Mental Health Awareness Week 2025

A community who shares a common mission to end domestic abuse.

This Mental Health Awareness Week is all about celebrating community, and how it supports our mental health and wellbeing.  Communities connect, support, and give us a sense of belonging and purpose.  

Respect is an organisation built around its members who share a common mission to end domestic abuse. Our members learn from each other, provide mutual support, unite their voices with ours to influence government policy and create systemic change.  

With our membership programme, we aim to: 

• Provide comprehensive, responsive, and flexible support to our members
• Strengthen our collective voice and influence
• Highlight the expertise of Respect-accredited members.

Our members gain access to resources, knowledge, and skills to help improve their practice, and provide us with important insight. We come together to strengthen and grow the perpetrator response sector and increase our collective voice.

The impact of our community on mental health

Working within the domestic abuse sector and dealing with the subject matter it brings can have an impact on our mental health. Our membership is one of our vital communities, and at the heart of our approach. Respect’s  members come together, learn from each other, provide support, and unite their voices with ours to influence government policy and create systemic change. Together we are stronger, and we are grateful to all our members.

Ahead of Mental Health Awareness Week, we spoke to some of our members about their experience of being part of this community

Gareth, Project Manager at Respect-accredited member, Calan Domestic Abuse Services said: 

"Being part of Respect Accreditation means a lot to me and the organisation—it's a reflection of my values and a daily reminder to lead with honesty, empathy, and purpose. It’s not just about meeting standards; it’s about living them. It’s a great privilege to be part of the membership, where we have access to valuable training that broadens our team’s knowledge and skills. This directly supports our work with individuals affected by domestic abuse and mental health challenges. Respect brings together members of the community to engage, support, and promote a healthier, more compassionate approach to mental well-being."

MK-Act Domestic Abuse Intervention Services colleagues shared that:

“Being a Respect member gives us access to monthly accredited members sessions which keep us up to date with developments in the field. It provides access to expert advice sessions when we need them which are invaluable in helping us with difficult decisions and in the development of our service and allows us to have reduced price access to a variety of relevant and high-quality training sessions. In this complex, challenging field of work it is reassuring and helpful to be along with other services part of an organisation that provides us with ongoing guidance and support.”

We also heard from Berkshire Women’s Aid (BWA), who said:

''At BWA, we recognise that supporting mental health is vital for both those we work with and those undertaking this work.  Through our perpetrator programme, we provide mental health advice to support behaviour change, while also prioritising the well-being of our staff in this critical role.  As a Respect-accredited organisation member, we ensure our team receives the supervision, training, and guidance they need—because caring for others effectively starts with caring for ourselves.  This Mental Health Awareness Week, we stand together in support, understanding, and self-care.''

Strengthening our collective voice

As a community, we are working towards our shared mission to stop domestic abuse. We come together on the issues that are affecting our sector. Most recently, this has included influencing the UK Government to support a funding approach that radically improves the response to domestic abuse perpetrators, alongside the full range of support services needed for adult and child survivors. We have developed an Influencing Toolkit to help members call on MPs ahead of the Comprehensive Spending Review, ensuring our collective voice is heard. 

Together we work to increase survivors’ safety and wellbeing by tackling the root cause of the problem, supporting each other along the way. 

If you are a member and you would like to use the influencing toolkit, learn more here.