Have a look below to view the VAMHN's podcast, research, policy and visual outputs.
Lived Experience Action Group (LEAG) resources
Coercive control: lived experience creative workshops
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In January 2024, VAMHN held a lived experience-led creative workshop on coercive control. The workshops began with a roundtable discussion that laid the foundation for a series of arts-based sessions focused on zine-making, stained glass painting, poetry, and crochet. Images of the artworks, and more information about the workshop, can be found in the exhibition book here.
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Lived experience as essential knowledge: Infographic
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In February 2024, a collaborative workshop engaging VAMHN Lived Experience Advisory Group members and UKPRP VISION Consortium researchers explored the role of lived experience (LE) as a form of knowledge and evidence, addressing its placement within the “evidence hierarchy” and the impact of language on engagement. Key points included the significant influence of labels and power dynamics in determining which experiences are deemed valuable, the potential negative connotations of the term “lived experience,” and the necessity for lived experience to be integrated into research processes rather than being an afterthought. Discussions underscored the evolving nature of lived experience, the challenges in showcasing expertise, the importance of ethical considerations, and the need for ongoing support and safe spaces for meaningful engagement.
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The workshop emphasized that lived experience should be a foundational element in research, akin to an integral ingredient, not merely an optional addition. The discussions were summarised as an infographic, illustrated by Jenny Leonard (www.jennyleonardart.com) which you can see here.
Priorities for future research on coercive control: Recommendations from the Violence Abuse and Mental Health Network’s Lived Experience Advisory Group
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This report details the findings of a consultation undertaken by the VAMHN Lived Experience Advisory Group to determine priorities for future research in the area of coercive control.
To read the full report click here. |
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Integrating lived experience involvement in academic research funding: Reflections on evolving practice
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This report - written by the VAMHN Lived Experience Advisory Group - provides guidance to ensure that lived experience is safely and purposefully embedded throughout research projects. It is primarily aimed at funders of academic research but is also of relevance to trusts, foundations, commissioners, and others who award funding to services.
The report outlines the evolution of lived experience involvement in VAMHN grant competitions. It is intended to be a living document, and we welcome feedback and suggestions for refinement from current and potential users. To read the full report click here. |
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Podcasts
Pulling the Strings: Conversations About Coercive Control
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Pulling the Strings: Conversations About Coercive Control, is a podcast series about coercive control, brought to you by the UKRI Violence, Abuse and Mental Health Network. In this podcast, your hosts Dr Kitty Saunders, Anjuli Kaul and Dr Sharli Paphitis talk to academic experts, authors, practitioners, and coercive control survivors to better understand and expose the true extent of coercive control.
Season 1 is out now and features 5 episodes:
Click the links here to listen to the podcast for free on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. |
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Research Outputs
Safe, Seen, Supported: How to reach and help children and young people experiencing abuse in their households
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Safe, Seen, Supported Report
It is estimated that 1 in 5 children is subjected to at least one form of child abuse (physical, sexual, emotional, neglect, exposure to domestic abuse) before the age of 16. Much of this abuse is ‘off-radar’, that is, unknown to statutory services. This survivor-led initiative aims to address the magnified risks of child abuse from COVID-19 and the likely significant post-pandemic consequences from increased exposure to abuse. The report identifies key considerations and actions to support children and young people at-risk, both during the pandemic and beyond. This project is led by survivor researchers Jane Chevous, Laura E. Fischer, Concetta Perôt, and Angela Sweeney in partnership with Survivors' Voices, the UKRI Violence Abuse and Mental Health Network, King's College London, and the McPin Foundation.
Safe, Seen, Supported Infographic This infographic offers guidance for children and young people on what to do if they or someone they know might be experiencing abuse. |
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VAMHN Consultation Report This report presents the results of the network's research priorities consultation workshops with people who have lived experience of violence, abuse or mental health difficulties. The report will guide the work of the Violence, Abuse and Mental Health Network and aims to be used to help plan, develop and commission future research. To download the full report click here. |
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LARA-VP Manual
The LARA-VP (Linking Abuse and Recovery through Advocacy for Victims and Perpetrators) manual was written to help mental health professionals identify and respond to Domestic Violence and Abuse (DVA). It provides comprehensive information and guidance on how to approach victims and perpetrators of DVA as a service provider. The manual can be accessed here. |
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Policy Resources
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Written evidence submitted to the Public Bill Committee for the Domestic Abuse Bill: VAMHN
On the 4th June 2020, the Public Bill Committee met to conduct a line-by-line reading of the Domestic Abuse Bill. The network submitted written evidence and recommendations for the consideration of the Committee with regards to the bill. A huge thank you to the 91 network members and organisations for attaching their signatures to this letter. To read our evidence submission click here. To follow the journey of the Domestic Abuse Bill click here. |
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Trauma Informed Approaches: Briefing Pack
This briefing pack summarises some of the current literature on Trauma Informed Approaches (TIAs). The pack briefly discusses the key principles of TIA and looks at why they have not been adopted consistently across the UK. It also provides examples of services that have successfully implemented TIAs and how this has been achieved. This briefing pack was provided to attendees of our VAMHN Policy Lab Workshop on the 7th Nov 2019. To download, click here. |
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Visual Outputs
(Re)Sounding Silence: Active Listening as Activism against Abuse
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In November 2022, VAMHN grantholder Dr Alana Harris (King's College London) collaborated with Concetta Perot and Jane Chevous (Survivors' Voices) to host a one-day, informal workshop. The workshop gathered survivor researchers and their allies to explore differing interdisciplinary, scholarly, and socially engaged mechanisms to amplify the voices and priorities of survivors – with a focus on ‘active listening’, ‘receptive hearing’ and the need to co-create contexts for ‘silence breaking’ or ‘supported speaking’. The aim of the workshop was to share reflections and recent experiences surrounding the opportunities and challenges involved in survivor-led co-production, and through this mapping of good practice to offer frameworks and tools, especially orientated to preliminary research design, deriving from our differing disciplinary and epistemic settings.
The workshop heard research from participants working in a diverse range of disciplines and sub-fields – encompassing intimate partner violence, child abuse, and gendered violence – around three thematic sessions: |
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- The evolution of ‘trauma-informed’ approaches to research, especially through the resurgence of attention to ‘affect’ and ‘emotions’ and ‘embodiment’ as legitimate fields of enquiry;
- Cross-disciplinary approaches to qualitative and mixed methodologies which aid ‘deep listening’, including ‘listening to the speaking wound’, holding silence and the limitations surrounding speaking; and
- ‘Hearing’ as a catalyst to action – and the different forms this might take. From embedding these pedagogical insights into educational settings; identification of new multi-disciplinary research agendas; or networked coalitions to amplify survivor life histories and testimonies and thereby identify sites of ‘resounding silence’ and continued structural alienation or violence.
Illustrations by Jenny Leonard: www.jennyleonardart.com