Domestic Abuse, Suicide and Domestic Homicide Reviews
In her work with REFUGE to explore the scale, mediators and moderators of suicidality amongst its client base (REFUGE reportLink opens in a new window), Vanessa Munro identified significant shortcomings in the probing for, and handling of, disclosures of suicidality amongst professionals, and concerns about the ability of services to ‘join the dots’ in order to effectively identify those most at risk of domestic abuse related suicidality.
Following on from this, in 2021, Vanessa was funded by the Home Office to conduct further research – with Sarah Dangar of AAFDALink opens in a new window and Lotte Young AndradeLink opens in a new window.
Together, they reviewed a total of 32 Domestic Homicide Reviews conducted in England and Wales in suicide cases, and combined this with 36 semi-structured interviews and a focus group involving 8 participants. They explored professional and bereaved family member perspectives regarding service responses to victims during their lifetimes and in the aftermath of their deaths, as well as the adequacy of processes for commissioning and completed Domestic Homicide Reviews. They found a profile of deceased victims who had struggled in plain sight of services for some time, with many being in regular contact with housing services, mental health services, police and GPs. Despite this, professionals were often insufficiently curious about domestic abuse, suicidality, or the connection between the two and there was a tendency towards siloed responses that did not acknowledge and seek to address barriers to help-seeking that victims may have encountered. They also found that, in the aftermath of suicide, investigations into the cause of death (and links to domestic abuse) were often inadequate and lacked a trauma-informed approach. They found inconsistent practice around commissioning Domestic Homicide Reviews, and insufficient guidance in relation to the conducting of such reviews which undermined their transparency, rigour and capacity to engage bereaved family members. The Government has since identified the need for an improved Domestic Homicide Review mechanism, including in particular in relation to suicide cases.
Since completing this research, Vanessa and colleagues have been working to ensure that their findings reach a wide range of audiences. This has included developing a short animation and podcast to raise awareness, as well as crafting policy briefs and a practitioner toolkit intended to improve professional responses and support.
Watch the Domestic Homicide Review Animation [click the image]:
Domestic Homicide Reviews Policy brief 1Link opens in a new window
Domestic Homicide Reviews Policy brief 2Link opens in a new window
Domestic Homicide Reviews ToolkitLink opens in a new window
Most recently, Vanessa has worked alongside Sarah Dangar, to explore the prevalence of and professional responses to disclosures of non-fatal strangulation in domestic abuse-related suicides. Supported by colleagues at the Institute for Addressing Strangulation, this work explored 70 suicide-related reviews and found that 32 included references to non-fatal strangulation in the domestic abuse history. In many cases, this was reported as a common experience by the deceased. Alongside interviews with professional experts, analysis of these reviews highlighted common failures to properly recognise and respond to the risks associated with non-fatal strangulation, the existence of hesitancy amongst some professionals in relation to disclosures, a common reliance on trivialising language in how accounts were recorded, and a lack of appreciation of the impacts of strangulation on psychological and emotional well-being.
Strangulation, Domestic Abuse and Suicide Report