VOICES at the DAC - Domestic Abuse Commissioner

Set up by the Domestic Abuse Commissioner (DAC), VOICES at the DAC is a virtual platform for victims and survivors of domestic abuse to stay connected to relevant policy, research, and practice development.

VOICES at the DAC aims to give victims and survivors opportunities to share their experience so they can influence change.

VOICES at the DAC will circulate a newsletter with opportunities to share your voice with domestic abuse organisations, universities, and local and national government. It will also include updates on the Commissioner’s work and relevant news from across domestic abuse policy, practice and research.

Submit a survivor engagement opportunity

We ask that anyone who wishes to promote a survivor engagement opportunity in the VOICES at the DAC newsletter completes this form.

We follow a process of due diligence to ensure that the engagement opportunity is safe and appropriate for victims and survivors.

For more information on the best ways to ensure survivor’s voices are at the heart of your policy, research or practice development, please read the FAQs on our Lived experience matters page.

Frequently asked questions

Who can sign up to the VOICES at the DAC?

VOICES at the DAC is for adult (18+) victims and survivors of domestic abuse in England and Wales.

Domestic abuse takes many forms, including emotional, physical, and economic abuse; controlling or threatening behaviour; and so-called ‘honour’ based abuse. It can happen between couples or family members.

We also welcome friends and family bereaved by domestic homicide and domestic abuse related deaths, and those who experienced domestic abuse in their childhood.

We also welcome people who work with victims and survivors, to sign up, so they can share news and opportunities with people who may not be online.

We welcome people at any stage of their experience of abuse, may that be current or in the past.

What can I expect from VOICES at the DAC?

You will receive an email newsletter roughly every three months.
We may also send out more frequent emails about emerging issues or especially important announcements and may ask for input.

Make sure you add our email address to your contacts and check your spam folder if you don’t receive anything.

In the newsletter we will share survivor engagement opportunities from a wide range of sources – such as domestic abuse organisations, universities, and local and national government – who are looking to include the voices of those with lived experience in their work.

The newsletter will also include news from the Commissioner’s office and stories from survivors who have used their lived experience to influence change.

From time to time, you will also receive invites to free online events hosted by the Commissioner.

What can I expect from the survivor engagement opportunities?

The survivor engagement opportunities will differ depending on what individual organisations are looking for.

Some organisations may want to hear from victim and survivors who live/have lived in a particular area, or who have had experience with a particular organisation/agency. The engagement may take place virtually or in-person, and may be one-to-one, in groups, or anonymously.

For more information about survivor engagement and our approach, please see our survivor engagement policy.

Please note: all survivor engagement opportunities which are promoted through the VOICES newsletter have been reviewed by the Domestic Abuse Commissioner’s team.

We expect any agency that advertises with our newsletter to deliver engagement in a safe and meaningful way. However, we are not involved in the delivery of any external engagement activity and can take no legal responsibility for their operation.

It is important to the Domestic Abuse Commissioner and her office that we are informed of any concerns victims and survivors have about engagement activities you have participated in. This helps us ensure we are only promoting safe and positive opportunities for engagement.

Please share your feedback about any engagement activity you have participated in by emailing us.

I am interested in one of the survivor engagement opportunities, what do I do next?

All of the survivor engagement opportunities will include a way to get in touch with the organisations who are offering them.

If you would like to get involved in one of the opportunities, you should contact the organisation directly.

What if I want to be involved but don’t want to sign up to VOICES at the DAC?

If you would prefer not to sign up to VOICES at the DAC there are other ways that you can share your views and experiences with the Domestic Abuse Commissioner.

It is possible to write to the Commissioner and participate in our online questionnaires.

Our online questionnaires and surveys will link directly with the wider work of the Commissioner, so opinions and ideas feed directly into our work.

Please see next question to outline how you can email the Commissioner.

I wish to share my experiences of domestic abuse with the Commissioner, what can I do?

The Commissioner welcomes the opportunity to hear from victims and survivors and is very grateful to those who take the time to share their experiences with her.

If you get in touch, you can expect to receive a response within 20 working days and your email will be anonymised and used to inform our future work.

Please note that the Commissioner is legally not allowed to get involved in any individual cases. The Commissioner wishes to understand survivor’s experiences however she does not have the power to investigate statutory bodies and agencies, or contact them on behalf of any individual.

If you write and disclose that there is a risk of harm to yourself, any child or any other named persons, legally we have a duty to act, to safeguard individuals. This means on rare occasions, we will not be able to keep your details confidential and we may need to involve statutory agencies. Where possible, we will always seek to involve you in this process.

You can read our confidentiality statement below.

If you wish to share your experience of domestic abuse with the Commissioner in more detail, you can send an email here.

Will I be able to connect with other victims and survivors via VOICES at the DAC?

VOICES, the DAC survivor platform, will not have a chat board or forum for victims and survivors.

However, there are domestic abuse sector organisations who have established online space for victims and survivors to support and connect with each other:

Women’s Aid Survivors’ Forum
Welsh Women’s Aid Survivors’ Area

We are conscious that these options are not inclusive for men or LGBTQ+ communities. If you are aware of survivor forums for these groups – please contact the Domestic Abuse Commissioner’s team here.

