Support for Abused Women

1. Support for Abused Women COMPARING THREE TYPES OF CRIME VICTIM SERVICES IN SWEDEN

2. The Research Project The Crime Victim Compensation and Support Authority is funding the project PhD Candidate Sara Helmersson It is headed by Professor Håkan Jönson If and how is ‘empowerment‘ translated into social work practice in services supporting abused women? Data collection includes ethnographic fieldwork and a web based survey

3. The Aimof the Presentation What kind of support is offeredto (help-seeking) abusedwomen in Sweden within the thirdsector and the public sector?

4. Individual Interventions areRankedNumberOne

5. Eight Tasks were Never or SeldomRankedNumberOne • Influencing public opinion • Developing working methods • Self-help groups • Counsellinggroups • Internaleducation • Education/information toauthorities • Cooperationwith external actors • Helpto permanent housing

6. A Comparative Approach

8. Non-CounsellingRoles in Public SectorCrisis Centers • The Advocate • The Support Person • The Coordinator • The Paper Work-Consultant • The Friend/The Family Member

9. SummingUp • Individualinterventions as the ”corework”: supportive counselling, safe housing, hot line services and support in contact with authorities • Groups and external workareseen as peripheral • Different nichesamong services – sometimesoverlapping • Observations show that it is morecomplex

10. Thank You Sara Helmersson sara.helmersson@soch.lu.sePhD Candidate School of Social Work Lund University

12. EXTRA BILDER • The Corework – list offourteen alternatives • A quotesupporting the survey resultsbut not the observations • Method and Data Collection • The Survey • The Swedish Context • Backgroundof Project • ”Numberthree”

13. THE CORE WORK – WHAT TASKS GET THE HIGHEST RANKING? List offourteen alternatives • Internaleducation • Safe housing • Hot line services by phone or the Internet • Supportive counselling • Helptopermanent housing • Influencing public opinion • Cooperationwith external actors • Psycho-therapy • Counsellinggroups • Guidance • Developing working methods • Education for/information toauthorities • Self-help groups • Support in contact with authorities

14. AN INTERVIEW QUOTE ”alltså dom [kvinnojourerna, min anm.] står ju för ett skyddat boende och ett praktiskt stöd under den tiden va’ vilket kan betyda allt ifrån att… att leka med barnen till att följa med på en rättegång eller sjukhus, hjälpa till att hitta vägar att söka bostäder därifrån […] men det är ju i huvudsak det skyddade boendet de står för… Alltså vi [på kriscentrum, min anm.] har ju en professionell samtalsbehandling och det har man ju inte på jourerna och ska man ju heller inte ha va’…” Anställd, kommunalt kriscentrum

15. METHOD AND DATA COLLECTION • Web baserad survey • Interviews with employed staff/volunteers and help-seeking abused women • Participatory observations • Collecting texts

16. THE SURVEY (N=207) • 320 services • 207 responses • Response rate 65 per cent

17. THE SWEDISH CONTEXT • Historically support for crime victims is organised by the third sector • Local governments have a greater responsibility for crime victims now than before 2007 • Different conditions for women’s refuges and crime victim support

18. BACKGROUND OF PROJECT • ’Empowerment’ is common in social work arbete • The concept is prelevant in policy documents in the domesticviolence area • Content and consequences for crimevictimsareunclear

19. NUMBER THREE

20. NON-COUNSELLING WORK IN PUBLIC SECTOR CRISIS CENTERS