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August 2011

The AGM this year was attended by 42 people including 4 service users, one of whom sang for us. Staff, Trustees and partners from other agencies helped us to celebrate the previous year's achievements, of which there were many! I think the audience were amazed by the words of the service users who described the difference ADVANCE has made to them. Everything else at the event was secondary to their powerful contributions. Thanks to everyone who helped to organise this.

Feedback was excellent after the meeting. Everyone present said that it was the best AGM they had attended. Partners included Refuge, H&F Housing, Alan Mullem Solicitors, Prestons and Jacksons , London Metropolitan Police, Woman’s Trust, Standing Together and Brent Council.

“...It was a real pleasure attending Advance’s AGM. A truly great event. One of the best AGM’s I ever attended. The interactive ways of presenting the work and achievements of Advance in the last year were both very innovative and powerful. Information just stayed with you! I also loved the involvement of service users in the whole process. I think that the whole event had this extremely positive feel about it. Truly memorable...”
Aneta from Refuge

“...What particularly struck me was how relaxed and unforced the contributions from the service users were. Their words and song were so obviously from the heart and spoke volumes about the profound impact that Advance can have on the lives of the women you work with...”
Toby from H&F Housing

March 2011
Fantastic News We are happy to announce that Veolia Water have awarded ADVANCE Brent £2,500 to support families experiencing severe domestic and sexual violence in Brent

March 2011
ADVANCE domestic abuse support has been nationally recognised for the good service it provides to local domestic abuse victims.

ADVANCE is one of the first organisations in the UK to gain a hard-earned accredited status through Leading Lights, a national standards programme for Independent Domestic Violence Advisor (IDVA) services. The charity provides a support service in Hammersmith & Fulham and Brent for women who have experienced intimate partner domestic or sexual abuse.

Run by national domestic abuse charity CAADA, the Leading Lights programme provides an effective benchmark for supporting victims of severe domestic abuse, ensuring that they receive the same level of service, regardless of where they are in the country.

ADVANCE is one of just seven services to have achieved accreditation across the UK to date. To achieve this, the charity provided evidence to demonstrate its commitment to good practice across all areas of its service delivery, including governance and finance, human resources, multi-agency working and frontline delivery. To support ADVANCE team in reaching accreditation, the charity also received onsite visits from the Leading Lights coaching team. At the end of the process, ADVANCE’s services were evaluated by a national external accreditation panel, comprising of domestic violence sector and quality assurance professionals.

Maura Jackson, Director of ADVANCE, commented: “we are delighted that the work done at ADVANCE to support women experiencing high and very high risk abuse has been recognised through this process; it reminds us that our main focus is always the safety of women and their children”.

Nicola*, an ex-service user at ADVANCE commented: “Without ADVANCE I would probably be dead”

Dawn Taylor, Director of Quality Assurance at CAADA, commented: “We warmly congratulate ADVANCE on reaching Leading Lights accreditation. It’s an excellent achievement, showing the hard work and determination of the whole staff team, as well as their commitment to providing high quality services for local victims of domestic abuse.”

*To protect the safety of ex-service users, names have been changed.