'Picking up the phone will be the best thing you have ever done'
| Published date | 21 March 2024 |
| Publication title | Evening Chronicle |
The Make a Change programme helps people concerned that they are hurting, scaring or controlling their partner to change their behaviour. Newcastle is the latest area to roll out the service, which is already available in Durham and Sunderland. Perpetrators of abuse, or anyone who fears they could potentially become a perpetrator, can refer themselves to the programme, which is run by local charities Harbour and Changing Lives.
Lesley Hill, who co-ordinates the programme for Harbour, has told of her hopes that it will help prevent people from becoming victims of abuse.
She said: "It tackles the problem from all angles. I have worked in this field for a lot of years. When I first started all the focus was on the survivors, and rightly so, but that wasn't addressing the problems.
"I have been delivering domestic abuse programmes since 2005 and a lot of the people we got when I was working with high-risk people may have had three or four victims.
"Something like Make a Change can help people before they reach that point, and from that perspective we are helping more victims."
And in a direct message to anyone worried about their behaviour, Lesley added: "Just pick up the phone or get on our website, it will be the best thing you have ever done and it will help your current or future relationships.
"And to people at the start of a journey that could lead to serious abuse, they are not necessarily bad people, they have just done some bad things. But they don't have to be that person."
Make a Change was developed by domestic abuse charities Respect and Women's Aid Federation of England, and is funded by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Northumbria, in partnership with Newcastle City Council.
Participants attend a 26-week programme of group sessions, delivered by Harbour's expert support workers, which help them understand the impact of their harmful behaviour, and support them to make positive changes and develop healthy relationships.
A lot of people who attend the programme have not yet been physically abusive to their partner, and get help before they cross the line.
"They are not always people who are physically abusive and it's great if we can catch them before they get to that point," said Lesley.
Another central part of the programme is that partners and expartners of people taking part will be offered...
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