Organisations convene to tackle abuse in later life
A conference was held in Chippenham this week
A campaigner against domestic abuse says she hopes a conference earlier this week in Chippenham is the first of many conversations about abuse of older people.
Hetti Barkworth-Nanton, who is chair of charity Refuge, has been a leading voice on domestic violence for over a decade following the murder of her best friend, Joanna Simpson, in 2010.
Joanna was bludgeoned to death by her husband Robert Brown, who is serving a 26-year jail sentence.
The conference in Chippenham saw guest speakers from the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC), Wiltshire Council and local charities and services, such as FearFree.
It's estimated that over 700,000 people in the UK, aged over 60, experience domestic abuse every year.
Not an issue for one organisation to confront
Hetti told us she had three key takeaways from the event.
"There was a real cross-service desire to get this right and get it better," she said, adding that there is recognition of a joint approach being needed to tackle a societal issue.
"It's for all of us to be working together much more closely in order to do that," she said. "So I think there is real hope that the kind of right conversations are happening to drive change and to ultimately mean that this cohort of victims actually get the support that they really need."
How to get the message to older people?
Hetti explained that there is also a challenge in ensuring that the current generation of older people hear the message about reaching out for support.
"We know that victims of domestic abuse often don't recognise that they're a victim until sometimes years down the line. And we're trying to address that in young people by doing a lot more around education.
"But we're talking about a cohort here, older people who are, you know, you can't access them with education, they're not in an education setting, so how and where do you start to get those messages in?"
She explained that this cohort of people were brought up in a different world to what modern society is and therefore their expectations are different, saying it's not as simple as applying what is working for the current younger generation.
Abuse of older people "complex"
Her final takeaway was that abuse in older people is often not limited to those in relationships - it can be within a family with cases of children being the perpetrators.
"It's much more complex and therefore even if they do report, they're unlikely to report it as domestic abuse," Hetti told us. "So do we have with our frontline agencies the right language to be able to turn what someone might be describing into something that actually is a recognition of abuse and to make sure then the right response is there."
Many suffering in silence
Maria Milton from the OPCC said it's "clear from the statistics and real-world evidence" that many people are suffering in silence.
She said events such as this allow organisations and services to learn from each other and identify how improvements can be made to supporting the most vulnerable people.
Maria said: “With over a hundred people in the room sharing the same goal, it’s important we use our collective experience to identify how we communicate more effectively together as partners and with victims of domestic abuse.”
It's believed that the estimation of 700,000 people who experience harm each year is well below of the true number.
FearFree's Claire Riches, who is an Independent Domestic Violence Advisor, said the under-reporting means it can be under-recognised.
"The lack of awareness around the fact that older people do experience domestic abuse reduces help-seeking opportunities. It reinforces that invisibility of victim-survivors and it also limits professional identification and intervention."
She added that embarrassment and shame, or dependency on an abuser might prevent someone from reaching out.
"Part of the message is to reach out, but it's also more nuanced than just that. We need to recognise abuse in later life, reduce the barriers and ensure older people can safely reach out, with professionals and communities taking responsibility too."