I am Senior Housing Manager at Standing Together Against Domestic Abuse. My Fellowship is about domestic abuse in rural areas, co-ordinated community response (CCR) and holding perpetrators to account. The purpose of my Fellowship is to understand how the CCR model can be adapted to improve the response to survivors of domestic abuse.

I was born and grew up in rural Herefordshire. I worked in a rural domestic abuse service supporting survivors for several years and recognised that the challenges and barriers faced by them were significantly different to those faced by survivors in urban areas. Access to services, isolation and a dominant patriarchal community enforces silence. Services are underfunded and often do not have the capacity to reach survivors where they live. I feel passionate about levelling up the gap between the response available to survivors in rural areas and those living in cities.

I want to see what works, and how the CCR model has been adapted to ensure survivors in rural areas are seen and supported to stay safe. I would like my research to drive systems change in the UK and to see a CCR in rural areas that makes survivors of domestic abuse visible and safe.