The prevalence of domestic abuse against women has been estimated as high as one in four. The risk is particularly high for women who are younger, economically dependent, unemployed and with children. Research about the factors that maintain situations of abuse has generally focused separately on the coping strategies of women, barriers to leaving the relationship and the perpetrators' means of abuse. In this study we used a community psychology perspective to seek a broader understanding of what maintains situations of abuse, in order to suggest interventions in a rural County in the North of England. Twelve women who had experienced domestic abuse and had used voluntary sector services agreed to be interviewed about their experiences and the resources and strategies available to them. Using grounded theory we generated four themes: (1) Commonalities and contradictions in the experience of abuse; (2) living with abuse; (3) the response of systems reinforced or challenged the abuse and (4) dealing with abuse beyond the relationship. These findings illustrate how situations of domestic abuse can be prolonged by limited options available to victims for support and protection, and a lack of active public acknowledgement that domestic abuse is unacceptable.

People's health needs tend to be responded to by professionally led, individualistic and reactive services, rather than preventive interventions, or by drawing on lay expertise. In this project, we used a participatory approach to involve young people in researching their needs and views of how sources of support can be improved and developed. We present the background to the work undertaken; the participatory methods used; results and recommendations. The young people emphasized their preferences for informal support rather than counselling services; and changes in the attitudes of professionals towards young people, rather than major new service developments. We discuss the implications of a participatory approach to the research and to the individuals involved.

The psychological consequences of poverty, abuse and discrimination are palpable and debilitating, and clinical and community psychologists are in a position to represent this in our research and practice. We can account for how economic, social and organisational inequalities and deprivation influence communities and individuals, and understand how social processes can be undermining and also how they can generate resilience. We can also use our resources to work with others actively and publicly.While recognising that psychological interventions are inherently limited and problematic, I would like to suggest that they may share hopeful ways forward with individuals, organisations and communities. Acknowledging and understanding the overwhelming physical and emotional consequences of the misuse of power can be a validating process that generates collaborative alliances. We can draw on David Smail’s framework for analysing people’s proximal powers in the context of distal forces to consider the scope people have to act individually or collectively, and to be open about the limitations and potential of psychological interventions.

Trauma-informed care for people seeking help with complex experiences of adversity and trauma needs to enable people to be genuinely heard, meaningfully understood, and offered attuned help. We consider how the Power Threat Meaning framework (PTMF; Johnstone et al., 2018) can be applied to understand a person’s history and current experience, and we describe how we are adapting pathways of care within mental health services in order that people are helped more effectively.

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