Frances F.
About me
| Frances F. | |
| Social Policy and Social Work | |
| Social Sciences | |
| Undergraduate | |
| 2006 |
My employment
| Independent Domestic Violence Advisor | |
| Independent Domestic Abuse Services | |
| United Kingdom | |
| Charity and voluntary sector | |
| 2014 | |
| £19000 | |
| £19000 |
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A day in the life of a Independent Domestic Violence Advisor in the United Kingdom
My career history
I have worked with Victim Support and also volunteered for them and worked for my local MP.
Courses taken since graduation
Supporting victims of Domestic Violence: 2009
Where I hope to be in 5 years
I hope that I will continue to improve as an IDVA and provide a high standard of care to high risk victims of domestic abuse.
My advice to students considering work
My advice would be to volunteer and say yes to any additional training courses that you get offered or to show initiative and ask to be trained. The more experience you have in your preferred field, the easier it may be to get a certain job.
For this sector - my advice is to show initiative and volunteer in your chosen field as early as possible and use any assistance you can now get whilst still at University via the Careers Centre.
My advice about working in my industry
To show initiative and volunteer in your chosen field as early as possible and use any assistance you can now get whilst still at University via the Careers Centre.
What I do
• To provide a high-quality pro-active service to high risk victims of domestic abuse, prioritising according to risk and ensuring service-user safety at all times
• Initiate, develop, maintain and monitor multi-agency links through procedures and protocols to keep safety central to all services for victims of domestic abuse.
Skills I use and how I developed them
Extracurricular skills:
• Show empathy
• Communicate well both verbally and in writing
• To manage a complex workload and meet targets and deadline
• To work on own, with other agencies and as part of a team
• To work within the principles of equal opportunities and diversity
• Maintain personal and professional boundaries
• Maintain confidentiality
I have been able to develop some of these skills by working with other senior professionals in a multi agency setting and through various training courses and my volunteer background.
What I like most
I like that I get to work with high risk victims to offer emotional and practical support in order to keep them safe, whilst working with external agencies and in a criminal setting in order to obtain legal orders to ensure safety after any court proceedings.
What I like least
I feel that as I have really good support from my managers and co-workers, any difficult parts of the job can be dealt with. However, I would have to say, passing on and updating victims of a result I know they will not be happy with, either in relation to the case progression from the police or when it gets to the court stage, if I know from what they have been saying to me, that they will be unhappy with the result.
It is also challenging trying to change the mind set of those who have been in an abusive relationship for so long, that they do not recognise it as abuse, or if they do not want to continue with the criminal proceedings.