Tackling Domestic Abuse Digital Conference

A charity executive with over 20 years of director-level experience, Farah is passionate about women’s rights. She has worked on women’s rights and gender issues for most of her career and is committed to feminist principles of leadership including courage, sharing of power and accountable collaboration

Caroline Harper is a Senior Audit Manager specialising in value for money audits at the National Audit Office, and has undertaken work covering a wide range of social issues. In recent years, Caroline has led the National Audit Office’s value for money audits on asylum, immigration, and policing. This includes significant work on Windrush, asylum accommodation, and immigration enforcement. Her most recent report examined the Home Office’s leadership of the government’s 2021 Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls strategy, identifying lessons to support the delivery of the government’s ambitions to halve violence against women and girls.

Karen Morgan-Read is a Senior Policy Advisor with the Crown Prosecution Service. In her current role she is the policy lead for domestic abuse and stalking and harassment and is responsible for ensuring that the CPS delivers commitments under the CPS DA programme as well as its wider obligations outlined within the cross-government VAWG Strategy.

Karen returned to the CPS 5 years ago after working as a Specialist Advisor in the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Whilst at FCO, she provided specialist legal advice to the Consular Directorate on complex issues including rape and sexual assault, mental health and crime. She also led the development of policies and training to better safeguard young and vulnerable British nationals.

In April 2022, Karen helped introduce an updated CPS programme of work to address domestic abuse offending and better enable victims to live free from fear. The DA programme focuses on establishing principles to reduce repeat and serial offending through the application of robust case strategy, relevant applications for protection orders and proper specialist support for victims and their families through the criminal justice system.  She was also part of the team who negotiated the UK position on the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence.

Becky is the dedicated Manager of the Recovery Hub at Glow, a charity committed to supporting individuals recovering from domestic abuse. In her role, Becky oversees the delivery of accredited group programmes, including the Freedom Programme, You and Me, Mum, and the Recovery Toolkit, all designed to empower survivors and facilitate their healing journey. She also coordinates a variety of support and wellbeing activities, such as yoga sessions, group walks, crafting workshops, and legal clinics, ensuring a holistic approach to recovery. Becky is passionate about creating a safe and nurturing environment where survivors can rebuild their lives and regain their confidence.

Tony Hyland is part of the Strategic Relationship Team (SRT) at DWP ,works at a senior level across Government Departments, and is acknowledged as a creator and sustainer of great relationships with all key stakeholders .He leads on the Care Leavers Covenant (CLC) and Employer Domestic Abuse Covenant (EDAC) for DWP, as well as the other Covenants ; he is also a Board Member for Deaf Roots, Stratford ;National Mentoring Consortium Mentor, and National ‘Buddy’, for East London DWP.

He is also an NLP practitioner, and a fully trained /certificated personal /professional life coach ,and does voluntary work with community organisations and Universities , especially around providing Employability support. He believes in supporting young people to enjoy meaningful and sustainable careers. He is also an experienced mentor and has worked with several universities and has supported Young Black Graduates (YBG) with employability workshops across London. He is a published author and playwright too.

Jenny is a Senior Subject Specialist at the PSHE Association, working closely with the Director of Education to lead the Subject Specialist team. She led PSHE education in two London schools, and has a Masters in Teaching and Learning. Since joining the PSHE Association, she has worked with a range of agencies, from the NSPCC, to the Home Office, to the National Crime Agency, developing materials that support schools to deliver highly effective, safe PSHE education

As Chief Executive for the Maternal Mental Health Alliance, Laura collaborates with over 100 member organisations all committed to quality services and compassionate care for women and perinatal mental health.  Laura has 25 years’ experience in the statutory and voluntary sectors, most recently Executive Director for Changing Lives, a national charity providing trauma-informed support for people experiencing homelessness and addiction.  Laura’s work has influenced systems and policy at a local and national level for women in the criminal justice system, experiencing sexual exploitation and domestic abuse.  She is chair of the Millfield House Foundation and active member of BetterWay Network.

Nicki is the Head of Housing for Standing Together Against Domestic Abuse and works with local authorities to implement the Whole Housing Approach to ensure that domestic abuse survivors can access safe and secure housing. Prior to this Nicki spent more than 13 years working frontline in various roles within social housing and as the Domestic Abuse lead for Westward Housing she successfully guided them to achieve DAHA Accreditation in 2022. In 2020 Nicki wrote and presented a Domestic Abuse training video for repairs and maintenance contractors working in social housing to recognise and report the signs of domestic abuse. In her personal life Nicki has been a member of the Experts by Experience Group working with Surviving Economic Abuse for 7 years. As a survivor of domestic abuse Nicki now uses her personal knowledge and understanding to raise awareness of domestic abuse and ensure that the housing response for survivors is informed by the survivor voice.

A charity executive with over 20 years of director-level experience, Farah is passionate about women’s rights. She has worked on women’s rights and gender issues for most of her career and is committed to feminist principles of leadership including courage, sharing of power and accountable collaboration