Menu
Donate
Donate
IDAS home

About IDAS

IDAS is the largest specialist charity in Yorkshire supporting anyone experiencing or affected by domestic abuse or sexual violence.

Our services include refuge accommodation, community based support, peer mentoring, group work and access to a free, confidential out of hours’ helpline.

Our teams of accredited specialist workers (IDVA’s and ISVAs) support people through the criminal justice system in addition to providing emotional support and safety planning advice.

We recognise that most victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence are women and we provide a number of single sex services such as refuges to women and their children. However, the majority of our services are accessible to anyone who is affected by abuse and we encourage male and LGBT+ victims and survivors to access our support.

For children and young people, we have developed one to one and group support. Our young persons’ RYPP (Respect Young Person’s Programme) also works with families where the young person is abusive.

We pride ourselves on our professional, responsive and innovative approach. With over 40 years’ experience we have been at the forefront of developing new and unique services and were the first organisation in the UK to develop free online training and Live Chat support for survivors.

Our funding comes from the local authority, trusts, the Police Crime Commissioner, donations and grants.

Our training team

Kerry Griffiths-Mullins

Kerry Griffiths-Mullins

Training manager

Kerry joined IDAS in 2021 from a background in communications and marketing, and is now overseeing IDAS’ multi-agency, virtual and bespoke training and development programmes for professionals across the UK. Kerry is proud to lead a team making a real difference to survivors of domestic abuse, empowering professionals to provide the most effective support possible to the clients they work with.

Facebook Twitter Dribbble Behance
Jane Collins

Jane Collins

Training lead

Jane joined the IDAS training team in 2023, bringing with her 20 years of teaching experience in subjects related to improving people’s lives.  Jane has the same passion as the rest of the training team for delivering impactful, engaging multi-agency and bespoke training sessions which raise awareness of domestic abuse. With raised awareness, we aim to find solutions to the challenges faced by survivors with the ultimate goal of creating safer, more supportive communities.

Facebook Twitter Dribbble Behance
Johura Zaman

Johura Zaman

Trainer

Johura joined IDAS in 2023 and has experience working as an IDVA supporting survivors of domestic abuse in the community. Johura has since joined the training team, delivering multi agency training sessions to professionals across Yorkshire and the UK.  Johura is enthusiastic about raising awareness of domestic abuse, particularly increasing understanding around vulnerable communities and reaching hidden victims.

Facebook Twitter Dribbble Behance
Nicola Cawood

Nicola Cawood

Administrator

Nicola joined IDAS in 2022 after working in various administrative roles and running her own craft business. Nicola oversees all admin for the Training Team including scheduling and promoting courses, and communicating directly with trainees. Nicola feels passionate about  providing the most up-to-date training for professionals, so they in turn can give their clients the best support.

Facebook Twitter Dribbble Behance
Close
Donate
IDAS home

‘Hysterical’

Calling women ‘hysterical’ if they appear distressed, upset or disturbed often discounts their experiences. Other labels used can include, but are not limited to, “unstable” or “over-reacting”, “unable to keep their emotions in check”.  These statements are routed in sexism.

Another thing to note is that the description of being hysterical is provided by the alleged abuser. Often abusers will try to manipulate professionals in a bid to sabotage the victims’ credibility and to minimise or detract from the abuse.

Language is extremely important in documentation as the documentation will provide a narrative of what is happening and will often determine what course of action will be needed next.

Documentation may be called for as evidence in both civil and criminal cases, including family court for protective orders or child contact arrangements.

Back to incident report
‘Male appeared calm and assisted with enquiries’
We cannot assume that because one party displays anger and aggression or is less in control of their emotions that they are a primary perpetrator. It is a myth that perpetrators “lose control” or have anger management issues when they abuse their partners. Domestic violence is the most often, the opposite of losing control; perpetrators know what they are doing and use their abusive tactics of choice to maintain dominance in the relationship.
Back to incident report
Verbal argument only
It is important to remember that many couples argue, but for an argument to escalate to the point that the neighbours fear for a person’s safety that they phone the police on the emergency number, this should warrant further in-depth investigation. Statements such as “verbal argument only” will minimise harm and fear caused by verbal abuse. In turn it will also minimise the victims experience of the incident. The danger of using language that may minimise an abusive incident is that it will send a message to victims that the act was not abusive and if the victim felt it was abusive then they are over-reacting. Over time, this can lead to an escalation of abuse if the warning signs are not spotted, or intervention is not offered at the earliest opportunity. Furthermore, the statement ‘Verbal Argument Only’ suggests that only physical violence is worthy of investigation. However, the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 defines domestic abuse as:  Behaviour is “abusive” if it consists of any of the following—
  • (a)physical or sexual abuse;
  • (b)violent or threatening behaviour;
  • (c)controlling or coercive behaviour;
  • (d)economic abuse (see subsection (4));
  • (e)psychological, emotional or other abuse;
The act makes it clear that verbal abuse is part of domestic abuse.
Back to incident report