Westward is proud to be awarded DAHA accreditation
Westward Housing Group is the first housing provider in the south west to achieve accreditation with the Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance (DAHA) ensuring that we can make a difference for our customers who are survivors of domestic abuse.
Westward has helped 182 survivors of domestic abuse in the past three years and this accreditation had helped us develop additional tools that we can work on with our partner agencies to help keep our customers and colleagues safe.
Freya Routledge, DAHA Regional Lead, said, “I am delighted that Westward have achieved DAHA accreditation in recognition of the amazing work they are doing to support survivors of domestic abuse. I have been particularly impressed by their commitment to a person-focussed service that puts the trauma, needs and experiences of survivors at the heart of all interventions. I will be sharing examples of Westward’s excellent practice to influence the wider sector and look forward to seeing what they do next!”
DAHA work to improve the housing sector’s response to domestic abuse through the adoption of an established set of standards. Eight priority areas consider an organisation's operations and ensure we deliver safe and effective interventions in domestic abuse. It builds in processes that help guide staff to adequately address the needs of survivors and hold abusers to account.
Westward’s domestic abuse accreditation project lead, Nicki Clarke, says, “I’m so pleased with this result. We have now had confirmation that we have managed to achieve widespread culture change and embed a rigorous process and policies into Westward which will hopefully makes lives better for a lot of women, sometimes men and perhaps even save lives. Thank you to all those involved in this vital project.”
Jan Montague, Westward Executive Director, says, “Westward supports this project from the very heart of the business. We seek to ensure that customers and staff experiencing domestic abuse can approach Westward in confidence knowing that they will be listened to, believed and not judged. We treat all reports of domestic abuse seriously and work with our multi-agency partners to ensure we can offer meaningful signposting and support.”
Launched in 2014, DAHA embeds the best practice learned and implemented by its three founding partners and has established the first domestic abuse accreditation for housing providers.