Fiona Dwyer, Chief Executive of Solace Women’s Aid
Image via Solace on Twitter.
Solace Women’s Aid is an organisation working to support Women suffering under domestic violence in the UK, and standing at the position of Chief Executive is Fiona Dwyer. With an extensive career background in Women’s aid - not just in the UK, but Switzerland, Peru, and Italy - Fiona now works in protecting Women and children with Solace.
For anybody who may not know, how would you best describe the work of Solace and who it can benefit?
Solace is the leading specialist VAWG charity in London, with over 45 years’ experience working with survivors of male Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG). We deliver empowering services across six core multi-disciplinary areas that support women and children from the moment of crisis to recovery and independence. We offer ongoing support to survivors, helping them to rebuild their lives through advice, advocacy, therapeutic interventions and support. We also provide safe refuge and move-on accommodation to women and children made homeless through VAWG. Our 1-1 counselling, group work and specialist holistic therapies help survivors recover after experiencing traumatic abuse. Our North London Rape Crisis service offers a range of services to women and girls 13+ who have experienced any form of sexual violence at any time in their lives. Our Children and Young People’s (CYP) team delivers a range of services, including prevention work, for families and young people living in the community as well as support at the Major Trauma Centres in London, the Child House (Lighthouse) and advocacy support. Through training courses and consultancy, we help other organisations to improve their response to VAWG. Our Public Affairs function ensures we speak directly to Government, Local Authorities and partners to influence change. We work across partner organisations across England.
Prior to being Chief Exec at Solace, how did you get started in Women’s rights work?
My whole career has been focussed on women and children’s rights. I worked in international development 6 years across Switzerland, Peru and Ireland before I came to work in the UK 13 years ago. I worked for Women’s Aid Federation for 4 years before becoming a Local Authority Commissioner and Lead for Violence Against Women and Girls in the years before working for Solace.
Do you think awareness of violence against Women is something we should implement into our curriculum?
Yes, I think this is something that should start at reception age – there are really meaningful ways to start the conversation. At reception age – you can start to have conversations about gender by looking at ‘girls’ toys’ and ‘boys’ toys’ and build up from there. I firmly believe it should be mandatory within the curriculum if we are ever to see change.
What sort of impact did you find the COVID-19 lockdown to have on the need for your services?
We saw a rise in complexity in cases that were coming through our services. There was a rise in demand but the biggest change and element that had the most impact was the increase in mental health services needed by women and children coming through our services. For our Adviceline what we have been seeing is that calls are taking much longer as women have increased complexities caused by COVID.
It has significantly spiked in the media recently that there should be hypervigilance regarding certain behaviour towards Women and Girls. Would you say there are adequate measures in social situations (bars, nightclubs, pubs, etc) to combat this? Asking for a certain drink at a bar that alerts a staff member, for example.
I think that the crucial thing is that the emphasis should be on men to change their behaviour. Often the onus for women’s safety is put on them and we have seen this recently with the Sarah Everard killing and the proposed curfews and safety advice for women. Solace has worked with Saatchi and Co. to develop ‘The Good Guy’ guide to support men with their behaviour when out on the streets. There have been some high profile safety campaigns in social situations – such as ‘Ask for Angela’ but unless this work is done in conjunction with real and sustained campaigning about men’s behaviour, we won’t see the difference that is needed.
What do you feel are the best ways to start conversations regarding violence against Women and Girls?
It really depends on the audience – for some survivors they wont recognise that they are living with abuse, particularly if they aren’t being physically abused. Many women have told us over the years that it wasn’t until there was physical violence or their children were being directly abused that they realised. The average time that women in our services have lived with abuse is 6.5 years – this figure hasn’t changed in the 45 years that we have been providing services. The best way to start a conversation is to gently ask ‘is everything ok at home?’ or ‘I’m here for you if there’s anything you want to tell me’ – the simplest way is often the most effective as it starts a conversation. If someone does disclose, it is important to think about the 3 Rs – receive (listen to what is being said without looking shocked; take it seriously and listen without judgement), reassure (tell the person it’s not their fault – this is really vital as an abuser will often say ‘no one will believe you’) and react (listen, don’t assume anything or jump in at this point and ask open questions if appropriate).
What are your plans for the future of Solace?
We would like to be able to support ever more survivors of all forms of male violence against women and girls. We also want to be able to support the sector more broadly through active campaigning and support for smaller organisations. Our ultimate goal is for Solace to not be needed any more!
Is there any advice you’d give to someone looking to work – or volunteer – in the Women’s rights/social justice sector?
For anyone looking to work in the sector, I would say look at your transferable skills. For many roles, empathy, active listening and non-judgemental attitudes are vital. If you would like to volunteer, the same skills are really important. Volunteering is an excellent way to start working in the sector as we find many of our volunteers go on to paid work within the sector. It also gives you a broad understanding of how the sector works.
