19 December 2023
Who helps the professionals in cases of domestic violence?
In the shadows of their respected roles, social welfare and healthcare professionals grapple with a silent adversary—domestic violence. While strides have been made in addressing violence in client situations, the plight of professionals facing abuse within their own homes remains obscured. The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, as part of the EU-funded IMPROVE project, sheds light on this overlooked issue. Interviews reveal the challenges professionals encounter, emphasizing the importance of breaking the silence and building a society where domestic violence is no longer concealed but confronted head-on.
We know by now that social welfare and healthcare professionals can encounter violence in client situations. This awareness has resulted in preparedness measures that make working environments safer in situations that can turn violent. But how can a professional prepare for violence in their own home, when a loved one hurts them? Where can they seek help for domestic violence? Broaching the topic may seem too sensitive or shameful because of their profession; suddenly it is the helper who needs help.
The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare is involved in the EU-funded IMPROVE project where one of the goals is to remove the obstacles to seeking help for domestic violence. It has been estimated that only 10–15% of domestic violence cases are reported to the authorities – some are self-reported, some by others. Within the framework of the project, interviews have been conducted in several countries to investigate how people seek help and what obstacles they encounter (download report from IMPROVE’s results section).
In Finland, interviewees were recruited through various organisations engaged in violence-related work. Information about the interview study was also shared on the different social media channels of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare and its theme website concerning violence. Regular visitors to the website especially include social welfare and healthcare employees who are looking for information to support their work. This resulted in the study and interviews catching the attention of several frontline responders who had experienced domestic violence in their personal lives. So partly by coincidence, the material from Finland turned out to be relevant research material on a topic that has mainly been overlooked so far.
Professionals’ special challenges
Interviewees in the study brought up the little-discussed topic of domestic violence that professional helpers encounter in their personal lives. Although the interviewed professionals would encounter victims of domestic violence in their work and help them get help, they may have had difficulties in recognising the phenomenon in their own lives. Getting help was also difficult for professionals engaged in violence-related work; one issue was that people felt ashamed in their professional role as a helper. How could a professional of violence-related work end up in a violent relationship in their personal life? Had they failed because they could not help themselves? How could a police officer call for help when their spouse hits them? Where could an employee of a shelter for victims of domestic violence go when they are threatened with violence at home? What about a priest who listens to and supports the members of their parish in these matters – who could they tell about the fear and anxiety caused by their own experiences of domestic violence? And who can a person with influence or in a leadership position trust in matters related to domestic violence?
The situation may be even more complicated if a professional helper is the one who assaults their partner, children or other family members in their private life. Where can they seek help for their violent tendencies? Domestic violence is very common, and a profession or position does not protect anyone from violence or violent behaviour.
Domestic violence is difficult to identify
Domestic violence can manifest itself in many different ways, and even the victims often initially have difficulty noticing or recognising the issue in their own life when their partner uses power over them or controls them. Domestic violence can manifest as physical, mental, sexual, economic, digital or religious violence. It can start little by little and, in a way, become normalised as part of the relationship.
There is always more to a close relationship than violence, which is why domestic violence is so damaging. The person you love is the one who hurts you. It takes a lot more courage and resources to leave a relationship than to stay in it. For some people experiencing domestic violence, making this kind of decision is not possible at all; only professionals can help the weakest victims, such as children and others who are completely dependent on their family members.
Still, the first step in getting help is to identify the violence. No matter whether the identification is done by the victim or a professional. In fact, one of the objectives of the IMPROVE project is to spread information to all levels of society on the different forms and phenomena of domestic violence in general. The aim is to stop the silence surrounding the topic.
Professionals’ personal attitude to domestic violence is essential
Encountering domestic violence at work may evoke a variety of emotions in a professional. It is normal to feel sadness, anger, helplessness, concern or anxiety when dealing with domestic violence at work. Frustration is also a common feeling because ending violence sometimes takes many encounters or interventions. It is a process where it is common for the client to take steps forward and back. Leaving a violent situation often takes time and requires several attempts. However, it is necessary to reflect on the sources of these feelings. Different emotions towards the phenomenon of domestic violence will impact a professional’s work in their encounters with the parties of domestic violence, as well as the professional’s coping at work. Professionals should be aware of the emotions aroused in them by domestic violence so that they can process these feelings better and not have them be an obstacle to violence-related work.
All frontline responders should also reflect on their personal relationship with domestic violence and their attitudes towards it. Any experiences we may have had can also impact our attitude towards the parties involved in violence. The kind of domestic violence we have encountered during our lives – and how we have encountered it – affects our perceptions.
