Feedback from the police has been overwhelmingly positive, with one officer commenting:

“There are times in policing where you need a lifeline to deal with incidents which need that experience, knowledge and skill to understand what is taking place and ability to give that victim a focussed service we strive to provide.  The Assertive Outreach team is exactly that – I always know the victim is going to be looked after by the team.”

For more information about this project and how to make a referral, please visit the Assertive Outreach service page