Recently someone said to me, “Watch this space, we are going to do a leaflet about Domestic Violence and provide a service” – The first question I asked was how much training those who would be involved had had? The sad answer was none. “We’ll deal with any difficulties as they arise” was the answer, I was given.
When I pointed out that training could avoid issues arising, and enable staff to know the answers, rather than just seeming to be friendly, it was acknowledged that this was probably a good idea. However, despite my spending hours creating some training it hasn’t been taken up.
And this is all too often the problem and why Christians offering support are rarely viewed with any respect by outside angencies.
Wanting to offer services and meet needs is and should be part of what we do, but we cannot be effective by doing things without the proper skills to do it. Domestic violence, and all violence against women are often very complex subjects. Advice needs to be positive and correct.
So if you are planning on developing a new service have you really thought it through, have you set aside an appropriate budget, and have you had the required training to be able to offer a creditable service that is able to meet the needs of those it reaches out too? If the answer to any of these is no, go back to the planning stage, and don’t offer help you can’t deliver.