A professional’s own attitude to violence may determine whether they dare to bring up violence with a client, how they bring it up, or how they react in a situation where a client talks about domestic violence, and so on. While clients may find it difficult to tell a professional about violence, the professional may find it similarly difficult to discuss domestic violence with a client. This was one of the obstacles to receiving help that were identified in the interviews. One person who had experienced violence had told a professional about it, but the professional did not have the capacity to hear it, let alone help the victim. In some cases, the person who had experienced violence reported having had to comfort the professional. Sometimes it took several contacts with different professionals before the victim of violence found a professional who dared to bring up the topic, took the situation seriously and was able to add to the client’s resources.
Domestic violence has historically been considered a family matter. For example, rape within a marriage was not criminalised until 1994 in Finland. The roots run deep, which means that some clients and professionals may still regard domestic violence as a private matter, a family matter, making it a difficult topic of conversation. An employee may find talking about it embarrassing, difficult, and an invasion of the others’ life and privacy. But by staying silent and not asking questions, frontline responders become part of the problem, allowing violence to continue. If professionals do not ask about domestic violence or intervene when it occurs, it conveys a message that domestic violence should be a private matter and has the tacit approval of the authorities and society as a whole.
Training and education increase first-line responders’ ability to help the victims of violence while also protecting the employees themselves. Encountering and helping their clients becomes easier when they have enough competence in domestic violence and understand the phenomenon well enough. A known risk of professionals working with domestic violence is compassion fatigue. Even though first-line responders understand, encounter and partially take on the grief, hurt or pain experienced by clients, it does not mean that professionals should go through those feelings. Being too emotional may even be an obstacle to helping people in the right way, which is something that was also discovered in the interviews.
The training platform of the IMPROVE project offers a comprehensive selection of information on domestic violence for different frontline responders. To help clients, different sectors need to understand both the phenomenon and a client’s situation. The training platform of the IMPROVE project offers information about all of this and many other topics. In addition to information and education, professionals also need structures in the work community to support them in intervening in domestic violence. To do the work well, each organisation needs good, up-to-date instructions on how to help the parties of domestic violence, support from colleagues and supervisors work guidance and good work practices even for challenging situations.
Everyone has the right to seek and receive help
Every person, regardless of their background, is entitled to support and services for domestic violence. If seeking help with your own name feels difficult, help is also available anonymously. Finland, like many other European countries, has nationally operating low-threshold services. One of these Finnish services is a helpline called “Nollalinja”, which you can call completely anonymously. The people taking the calls cannot see the caller’s phone number during or after the phone call. The call will also leave no trace on the phone bill.
Finland has 29 shelters for victims of domestic violence in different parts of the country. A person experiencing domestic violence, or the threat of domestic violence, can go to any of these shelters without a referral, regardless of where they live. An adult client can also come to a shelter anonymously if they so wish. Many regions also have low-threshold services for perpetrators.
It is time to approach domestic violence just like any other public health issue and take active measures to prevent it. This would also lead to great savings. The harmful effects of domestic violence cause a need to use many social, health and legal services. According to a study conducted in Finland (Siltala et al., 2022 [1]), victims of domestic violence used health and social services twice as much as the rest of the population, and they used legal services four times as much.
Violence impacts a large part of the population directly or indirectly. Violence can only be reduced if the problem is identified and not hidden, belittled or explained away. We must declare that times have changed and that we no longer want domestic violence to be part of our culture. Society must build structures that allow the victims and perpetrators of violence to receive timely help in situations where the consequences are detrimental to the individuals themselves and society as a whole.
Sources
[1] Domestic violence-related use of services and the resulting costs in health, social and legal services. Siltala, Heli; Hisasue, Tomomi; Hietamäki, Johanna; Saari, Juhani; Laajasalo, Taina; October, Martta; Laitinen, Hanna-Leena; Raitanen, Jani. http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-383-317-3
About the authors
Suvi Nipuli is the Development Manager of shelter services for victims of domestic violence
Sociologist and Master of Political Sciences, Suvi Nipuli is the Development Manager of shelter services for victims of domestic violence at the Competence Cluster for Violence Prevention work at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare. Nipuli is also involved in national and international projects to combat domestic violence. Before shelter services, she was involved in the development of support services for victims of sexual violence in Finland. She has also worked on the IMPRODOVA project before the IMPROVE project.
Seija Parekh, Specialist at the Competence Cluster for Violence Prevention Work
Seija Parekh is working as a Specialist at the Competence Cluster for Violence Prevention Work at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare in Helsinki, Finland. She has a Master's degree in South-Asian Development Studies and a Bachelor's degree in Public Health Nursing. She is currently working on the topics of prevention of female genital mutilation (FGM) and honour-related violence (HRV). In addition, she works on the EU-funded IMPROVE project on the prevention of domestic violence.