MARAC & Harmful Practices Seminar Standing Together Presentation 26.6.2023

This is the presentation that was shared by Standing Together during the seminar that they contributed to entitled 'MARAC & Harmful Practices' on the 26.06.2023.

A MARAC, or multi-agency risk assessment conference, is a meeting where information is shared on the highest risk domestic abuse cases between representatives of local police, probation, health, child protection, housing practitioners, Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (IDVAs) and other specialists from the statutory and voluntary sectors.

Standing Together co-ordinate five MARACs in London, and in 2020 the boroughs of Westminster, Hammersmith and Fulham, and Kensington & Chelsea funded a data co-ordinator to collect and analyse data on harmful practices in their boroughs. The aim of the data collection was to try to better understand the prevalence of harmful practices in the boroughs, identify who was accessing services (and who was not) and where the gaps were. The group also wanted to understand who was working with victim/ survivors of harmful practices and recognise what this work entailed.

The seminarprovided the following insight:

*Standing Together:

• An overview of MARAC from a health perspective, including who should be referred

• The benefits and limitations of MARAC and how to negotiate these as a health professional

• Findings from our harmful practices data work and what they tell us about multi agency responses to harmful practices.

*Designated Professional Adult Safeguarding- City & Hackney

• MARAC from a health professional perspective

• The benefits and challenges of partnership working

The event was well attended and feedback very positive.