Alpha Vesta
Breaking the Cycle of Domestic Abuse through Awareness, Prevention and Effective and Safe Early Intervention.
1 in 5 adults will be affected by domestic abuse at some point during their adult lifetime and 1 in 5 children experience domestic abuse in the home during childhood.
The social and economic costs of domestic abuse in England and Wales amount to £66 billion a year.
It costs an average of £34,015 to support a victim of domestic abuse yet only £5 per victim is spent on preventative work.
We work with all employers and workforces to encourage them to build a strong culture of understanding around domestic abuse and a supportive environment for those affected. £316 million is lost to all employers every year, just as a consequence of the work absences related to domestic abuse. This figure is only the tip of the iceberg when we look at the impact of domestic abuse further.
Domestic Abuse doesn’t always look like you think it’s going to look like, and Alpha Vesta support employers and employees to recognise the signs and respond effectively within the workplace. This benefits the employer and employees but also customers, clients and service users that come into contact with them through their work.
We support employers and their employees through robust awareness and training programmes, policy review services and policy development to ensure domestic abuse stays at the top of their agenda reducing the impact across a whole workforce.
breaking the cycle of domestic abuse
Every-day hundreds, thousands even of individuals and families are impacted by domestic abuse. The social and economic costs amount to an astonishing £66 billion per year.
We see this on the ground, across our communities, workplaces, schools and statutory services. Lives destroyed, futures impaired, prospects and confidence shattered. We know this because our Founder, Lucy Whittaker, spent many years working as a Complex Caseworker in the field of domestic abuse where she also specialised in child protection. This frontline work was combined with university studies in social sciences, criminology and psychology. This experience and academic study ensures we understand both the lived experience of domestic abuse but also many of the complex systems, manpower and interventions that are designed to respond to it – sometimes in vain or with little sustainable changes ever being made. And so the cycle repeats.
Our vision at Alpha Vesta is to reduce the social and economic costs of domestic abuse across our communities by ‘breaking the cycle’ and ‘preventing crisis’ for anyone impacted by it. Many people across our communities don’t really even know what domestic abuse is, what it incorporates, what the impacts are.
We deliver on our vision with our mission to engage, educate and empower communities and workforces to recognise the early indicators, respond effectively and create safe spaces for adults or children affected to reach out at the earliest point – preventing that crisis, when successful, sustainable changes can be made, where we can actually break that cycle.
Since 2019, we have grown our range of fully-funded, bespoke and CPD accredited online and face to face training courses. We continue to work with statutory agencies, local authorities, private employers and community organisations to increase their understanding and response to domestic abuse through improving their own workforce culture and understanding around it.
We have created a Community Advocate Scheme as well as a Survivor and Insight Network who support and enhance our work across the Community.
Together, if we can reach people sooner, we can break that cycle. Offer safe spaces, opportunities and support to those earlier in their journey changes lives, it even saves lives.
Importantly, we have been supported by London Law firm, Hogan Lovells (HL BaSE) throughout our incorporation and creation as a Community Interest Company (CIC). Being a CIC means any profits are channeled back into supporting community projects and providing preventative and early intervention training and support. This includes subsidised or free Alpha Vesta training for organisations and agencies unable to fund it themselves.
Please contact us for an initial consultation and details of all our awareness and training packages.
important role of the Workplace
When values and actions are connected, businesses and organisations are better able to strike a chord and resonate with all of the people coming into contact with them.
There is a valuable part to be played by businesses and organisations in terms of creating awareness, understanding and education within their workplace as well as those they come into contact with through their work. Creating a culture of openness keeps victims and their families safer, keeps them in employment and encourages them to speak out. It also has direct benefits to businesses and organisations themselves in terms of
- increased productivity
- reduced absence and lateness
- positive health and wellbeing
- lots of career progression, and
- a robust and caring reputation
Research, Development and Projects
Alpha Vesta have extensive knowledge of domestic abuse, its manifestation, potential escalation and issues that may arise because of it. This is because they invest in people, their stories and their experiences.
The team also have an in depth understanding of the Criminal Justice System, Civil Court System, voluntary sector support along with adult and child safeguarding issues which may arise.
There continue to be many gaps in services offered to domestic abuse victims and Alpha Vesta, through a CIC structure, are able to assist existing services with their training needs and policy development.
Latest Articles
Breaking The Cycle Monthly Update – November 2022
Lucy's Update Welcome to our November edition of ‘Breaking the Cycle’. The ’16 Days of Action’ against gender-based violence begins on 25th November. Although the roots of the campaign reside in highlighting the nature and prevalence of gender-based violence against...
Domestic Abuse and Pet Abuse – 16 Days of Action
Eliminating gender-based violence is the aim of ‘16 Days of Action’, an annual international campaign which runs from 25th November until 10th December. Established in 1991, the ’16 Days of Action’ is an initiative that aims to raise awareness of the reality of...
Breaking The Cycle Monthly Update – October 2022
Lucy's Update Welcome to our October update.September seems like a distant memory and the beginning of October has flown by!The Alpha Vesta Team have continued to be busy running our public training programme as well as direct work with Employers, building policies...
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