Innovative Conference held on 13 March 2019

On 13th March, a joint conference organised by the Dumfries and Galloway Community Justice Partnership and the Dumfries and Galloway Public Protection Partnership through their Violence Against Women and Girls Standing Group took place in Dumfries.

The Conference, From Hurt to Hope: Moving from blame and shame to understanding,was the first in Scotland highlighting the links between people in the Justice System and those experiencing Gender Based Violence (Violence Against Women). The conference also saw the launch of a new national resource "Why Violence Against Women is a Community Justice Issue"and a Child Sexual Exploitation awareness raising campaign for Dumfries and Galloway. The day was heavily oversubscribed with people registering their interest from as far afield as Peterhead and London, and attendance on the day itself saw us welcome well over 200 people to Dumfries Baptist Church Centre.

A range of national and local speakers addressed related topics such as the Impact of Trauma; the Police Response to Domestic Abuse; Child Sexual Exploitation; Responses to Domestic Abuse; and Commercial Sexual Exploitation, Women in the justice system and others.

Participants also had the opportunity to take part in various workshops focussing on: Sexual Violence Impact and Prevention; A Public Health Approach to Violence Reduction; The Experience of People within Prostitution in Scotland; Engaging with Domestic Abuse Perpetrators; Child Sexual Exploitation; and the effect of Trauma and Adverse Childhood Experiences.   

Gordon Pattinson - Community Justice Partnership Chair and Violence Against Women and Girls Standing Group Chair said: This is a very exciting conference. Over 220 professionals across Third Sector, Social Work, Education, Health, and Police have already registered to attend.  I hope that the range of topics and depth of knowledge that will be shared and generated at this conference will have a very positive impact on practice and consequently increase understanding on the links between public protection and community justice in Dumfries and Galloway.

Evaluations from the event are still being collated however when asked if the day had increased people's awareness of the links between Community Justice and Violence Against Women and Girls 94% of those who attended stated their awareness had increased greatly. It's important that this conference is just the beginning of more strategic, collaborative work across Dumfries and Galloway.

Look out for a full conference report with feedback from those who attended soon!

Copies of the PowerPoints are available below:

• From Hurt to Hope Public Presentation March 2019 (PDF, 2 MB)(opens new window)
• Women in the Justice System Presentation March 2019 (PDF, 125 KB)(opens new window)
• Why is Violence Against Women a Community Justice Issue (PDF, 470 KB)(opens new window)
• Making the Links - Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Violence Against Women and Girls - March 2019 (PDF, 3 MB)(opens new window)