Asking for help

The PODAS team can offer support to any adult or young person over the age of 16 years, male or female. You can take steps to make behavioural changes if you are:

• struggling with relationships
• hurting others
• losing your temper and displaying abusive behaviour
• worried about your behaviour towards your partner.

To access support, and benefit from the service, you must be willing to change. You must be willing to talk about which abusive behaviours, such as violence and coercive control, you have used. Whilst we understand that full disclosure is not always realistic at the beginning, a willingness to talk about incidents, so that these can be worked with, is essential.

Referrals

You can get further information or advice about PODAS, or request support from the service, by calling the Domestic Violence and Abuse Partnership (DVAP) team:

You can also refer yourself via our online form:

Other people can also make a referral on your behalf, such as:

• a friend, work colleague, family member, or neighbour
• customer services staff
• probation service
• police
• social care
• health workers e.g. doctor, nurse, health visitor, midwife
• multi-agency teams
• solicitors
• fire services (community protection units)
• community mental health team
• youth offending team
• drug and alcohol support agencies
• CAMHS (child and mental health adolescent services)
• schools and education welfare.

After referral

Once you have been referred, we will contact you to discuss your issues in more detail.

You will be assigned a PODAS worker who will work with you, in a safe environment, on your behaviour and relationship issues. You may be asked about whether:

• your relationships with partners and family members have suffered as a result of your behaviour
• your feelings leave you feeling frustrated and out-of-control
• you’d like non-judgemental and confidential practical and emotional support, from specialised workers, on a one-to-one basis.

If you have commitments during the day, appointments can be agreed outside of normal office hours.