Provision of Hospital Based Domestic Abuse Advocacy (HBDAA) Services

Project background:
Since 2014, City Hall has invested in embedding youth Independent Domestic Violence Advocates (IDVAs) into London’s Major Trauma Centres (MTCs).
Since 2023, this programme of work, referred to as hospital-based domestic abuse advocacy (HBDAA), has been overseen and managed by the VRU. Prior to the VRU, this programme and investment had been overseen and managed by MOPAC within City Hill, aligned to the Mayor’s Police & Crime Plan (PCP).
The HBDAA programme represents a violence reduction initiative, heavily aligned to the VRU’s own violence reduction strategies, most notably: the trusted relationship between a young person, and a trusted adult, as well as the concept of place, reaching young people where they are, and, in this case, leveraging a reachable moment in the lives of young people to break patterns of violence and harm.
Additionally, this intervention sits within a wider programme of hospital-based initiatives, specifically, operating alongside the VRU’s hospital-based youth work (HBYW) programme, which embeds highly skilled and specialised youth workers into London’s four MTCs and eight London A&E units.
Description of the service
The purpose of embedding these IDVAs is to support children and young people who have been impacted by domestic abuse and other gender based harm; IDVAs are there to offer a supportive and stabilising presence in crisis or distress, and help young people cope and recover from the trauma of physical or psychological injury due to domestic abuse, and help disrupt future patterns of violence and harm.
The service engages young people aged 11–25 who present at Major Trauma Centres (MTCs) as victims of domestic abuse, or who are identified as being at risk of future harm. IDVAs provide practical support, advocacy, and help to coordinate a broader safeguarding response for the young person, working alongside clinical and community partners to help young people access appropriate services and support. Support...