What do you do with my data?

When you sign up for VOICES at the DAC, any information you provide will be held in a secure and remote system.

We understand many victims and survivors will be very concerned about anonymity. For this reason, if you wish you can sign up for the newsletter using an assumed name and an email that doesn’t identify you. Neither of these need to reflect your legal name, but please note that we do require an email address so that we can send you the newsletter.

Please be assured that your email address will not be used for any other purpose than sending you information relating to VOICES at the DAC.

If you are still concerned about your data and how it will be used, please get in touch with us and we will be happy to chat it through with you.

You can ask to be removed from the mailing list at any time, at which point your personal information will be deleted.

Can I expect domestic abuse support via VOICES at the DAC?

The Domestic Abuse Commissioner is legally prevented from offering any direct support to victims and survivors of domestic abuse.

If you do sign-up for any survivor engagement opportunities, it is perfectly reasonable for you to ask the organisation whether they will be providing any domestic abuse support alongside the work.

Prior to signing up for any survivor engagement opportunities, we suggest that you carefully consider if it is the right option for you, especially if your experience of domestic abuse is ongoing, or has happened very recently. You may wish to access support during this time.

If you or someone you know is at immediate risk or feel that you are in danger, please call 999.

If you would like to find out more about domestic abuse organisations who can help you, please click here.

Can I unsubscribe from the VOICES at the DAC mailing list?

Yes, you can unsubscribe at any time by emailing us here. Your information will be deleted from our systems.

If you decide to sign up again, you can re-join at any time.

What does ‘survivor engagement’ actually mean?

The term ‘survivor engagement’ describes the process of empowering victims and survivors of domestic abuse to use their experience to influence change.

This could involve a victim or survivor advising a domestic abuse service on how their support is delivered, speaking about their lived experience at an event, participating in research, or consulting with organisations on relevant policies.

What does ‘lived experience’ mean?

‘Lived experience’ describes the things people have directly experienced themselves. Someone with lived experience of domestic abuse will have experienced any form of domestic abuse including having lived with it as a child.

This term is used in contrast with ‘learned experience’, which describes when someone has learned about the experience of domestic abuse – e.g., by research/study – but hasn’t directly experienced it themselves.

For information and resources about lived experience and engagement please click here.

What does ‘victims and survivors’ mean?

We use the term ‘victims and survivors’ to describe people with lived experience of domestic abuse. This is short for ‘victims and survivors of domestic abuse’ which we may also use, along with ‘victim or survivor’ when we are describing an individual. However, we understand some people do not like or use this term and we support everyone’s autonomy to describe their experiences in a way that is comfortable for them.

We use ‘victims and survivors’ because we feel it is the most commonly recognised term to describe people with lived experience of domestic abuse. For succinctness, we may sometimes use ‘victim(s)’ or ‘survivor(s)’ individually if we have a limited word count.

It is worth noting that the Commissioner may also use the term ‘people subject to domestic abuse’, which means the same thing as ‘victims and survivors’ or ‘people with lived experience’.

We recognise that people who have experienced domestic abuse as a child and people who have been bereaved by domestic homicide or domestic abuse related deaths, are also victims and survivors of domestic abuse.

How can I share my experience of survivor engagement with the DAC?

We are keen to hear from survivors who have been part of survivor voice groups or survivor engagement activities. We want to hear how it feels when you use you lived experience and your voice to change services and systems.

We want to hear how survivors have used their experiences to set up services, write blogs, speak at events and work with people in power to make changes.

If you would like to share your experience with a view we may include it in our newsletter, we can’t always share every experience, but if you would like your experiences to be anonymously shared through our newsletter, click here.

Please note, we can anonymise your writing if you wish.

Previous newsletters & opportunities

Read the first VOICES at the DAC newsletter from March 2023

Click here for the latest opportunities to share your lived experience

Confidentiality statement

Whatever you tell the Domestic Abuse Commissioner or any members of her team, will not be shared with anyone else, except in certain circumstances. The only times we will share what you have told us, are:

If you give us specific consent to do so, or
If we believe an adult or child is at imminent risk of significant harm, or
If a court of law instructs us to, for example if evidence is required for criminal proceedings.

This means on rare occasions, we will not be able to keep your details confidential and we may need to involve statutory agencies. Where possible, we will seek to involve you in this process.

Safeguarding

Please note that all survivor engagement opportunities that are promoted through VOICES at the DAC have been checked to ensure basic safeguarding and a sound approach.

However, where the DAC shares opportunities with external agencies, the office cannot hold any responsibility for the delivery of the engagement activity.

Feedback

If you have any feedback regarding VOICES at the DAC, please get in touch.

Please note: VOICES at the DAC is the survivor platform hosted by the Domestic Abuse Commissioner. There are a number of fantastic survivor-led and charitable organisations with whom we share a name – if you are looking for their web pages, please follow the links below.

VOICES, a charity in Bath founded by women with lived experience
Leeds Domestic Violence Service’s Voices Project
Survivors Voices, a survivor-led organisation of experts by experience
Young Voices, a forum for young people who have experienced domestic abuse, run by JUNO Women’s Aid
National Voices, an organisation for people with lived experience to influence change in health and care