The Joanna Simpson Foundation held a training day for health care professionals and others run by the charity SafeLives, which aims to end domestic abuse.

Diana Parkes set up the foundation following the death of her daughter, Joanna Simpson, at the hands of her abusive husband. Following this, Diana was left to raise Joanna’s two young children so she understands the traumatic impact of domestic abuse on youngsters.

Mrs Parkes said: ’The focus of the foundation is on the children but, sadly, you’ve got to stop the domestic abuse to help the children. We were the catalyst for bringing the UK-wide charity SafeLives to the island and we are pleased that the government and Law Society have followed on by having training courses given by SafeLives to their members.’

Following on from their first training day in the island last year SafeLives has now held a second training session.

Mrs Parkes said: ’It was held at Hospice and we thank them so much for providing their Seminar Room. Dr Alex Allison opened the proceedings and 18 people attended the training. They were a wide range of professionals from emergency department nurses to youth workers. There were also domestic abuse workers and those working in children’s services.

’The training involved the importance of not seeing domestic abuse as a standalone issue but to recognise that families are complex and different and may have a variety of needs. It is known that survivors of abuse want individual responses and for all agencies to work together to develop this.

’Discussion took place on the impact of trauma on adults’ and children’s physical and mental health and how services can be developed to address this. SafeLives looked at some practical tools to support the work on the Isle of Man.’

In August the Foundation assisted in bringing Elizabeth Carney-Haworth OBE, and David Carney-Haworth, OBE, co-founders of Operation Encompass to the island to undertake a government departmental briefing.

Mrs Parkes said: ’Operation Encompass directly connects the police with schools to secure better outcomes for children who experience police-attended incidents of domestic abuse. The central tenets of Operation Encompass are that if the police attend a domestic incident where children are present, dedicated ’key adults’ in the child’s school will be informed about the incident prior to the start of the next school day.

’This early intervention allows rapid provision of support for the child victim within the child’s school and enables children to be better supported against the short, medium, and long term effects of domestic abuse.’

Operation Encompass is a charitable organisation set up in 2011, which has since enabled effective interventions to many thousands of children who have experienced domestic abuse.

It is now established in 35 police forces in England and Wales and has the support from UK Home Office, Her Majesties Inspectorate of Constabularies and the Department of Education.

Mrs Parkes added: ’The Joanna Simpson Foundation will continue to work tirelessly to make the island a safer place for the community.’