The Waltham Forest Violence Reduction Partnership

Darryl Abelscroft
Nov 1 · 7 min read

Over recent years there has been increased interest in using public health approaches to tackle serious violence, following the lead of places such as Chicago and Glasgow.

At their most basic, such approaches look at violence as you would look at any other public health issue. The normal analogy is to treat violence as you would a disease; to tackle the outbreak, stop it from spreading, and address the underlying vulnerabilities and pathways that caused it to occur.

There are good reasons for thinking about violence in this way. Violence doesn’t occur in a vacuum — it usually results from an escalation of circumstances, with previous exposure a key contributor. The more we can do to address the underlying causes of violence, the less violence there will be.

This is sometimes - and wrongly - characterised as a ‘soft’ approach. In reality many of the most regularly cited ‘public health’ case studies — Chicago, New York, Glasgow — have tough enforcement at their heart, hand-in-hand with longer-term work to address the underlying causes.

Waltham Forest has had a public health approach for several years, but over recent months we have taken it a stage further:

  1. We’ve developed a readily understandable conceptual framework to guide our approach
  2. We’ve been clearer that success requires a partnership approach to tackle violence
  3. We’ve put our young people at the heart of designing the solutions we need to reduce violence

Our partnership approach looks to tackle violence and the causes of violence. Over the weeks to come, through this Reducing Violence in Waltham Forest publication — launched as part of Waltham Forest’s Digital Month — we’ll share stories from across the partnership that detail what’s happening, the experiences of young people across the borough, what is working, and how much more there is still to do.

This introductory blog gives a summary of activity across the four domains of our public health approach:

Curtail is the heart of our public health approach: we want violent acts to be prevented & disrupted, with perpetrators pursued and prosecuted

At the heart of our approach is work to Curtail violent acts. If we use our medical public health analogy, then this is the domain where the most invasive surgical procedures occur.

Key partners in Curtail are the Police, the Council’s ASB team, and all of those involved in criminal justice and work to tackle specific gang or violent activity.

Over the past year, the Police and Council have conducted a series of joint operations to reduce crime and serious anti-social behaviour in hotspot areas across the borough — and currently have the largest number of shared operations across London.

We’ve funded a financial investigator to seize criminal assets under the Proceeds of Crime Act, published an ASB Strategy that sets out how we’ve going to reduce ASB across the borough, and have implemented a new Public Spaces Protection Order to tackle street-based ASB.

Mashallah, things are much better now, thanks to the police for their presence and working with us.’
‘The area seems safer and things have improved because of the partnership work and patrols in the area’
Quotes from shopkeepers after work to reduce crime and ASB

Treat is crucial if we are to stop violence spreading: Those harmed by violence need high quality treatment quickly to aid recovery

We know that violence spreads. This is not conjecture: according to the Met Police, 72% of murder suspects were previously victims of crime, and 26% victims of knife crime. More than half of the young people within the Waltham Forest Youth Offending Service have either been witness to domestic abuse, or a victim of it.

Those that get exposed to violence - be they victims, perpetrators or witnesses — need treatment to deal with and heal from the trauma. If they don’t get this, the likelihood is ever more people getting exposed.

To heal effectively, we need to get the right treatment to the right people at the right time and in the right place. This involves a huge number of partners: those in criminal justice who are often initially responsible for those involved in violent acts; health professionals with the skills to provide immediate and longer term physical and therapeutic treatment; our education partners, often the ones to see the signs that someone may have been affected by violence; and our community partners who have much to offer in treating those that get harmed.

Over the past year we’ve taken some important steps forward: we’ve launched the Safe & Together model to support domestic abuse survivors by focusing on the perpetrator’s behaviour; funded Eastside Story which saw 22 young people from local estates — many with experiences of violence — participate in a three-month programme of youth work and performing arts; launched a One Stop Shop domestic abuse support service embedded in Children and Family Centers across the borough, so survivors can easily access free advice; and secured seed funding for a Youth and Family Resilience service which we’ll build over the months to come.

‘Basil, one of my mentors from the PRU who had already got me into fitness and exercising, also taught me about medication and mindfulness. He helped me to realise that cannabis wasn’t a source of relief, particularly with my inability to sleep, but the major source of my problems.’
Daniel, 23, from Leytonstone

Support is about targetted work so that those vulnerable to violence & exploitation get early support and opportunities to reduce the risks they face

Evidence shows that trauma in childhood can greatly increase the chance of a person becoming involved in violence or exploitation — as a victim or perpetrator — later in life.

These ‘adverse childhood experiences’ (ACEs) such as exclusion from school, neglect or witnessing domestic abuse, are well known. We need to Support those who have had these experiences, getting them preventative ‘medicine’ to reduce the risks they face.

We’ve made strides over recent months: we’ve trained local residents as community mentors for those at risk of gang activity; introduced a ground-breaking Streetbase programme to provide peer-to-peer support to vulnerable young people out in the community; developed a new framework to better support young women affected by or involved in gangs and county lines activity; undertaken a review of Alternative Provision which seeks to reduce exclusions; and successfully piloted an information-sharing platform which allows services to better understand where young people are at risk.

“I loved the mentoring training — being around everyone in class and hearing all they had to say helped me see that there are so many different ways to reach the young people in our community. I have been going in to a local school and running mentoring sessions with a 14 year old young man. Being able to have an instant connection when talking about the struggles that come with living in the area has been eye opening to me”
Emmanuel

Strengthen is our universal aim for communities that are empowered to be strong & resilient to end violence, with opportunities and aspiration for all

Finally, we need to inoculate the population against violence. The way we do this is to work with our communities — to Strengthen them so that every person understands that they have a role in reducing violence and can help create the positive environments, opportunities and activities that people can benefit from instead.

Our Place — our strategy for connecting communities — is central to delivering this vision, empowering our residents and community groups to create a borough that feels like home for every single person who lives here, because they feel included, supported and safe.

As part of this strategy, we’ve created four networks based around our four town centres: Walthamstow, Leyton, Chingford and Leytonstone. Each network has identified local priorities, and bid for funding to deliver projects to achieve them — with youth violence and youth engagement priorities across all areas.

In addition, we’ve launched a LifeSkills programme which will see around 10,000 primary school children given tools and guidance in positive decision-making and resilience; recruited local residents to act as ‘Ask Me’ Ambassadors to address concerns around gangs; and co-designed a Young People’s Mental Health Charter which outlines our commitment to supporting every young person’s mental and emotional wellbeing.

‘I learned that you should think about your decisions before you make them. I now know how to ‘Stop, Think and then Go’ before making a decision.’
Year 4 pupil after LifeSkills lessons

Our public health model helps guide the delivery of our work to reduce violence. But its success will depend on strong collaboration across the borough - bringing together every relevant partner including our community sector, health and education professionals, the police and criminal justice colleagues, and our residents.

And it needs to be informed by our young people, often the ones with the best understanding of what’s happening, why it’s happening and how we can change it.

Over this month we will be bringing you stories from across our Violence Reduction Partnership that highlight the innovative work underway, the voices of the people involved, and some of the data that shows how we’re doing — and how far we have yet to go.

There is no quick fix to tackling violence. It needs a shared vision and sustained, partnership action.

Reducing violence in Waltham Forest…

Stories from the Waltham Forest Violence Reduction Partnership which is working to reduce violence so that our residents feel safer.

Darryl Abelscroft

Written by

Reducing violence at @wfcouncil. Seconded from @BEIS.

Reducing violence in Waltham Forest…

Stories from the Waltham Forest Violence Reduction Partnership which is working to reduce violence so that our residents feel safer.

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade